Five people were sentenced to death in Urumqi, in the far western province of Xinjiang Thursday 3 December. The men were accused of murdering a police officer and killing bystanders during the worst ethnic riots in China in July. The riots erupted when ethnic Uighurs rampaged through the city, killing up to 200 ethnic Han Chinese, before order was restored. The accused had Uighur-sounding names and the proceedings were held in Uighur.
The trial began in October against 21 people accused of having taken part in July’s riots. Nine people have since been executed.
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Local government officals ordered several major mosques in the Chinese city of Urumqi, in Xianjing province to close 10 July. Thousands of troops are maintaining an armed presence in the city after riots by Uighur residents five days ago and subsequent revenge attacks by the Han Chinese left 156 people dead and over a thousand injured. Many smaller mosques in predominantly Uighur neighbourhoods have opened. Friday is the holy day for the Uighurs, who are Sunni Muslim and represent about 45 percent of the region’s population after heavy immigration by Han Chinese since the 1950s.
