China sentences eight to death for Xinjiang knife, bomb attacks
PUBLISHED : Monday, 08 December, 2014, 7:11pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 09 December, 2014, 1:27am
Agencies in Beijing
State television broadcast defendants listen to verdict. Photo: Screenshot via CCTV
Eight people were sentenced to death for their roles in two knife and bomb attacks earlier this year in the violence-plagued western region of Xinjiang , state media reported yesterday.
In addition, seven students of prominent Uygur scholar Ilham Tohti, who received a life sentence for separatism, were jailed for three to eight years after being convicted on the same charge, according to Tohti's lawyer.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past two years, mostly due to violence between the Uygur minority and the majority Han.
State television broadcast interviews with some of the defendants.
In April, a knife and bomb attack at a train station in the region's capital of Urumqi killed three and injured 79. In May, 39 people at an Urumqi market were killed when attackers hurled explosives out of the windows of two SUVs.
Five others were given a suspended death sentence, which usually means life in prison. Four others were given lesser prison sentences, Xinhua said.
The government has blamed a series of attacks in other parts of the country, including Beijing, on militants from Xinjiang.
Critics and human rights advocates say Uygurs chafe under the repressive rule of the Han-dominated government.
Police stand guard near the Urumqi blast site on May 22. Photo: Xinhua
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uygur Congress, said the harsh sentences were politically motivated and the defendants had no chance of a fair trial.
Authorities responded to the attacks by launching a one-year crackdown on violence in Xinjiang. The crackdown has extended to academics such as Tohti and several of his students, who were tried in secret.
Li Fangping , Tohti's defence lawyer, said yesterday that he was informed of the verdicts against the students, who were tried in late November.
Li said it was unclear when the court issued the verdicts. He said the penalties were not as harsh as expected, possibly because Tohti was the main prosecution target.
Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
