Chinese soldiers patrol Aksu in northwestern China's Xinjiang region. Photo: AFP
China has executed eight people in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for involvement in terrorist activities, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Three of those executed had been convicted of an attack in Tiananmen Square in Beijing last October, in which five people died.
The others were found guilty of crimes including assaulting police and seizing their guns in Aksu, bomb-making and killing in Kashgar, setting up a terrorist organization, murder of government officials and burning of a checkpoint in Hotan.
Huseyin Guxur, Yusup Wherniyas and Yusup Ehmet were executed and “deprived of political rights for life” for being the masterminds of the terrorist attack on Tiananmen Square in October 2013, according to the news agency.
In the incident, a car rammed into bystanders on the square before bursting into flames, BBC News reported. Two tourists died, along with three of the attackers, it said.
Rozi Eziz, also sentenced to death, was convicted of seizing the guns of police officers and killing them in Aksu’s Wushi County on June 28, 2013, Xinhua said.
Abdusalam Elim had organized a terrorist gang with himself as the leader since May 2011. The court found that Elim and several others listened and watched religious extremist audio-visual materials and conducted illegal religious activities.
They also raised funds for members to conduct physical training and manufacturing, storage and transportation of explosive devices.
Memet Tohtiyusup was convicted of watching audio-visual materials on religious extremism, violence and terror since February 2013. He killed an innocent civilian on April 18, 2013, Xinhua said.
Abdumomin Imin had organized terrorist training since March 2008 and became the ring leader. He, along with Bilal Berdi and other members, burned two checkpoints and two police vehicles in 2011 and murdered an officer with the forestry bureau of Hotan on Dec. 13, 2013.
They were both sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life by court on charges of organizing and leading terrorist organization, arson and intentional killing, the report said.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the exile group World Uyghur Congress, called the executions “a typical case of the law serving political ends”, the BBC said.
– Contact us at english@hkej.com
CG
http://www.ejinsight.com/20140825-china-executes-eight-in-xinjiang-including-tiananmen-attackers/
