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in its restive Xinjiang region, state media reported, delivering on a
vow of harsh retribution over the ethnic unrest. The six were
convicted of murder and other crimes by a court in the regional
capital Urumqi in the first trials over the riots that killed nearly
200 people and left the city riven by ethnic tension. China Central
Television (CCTV) said one other defendant was sentenced to life in
prison over the unrest, in which members of the Uighur minority went
on a rampage in attacks directed at members of China's dominant Han
ethnic group. Xinhua news agency said the seven, all men, were
convicted in three separate cases. It identified them by names that
appeared to be Uighur. Television footage showed the defendants with
their heads shaved and wearing orange and blue vests lined up or
seated before the court tribunals with most of the convicted
appearing to be in their twenties and thirties. Authorities had
tightened up security ahead of the trials, state media reported,
apparently fearing the verdicts could touch off further violence.
China National Radio said up to 14 ,000 security forces were
deployed in the city on Sunday to begin 24- hour patrols. The exiled
World Uighur Congress condemned the sentences, saying that the
defendants were not given access to lawyers of their own choosing.
"The verdicts by China against the Uighurs were not reached in
accordance with normal legal procedures but were made in accordance
with political demands," congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit told AFP.
"Concerning the death sentences, we believe this will only make the
overall situation worse." Footage broadcast by CCTV showed deserted
streets in front of the Urumqi court where the trials were held, with
police lining sidewalks carrying riot shields and truncheons. Locals
contacted by AFP by phone shortly after the verdicts were announced
said the city remained calm amid the heavy security. Officials at the
Urumqi court refused to immediately confirm the sentences when
contacted by AFP. The riots were the worst ethnic violence to hit
China in decades, leaving 197 people dead, most of them Han, and
more than 1 ,600 injured, according to the government. Detailing the
cases, Xinhua said a man named Abdukerim Abduwayit was convicted of
beating five innocent people to death and setting a building on
fire. Four others sentenced were convicted of jointly beating four
people to death, it said, while another defendant killed five people
when he set a grain shop on fire. The man who received life in
prison, Tayirejan Abulimit, was convicted of "attacking, smashing,
looting and burning," a term Chinese authorities use for rioting.
"Tayirejan Abulimit was given life imprisonment, a lesser punishment
as he admitted charges of murder and robbery and helped the police
capture another suspect," Xinhua said. Police have detained at least
718 people suspected of crimes related to the unrest, earlier
reports said.» Charges against 21 defendants were publicised by
Xinhua late last month, with three other cases pending involving 14
other suspects who are facing charges of homicide, arson, robbery
and property damage related to the riots. China's roughly eight
million Uighurs have long complained of religious, political and
cultural oppression by Chinese authorities. Uighurs say the unrest
was triggered when police cracked down on peaceful protests by
Uighurs over a late June brawl at a factory in southern China that
state media said left two Uighurs dead. One ethnic Han man was
sentenced to death and a second handed a life prison term over that
brawl in verdicts announced on Saturday in southern China.
Authorities, however, have blamed the Xinjiang unrest on "ethnic
separatists," without providing any evidence, and have vowed to come
down hard on those found guilty, including use of the death penalty.
Urumqi has been under extremely heavy security since the riots,
tightened amid a wave of needle attacks beginning in late August,
which Han have blamed on Uighurs.
