Courts in China's far western Xinjiang province on June 20 sentenced 11 ethnic Uighurs to up to six years in prison for promoting extremism. Eight of those convicted came from the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, the Justice Ministry's official newspaper Legal Daily [5]. Although the report did not mention ethnicity, all had Uighur names. In one case, the suspect visited "illegal" websites to download material that "whipped up religious fervor," "preached 'holy war'" and "whipped up ethnic enmity." Another eight received terms of up to 13 years for such crimes as "organizing a terrorist organization."
The Uyghur American Association (UAA) expressed condemnation at the sentences, noting they were handed down two weeks before the fourth anniversary of deadly unrest that broke out in the regional capital of Urumchi. The UAA called the sentences "a clear signal to Uyghurs across East Turkestan to curb any public commemorative displays of the July 5, 2009 suppression of Uyghur protests." (Global Times [6], June 21; BBC News [7], The Guardian [8], Uyghur Human Rights Project [9], June 20)
