Four More Sentenced to Death for Xinjiang Riots

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A court in China sentenced four more people to death in connection to their part in last year’s ethnic riots in the western Xinjiang region. A fifth person was also given the death penalty, but  was granted a two-year reprieve. and he is expected to see his sentence reduced to life in prison. In addition to sentencing five individuals to death, eight others were given various jail sentences.

The group appeared before the Urumqi Intermediate Court. The sentences for the defendants are said to be carried out immediately. They were charged with “extremely serious crimes,” reported state-run Xinjiang Daily newspaper. The thirteen defendants were charged with the “violent crimes of attacking, smashing, looting and burning”, a Chinese term that refers to violent rioting.

The verdicts bring the number of people who have been sentenced to death for involvement in the riots to about two dozen, including nine who have already been executed.

The verdicts were handed down on Monday, January 25, by a court in the regional capital Urumqi – the site of the violence in July 2009 where Muslim Uighurs and China’s Han ethnic majority fought in turmoil. The occurence left nearly 200 dead and over 1,600 injured.

On July 5 violence began as Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group, protested the deaths of Uighur factory workers in an earlier brawl in southern China. The protest became a riot as gatherers clashed with police in the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi. The crowd scattered and fled throughout the city, attacking majority Han Chinese and burning cars. Nearly 200 people, mostly Hans, were killed, according to the government. Two days later, Uighurs were targeted in revenge attacks, promulgating the incident.

All of the thirteen sentenced this week are believed to be Uighurs, according to local sources.

For More Information, please see:

CNN – Four sentenced to death over Urumqi riots – January 26, 2010

New York TimesChina: Four Sentenced to Die for Xinjiang Rioting – January 28, 2010

Al JazeeraFour sentenced to die in Xinjiang – January 27, 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive