China sentences 4 more to death over last year’s ethnic riots in far-western Xinjiang

China sentences 4 more to death over ethnic riots

BEIJING — China sentenced four more people to death for involvement in rioting last year in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang, the country’s worst ethnic violence in decades, an official said Wednesday.

The 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 and then clashed with police in the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi. The crowd scattered 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.

The Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi handed down death sentences Monday to four people for “extremely serious crimes” during the riots, said Ma Xinchun, director of the Urumqi government’s press office, confirming details of a report by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Ma did not give details of the reported crimes, and government offices in Xinjiang could not immediately be reached by phone.

Another person was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve — a penalty usually commuted to life in prison — while eight others were given sentences of up to life imprisonment, Ma said. Based on their names, all those given death sentences appeared to be Uighurs.

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.

Many Uighurs resent Beijing’s heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland, and the region has long been wracked by ethnic tensions that occasionally break out into violence. China says it respects minority rights and has boosted living standards and economies in minority areas such as Xinjiang.

State broadcaster China Central Television reported on its Wednesday evening newscast that senior Communist Party leader Zhou Yongkang said the party’s Politburo would hold a conference later this year “to make a plan to support the development of Xinjiang and promote the long-term stability and prosperity of Xinjiang.”

Zhou, who handles law and order issues, spoke at a Politburo meeting Tuesday. Since last October, some 500 government officials have been sent to Xinjiang to “conduct research and make policy suggestions” for the stability of the region, CCTV said.

“Although progress has been achieved, some new situations and challenges needed to be studied and worked out,” the report said.

China has blamed July’s rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Six months ago, Chinese authorities cut Internet and text messaging services in the region, accusing organizers of using the tools to foment unrest. Limited Internet services were restored at the end of last year, while limited phone texting services resumed two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, a Xinjiang news Web site reported that a man, identified by the surname Ma, was detained by police on Jan. 17 after he sent text messages that allegedly contained comments on “splitting” the country.

The man who was detained had initially received a warning by the telecommunications company over the contents of his text messages. He ignored the warning and continued to send the text messages to several other mobile phone numbers, according to the Xinjiang Tianshan site.