Court sentences 19 Uygurs for religious extremism
Courts in China's far western region of Xinjiang have sentenced 19 ethnic Uygurs to up to six years in jail for promoting racial hatred and religious extremism online, in the latest crackdown on what Beijing sees as violent separatists.
All but one of those jailed were from the heavily Uygur southern part of Xinjiang, including eight from the old Silk Road city of Kashgar , the official reported on its website.
Many Uygurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people who call energy-rich Xinjiang home, chafe at the central government's restrictions on their culture, language and religion. Beijing says it grants them wide-ranging freedoms.
In one of the cases, the suspect went on illegal websites to download material which "whipped up religious fervour and preached 'holy war'" and "whipped up ethnic enmity", the said in its report late on Wednesday.
"This created a despicable effect on society," the newspaper said, citing the court ruling.
Another suspect was jailed for spreading materials from overseas via the Internet which "advocate religious extremism and terrorism", the newspaper added.
While the report did not specify the ethnicity of those jailed, their names and the location of the courts where they were sentenced indicated they were all Uygurs.
China accuses armed Uygur groups of having links to Central Asian and Pakistani Islamist militants, and of carrying out attacks to establish an independent state.
Many rights groups say Beijing overplays the threat posed to justify its tough controls.
The region, which lies strategically on the borders of Central Asia, India and Pakistan, sees frequent outbreaks of ethnic violence.
In April, 21 people were killed in clashes near Kashgar, the deadliest unrest since July 2009, when nearly 200 people died in riots in Urumqi .
State media has made no mention of any military involvement in the incident. But exiled Uygur leader Rebiya Kadeer claimed in Tokyo yesterday that Beijing had called in military force to handle the situation, and allegedly carried out killings.
"Police and the army cooperated in killing people in that area," she said, adding the military had used explosives.
Kadeer, who heads the World Uygur Congress and is in Japan on a week-long lecture tour, did not provide reporters with any evidence of her claims.
