China sentences man to death over attack that sparked ethnic riot

Oct 10, 2009, 4:40 GMT

   Beijing - A Chinese court on Saturday sentenced one man to death and 10 others to long prison terms after they were convicted of an attack on factory workers that helped spark deadly ethnic rioting, state media said.

   Two courts in the southern city of Shaoguan in Guangdong province passed the sentences after trials of the 11 men on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

   The toughest prison sentences given was life for one defendant while the remaining nine men were given five to eight years, the agency said.

   The 11 men were convicted of attacking workers from the Uighur ethnic group at Shaoguan's Xuri Toy Factory on June 26. At least two Uighurs were beaten to death.

   A mob of hundreds of Han Chinese attacked Uighur workers at the factory after apparently unfounded rumours of the rape of two local women by Uighurs.

   The government only announced arrests of suspects in the attack in early July after anger over its handling of the clash helped trigger violent protests by Uighurs in Urumqi, the capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region.

   The rioting in Urumqi left 197 people dead and about 1,600 injured, according to the government.

   Uighur exile groups claimed that up to 800 people died in Urumqi, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.

   The rioting apparently began after a protest over the Shaoguan killings escalated into clashes with police and attacks by Uighurs against Han residents of Urumqi.