BEIJING, Nov. 9, 2009

China Executes 9 Uighurs for July Rioting

1st Group of Ethnic Muslim Suspects Put to Death for Alleged Role in Rioting that Left 200 Dead

  • Paramilitary police officers patrol as Uighur men walk by in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, July 13, 2009.

    Paramilitary police officers patrol as Uighur men walk by in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, July 13, 2009.  (CBS)

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(AP)  Nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death in the unrest, the official China News Service reported Monday.

The nine were put to death recently after a final review of the verdicts by the Supreme People's Court as required by law, the news service said, but gave no specific date or other details.

They had been convicted of murder and other crimes committed during the riots in the western city of Urumqi in China's worst ethnic violence in decades.

Hundreds of people were rounded up in the wake of the riots, in which Uighurs attacked members of China's Han ethnic majority on July 5, only to face retaliatory attacks two days later. Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim ethnic group linguistically and culturally distinct from the Han and many resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland.

China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Four months after the violence, Xinjiang remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut and international direct dialing calls blocked.

The news service said another 20 people were indicted on Monday on charges related to the deaths of 18 people and other crimes committed during the riots. All but two of the prisoners listed in the report had Uighur sounding names, with the others appearing to be Han.

Overseas Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit condemned the executions as motivated by politics and the need to appease Urumqi's angry Han residents, who marched in the thousands through the city in September to demand trials of those responsible for the July violence and the perpetrators of a bizarre series of hypodermic needle attacks.

"We don't think they got a fair trial, and we believe this was a political verdict," said Raxit, who serves as spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress.

"The United States and the European Union did not put any pressure on China or seek to intervene and for that we are extremely disappointed," he said.

© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by Dgunner November 9, 2009 10:32 AM EST
WHEN ALL YOU CHRISTIASN FOLKS RISE FROM YOUR KNEES IN YOUR CHURCH SUNDAY, AFTER PRAYING TO GOD TO PROTECT AND HELP OUR COUNTRY. DON'T FORGET TO STOP BY WALMART ON YOUR WAY HOME AND FEED THE CHILD SLAVERS RAPISTS AND GLOBAL CRIMINALS . THEY NEED OUR MONEY TO SUPPORT THE HEROIN AND OPIUM TRADE SO THIER LITTLE FRACTION OF ABRASION CAN CONTINUE IN THE AFGHANISTAN WAR.tHE LAST TIME I SHOPPED WALMART, IT TOOK ME ONE HOUR AND TWENTY THREE MINUTES TO FIND MADE IN AMERICA PRODUCTS. i ONLY HAD THREE THINGS ON MY LIST. AND NO IM NOT BLIND.
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by Dgunner November 9, 2009 10:31 AM EST
WHEN ALL YOU CHRISTIASN FOLKS RISE FROM YOUR KNEES IN YOUR CHURCH SUNDAY, AFTER PRAYING TO GOD TO PROTECT AND HELP OUR COUNTRY. DON'T FORGET TO STOP BY WALMART ON YOUR WAY HOME AND FEED THE CHILD SLAVERS RAPISTS AND GLOBAL CRIMINALS . THEY NEED OUR MONEY TO SUPPORT THE HEROIN AND OPIUM TRADE SO THIER LITTLE FRACTION OF ABRASION CAN CONTINUE IN THE AFGHANISTAN WAR.tHE LAST TIME I SHOPPED WALMART, IT TOOK ME ONE HOUR AND TWENTY THREE MINUTES TO FIND MADE IN AMERICA PRODUCTS. i ONLY HAD THREE THINGS ON MY LIST. AND NO IM NOT BLIND.
Reply to this comment
by incog-nito November 9, 2009 10:15 AM EST
And yet Corporate America still offshores American jobs to China, weakening the U.S. economy while strengthening theirs.
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