China jails 113 on terrorism charges

Monday, June 30, 2014

The Associated Press

BEIJING -- Chinese courts in the far west, ethnic region of Xinjiang have imprisoned 113 people on terrorism or other charges, according to a government-run news portal.

Regional courts in the Kashgar area held open sessions Sunday to sentence the 113, including four who received life terms, in 69 cases, Tianshan.net reported.

The region, home to Muslim minority Uighurs, has seen an increase in violence in recent months. Most recently, an attack in a vegetable market in the regional capital of Urumqi left 43 dead, including four suspected attackers, prompting Beijing to announce a year-long crackdown on what it calls terrorism in the region.

Beijing blames the violence on religious extremists with ties to overseas terrorism groups. Members of the Uighur minority have long complained of repressive ethnic policies and practices, and economic disenfranchisement in their resource-rich land.

In one case, two defendants were convicted of organizing and leading terror groups after they viewed terrorism materials, spread extreme religious thoughts and plotted terror activities, according to Tianshan.net. Both received life imprisonment.

In another case, a man operating a cutlery shop in Kashgar was given a 10-year prison term after he sold two hatchets, two kitchen cleavers and two daggers to a man who used them in an attack that killed two and injured one. The knife vendor destroyed the registration book detailing the sale, and he was convicted of harboring criminals, Tianshan.net reported.

A court also jailed a man for 10 years for forwarding to seven friends private messages believed to incite ethnic hatred and racial discrimination, the news portal reported.

Another three men were sentenced to 10 years for failing to report wanted suspects and trying to cover them up, according to Tianshan.net.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Uighur rights group World Uyghur Congress, said courts in Xinjiang are in a political race to sentence Uighurs to jail terms amid the crackdown.

"They have trampled on the rights of the defendants to argue and appeal, accusing Uighurs who are rising against China's suppression and expressing their dissatisfaction of being terrorists," Dilxat Raxi said in a statement. "It will only lead to extreme forms of resistance when people cannot protest peacefully."

A Section on 06/30/2014