Chinese security forces patrol a street in Xinjiang, April 5, 2008

CHINA. TWO UYGHURS EXECUTED IN KASHGAR AFTER MASS SENTENCING RALLY

July 9, 2008: Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang executed two ethnic minority Uyghurs and sentenced 15 others for alleged terrorist links, according to local sources.
Mukhtar Setiwaldi and Abduweli Imin were originally handed death sentences by the Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court on November 9th 2007, according to a November 11th 2007 report by China's official Xinhua news agency.
Referring to them by their Chinese names, Xinhua said Muhetaer Setiwalidi and Abuduwaili Yiming were sentenced to death for separatist activities, training at a terrorist camp, and illegally manufacturing explosives.
They were sent to be executed after a public announcement of their sentences July 9th in Yengi Sheher county, Kashgar, Uyghur sources and a local official said.
Authorities ordered county residents to attend the meeting but police banned cameras, lighters, and recording devices, the sources told RFA’s Uyghur service.
Authorities also announced that three others Uyghurs had been handed two-year suspended death sentences and the rest were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 10 years to life, the sources said. All 17 defendants were charged as members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which Beijing accuses of terrorist ties. ETIM denies the allegation.
“As the Olympics approach, instead of showing progress in its treatment of Uyghur people and enhancing the transparency of its judicial system, the People’s Republic of China is clamping down even harder and using executions and imprisonment to choke off peaceful Uyghur dissent,” said human rights leader and Uyghur American Association president Rebiya Kadeer. (Sources: Uyghur American Association, 10/07/2008; Salem-News.com, 14/07/2008)