China sentences 6 more to death for Xinjiang riot

BEIJING — China sentenced six people to death Thursday over murders committed during deadly riots in the western Xinjiang region in July, bringing the number of people facing the death penalty for the riots to 12.

Nearly 200 people were killed when riots erupted in the regional capital of Urumqi, with Muslim Uighurs attacking members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group. It was the country’s worst communal violence in decades.

Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for Xinjiang’s regional government, said six new defendants were sentenced to death and three other people were given life sentences by the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court. Five others were given prison terms, she said, but did not provide details.

The defendant’s names were not immediately available and it was not clear if they were Uighur.

On Monday, six Uighur defendants were sentenced to death by the same court. Those sentences were the first to be handed down in the trials of scores of suspects arrested during and after the riots.

The violence flared on July 5 after police broke up a protest by Uighur youths demanding an investigation into a deadly brawl between Han and Uighur workers at a toy factory in southern China.

Angry Uighurs attacked random bystanders in Urumqi, an overwhelmingly Han city in the heart of the Uighurs’ traditional homeland. Two days later, Han carried out revenge attacks in Uighur neighborhoods as security forces struggled to restore order.

The Chinese government has blamed the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for more Uighur rights in Xinjiang. Beijing has presented no direct evidence, and overseas Uighur activists have denied supporting violence.

One of those figures blamed by Beijing, World Uyghur Congress head Rebiya Kadeer, condemned the earlier sentences, saying the accused had been denied due legal process and warning the court’s actions could stir new unrest.

Kadeer has denied any role in the protests and denounced the use of violence.

Swift punishment of those arrested over the rioting were among the demands of Han protesters who swarmed into Urumqi’s streets early last month calling for the firing of Xinjiang’s powerful Communist Party boss Wang Lequan. Five people died in the protests under circumstances that remain unclear.