China sentences 4 more to death over ethnic riots

BEIJING -- China sentenced four more people to death for involvement in rioting last year in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang, the country's worst ethnic violence in decades, an official said Wednesday.

The July 5 violence began as Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group, protested the deaths of Uighur factory workers in an earlier brawl in southern China and then clashed with police in the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi. The crowd scattered throughout the city, attacking majority Han Chinese and burning cars. Nearly 200 people, mostly Hans, were killed, according to the government. Two days later, Uighurs were targeted in revenge attacks.

The Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi handed down death sentences Monday to four people for "extremely serious crimes" during the riots, said Ma Xinchun, director of the Urumqi government's press office, confirming details of a report by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Ma did not give details of the reported crimes, and government offices in Xinjiang could not immediately be reached by phone.

Another person was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve -- a penalty usually commuted to life in prison -- while eight others were given sentences of up to life imprisonment, Ma said. Based on their names, all those given death sentences appeared to be Uighurs.

The verdicts bring the number of people who have been sentenced to death for involvement in the riots to about two dozen, including nine who have already been executed.

Many Uighurs resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland, and the region has long been wracked by ethnic tensions that occasionally break out into violence. China says it respects minority rights and has boosted living standards and economies in minority areas such as Xinjiang.

China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. The region remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut.

Overseas Uighur groups deny involvement in the violence and say the trials of riot suspects are politically biased. They say judges have been ordered to issue death sentences before trials and suspects have been tortured into giving incriminating testimony.