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China Sentences Two Muslim Separatists to Death
BEIJING, June 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two members of the ethnic Uighur population in China's Muslim-dominated province of Xinjiang have been sentenced to death for allegedly fomenting separatism and manufacturing explosives, according to local press reports.
Ousman Yimiti and Mehmet Reheman were found guilty by the province's Supreme Court of training more than 100 fellow Uighurs how to manufacture home-made bombs, Tuesday's edition of the Xinjiang daily, which arrived in Beijing Saturday, said.
The two men were part of a group of 14 men convicted on charges of separatism. The local paper did not say what happened to the others or whether the death penalties had already been carried out.
The paper also reported the trial of 17 alleged drug traffickers in the region which ended with three of them being sentenced to death.
Xinjiang has over the past decade witnessed rising tension between its majority Muslim population -- mostly Turkic-speaking Uighurs -- and the Han Chinese who make up 38 percent of the region's population.
Uighur separatists want to create an independent East Turkestan and have backing among groups based in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Chinese authorities have cracked down hard on Uighur activists, imposing tough punishments including decades-long prison terms or even death sentences.
Amnesty International says Xinjiang is the only region where China executes dissidents on purely political grounds.
Earlier this more than 30 students were injured at Changan University in Xian, Shaanxi province of China when Han Chinese and the Uighur Muslim students clashed last week, according to press reports seen in Beijing Saturday.
The clashes brought to light the simmering hostilities between the two ethnic groups and Chinese government attempts to crack down on a new Muslim separatist movement.
In December six Muslims were killed in Shandong after Muslims protested a "Muslim pork" sign at a Han butcher shop and the hanging of a pig's head outside a local mosque.
Beijing is cracking down severely on Muslim separatists who want an independent homeland in Xinjiang.
Recently it handed down death sentences and long prison terms on Muslim activists. The Chinese government is also trying to reduce the majority population of Muslims in Xinjiang by relocating thousands of Han Chinese to the province.
Human rights organizations have reportedly expressed fears that China may be backing anti-Muslim activities on purpose to truncate the budding separatist movement.
A recent anti-crime campaign, dubbed "Strike Hard" may also be used to eliminate Beijing Muslim political opponents, particularly in Tibet and in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang where at least two ethnic Uighur s were sentenced to death last month for separatism, human rights groups said.
The nationwide "strike hard" against crime campaign was launched by President Jiang Zemin. At least 1,000 people have been put to death during the crackdown, according to diplomats in Beijing who have been compiling figures based on reports in the official press.
The actual figures though are thought to be far higher because not all executions are reported in the state press.
According to official data, China has 20 million Muslims. Most of them are concentrated in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai regions. Smaller Muslim communities can also be found throughout China. In late 1940's Muslims had declared an independent East Turkistan Republic but their aspirations were crushed the Chinese army brought the province under its firm control in 1949.
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