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China Sentences 21 Uighur Separatists, Executes Two, at Public Rally
BEIJING, Nov 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A group of 21 separatists from the tense Muslim-majority Chinese region of Xinjiang were among people sentenced at a public rally, local police said Thursday.
In all, 28 people were put to trial before Sunday's rally in the town of Wushi, two of whom were given death sentences and immediately executed, said a police spokesman who gave his name as Zhang.
Police said those put to death were ordinary criminals convicted of murder and armed robbery.
Of two other people given suspended death sentences, one was a separatist who had planned an attack with a homemade bomb, said Zhang.
However, a group representing the ethnic Uighur population of Xinjiang said all of those executed and given suspended death sentences were separatism activists.
Another 20 separatists were given prison terms of between eight and 20 years, said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the German-based East Turkestan Information Center, a group named after the independent state sought by some Uighurs.
Rights groups have warned that China is carrying out a major crackdown on religious and political dissent in Xinjiang under the guise of anti-terrorism following the September 11 terror attacks on United States.
A CNN report Thursday said that China is seeking support from the international community through linking its dissenters with global terrorists being targeted by a worldwide anti-terror coalition.
Uighurs, who are non-ethnic Chinese, have been campaigning for the independent state of East Turkestan in Xinjiang province for years, CNN said.
Beijing accuses their separatist campaign of terrorist activities, saying it has "hard evidence" linking Uighur separatists to a series of bomb attacks over the past decade, and that several hundred Uighurs were given military training in camps in Afghanistan.
According to the CNN report, some analysts have said that China's attempt to link the Uighur separatists with international terrorists being sought by Washington is only an attempt to reduce criticism of suspected human rights abuses against the Uighurs, most of whom are campaigning peacefully for greater religious, political and economic freedoms.
During a visit to China last week, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson warned Beijing it should not use the global fight against anti-terrorism as an excuse for repression in Xinjiang.
The separatism campaign in the region has seen occasional violent incidents such as bombings over recent years.
Beijing insists the Xinjiang "terrorists" are financed, trained and supplied by international groups including the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, suspected of being behind the September 11 attacks.
However, rights groups say the vast majority of separatists in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan in China's far west, are peaceful.
The East Turkestan Information Center said Sunday's sentencing rally has part of an unjust crackdown on legitimate dissent.
"We strongly condemn this action by the Chinese government and urge the international community to put pressure on China to stop its oppression," said Raxit.
"It is remarkable that China will do this so shortly after the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner was in China," he added.
State media announced recently a major campaign had been launched in Xinjiang against crime and to "educate" the public.
China has around 10 million Muslims, the CNN report said, adding that Vice Premier Qian Qichen recently made a distinction between them and about 1,000 "militants".
More than 1,700 Communist Party cadres and officials were assigned to head into areas of the Uighur-dominated city of Kashgar in southern Xinjiang to "get to know" the residents at grass-roots level, said the Xinjiang
Legal Daily, seen in Beijing Wednesday.
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