Chinese officials from Xinjiang have sentenced nine the death penalty due to violent crimes that were terrorist in nature.
The charges were part of China’s year-long effort to put an end to terrorism. 81 total people from the area have been faced with charges varying from involvement in terrorist organizations to terrorism itself. Most have life long prison terms or shorter sentences, while nine have been charged with the death sentence and three have been given a death sentence with a two year reprieve according to a state broadcaster from CCTV.
Along with the death sentences being announced, the state news portal Xinjiang Net also announced that 29 more suspected terrorists have been taken captive for provoking separatism in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, killing 39 with suicide bombs in May, Reuters noted.
According to BBC News, China claims that the terrorism is coming from Uighur groups due to economic inequality. Nearly half of Xinjiang is inhabited by Uighurs, who have a Turkic Muslim background, and 95% of them are Han Chinese. Xinjiang was once controlled by the East Turkestan for a while until China re-seized the region in 1949. Ever since Uighurs have been afraid that their culture would be destroyed and their freedoms taken away.
President Xi Jinping has taken note of the potential causes of violent terrorism and announced a plan to rid poverty and to improve the relationship between both ethnic groups.