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Four sentenced to death in Xinjiang

Four people, apparently native Uighurs, are sentenced to death in Xinjiang for violence that killed 32 people in the summer, said a Reuters report in The West Australian.
Four sentenced to death in Xinjiang
'China Kashgar', on Flickr
Published: September 16, 2011 08:51 AM GMT
Updated: September 16, 2011 09:03 AM GMT

Courts in China's Xinjiang sentenced four people to death for violence in two cities over the summer, which left 32 people dead, according to a Reuters report on The West Australian. The government blamed the incidents in Kashgar and Hotan - both in the majority Uighur southern part of Xinjiang - on religious extremists and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang. The courts in the two cities found the four, who all appeared to be Uighurs judging by their names, to be guilty of crimes including involvement in terrorism, arson and murder, the Xinjiang government website www.tianshannet.com said late on Wednesday. "Both cases were heard in open courts in accordance with the law, with representatives from all walks of life attending," the report said. "During the trial, the accused ... confessed everything." But the Germany-based exile group the World Uyghur Congress said the four had been tortured while in detention and were given only very limited access to lawyers. FULL STORYChina sentences four to death for Xinjiang violence (The West Australian/Reuters) PHOTO CREDITMiran Rijavec on FlickrCC BY-SA 2.0

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