— Seven people allegedly involved in plotting terrorist activities have been sentenced to death for robbery and murder in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, a state-run news website said Wednesday.
China’s Supreme People’s Court recently approved the death penalty meted out to seven people by a court in the Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang’s west, the Tianshan website said.
Calls to the People’s Intermediate Court in Kashgar rang unanswered. The Supreme People’s Court did not immediately respond to a faxed list of questions about the cases.
It was unclear whether the seven are Uighurs , historically Xinjiang’s majority ethnic group, many of whom resent heavy-handed Chinese rule. Unrest in Xinjiang has been simmering for years, with ethnic Uighurs saying they have been marginalized as more and more majority Han Chinese move into the area.
In July 2009, rioting between Uighurs and Han Chinese killed nearly 200 people in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi. Uighur activists say the Urumqi riots, which were followed by retaliatory attacks by members of China’s majority Han ethnic group, were the result of decades of pent-up frustration with Chinese rule.
Some Uighurs opposed to Chinese rule have waged a low-intensity campaign of bombings and assassinations against Chinese officials.
