CHINA: NINE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM IN XINJIANG

June 5, 2014: Authorities in China's restive Xinjiang region sentenced nine people to death for "violent terrorism" crimes, state media reported, as part of a nation-wide crackdown on separatist militants.
China has launched a year-long "anti-terrorism" operation, and hundreds of suspects have already been detained.
A total of 81 people from Xinjiang, home to a large Muslim Uighur minority, were handed sentences for crimes related to involvement in "terrorist organizations" to intentional homicide and arson, state broadcaster CCTV said on a microblog.
"Among those, nine people were sentenced to death, and three people were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve," CCTV said, the latter referring to a sentence that is often commuted to life in prison.
Others were given life in prison or shorter sentences.
The announcement comes as state news portal Xinjiang Net said another 29 suspects had been rounded up on charges such as inciting separatism, in the regional capital Urumqi, the site of a suicide bombing that killed 39 people last month. (Sources: Reuters, 05/06/2014)