China: Uighur Groups Criticize Death Sentences

By Edward Wong | The New York Times 
February 24, 2011

Uighur advocacy groups have criticized the recent death sentences of four men who are all apparently ethnic Uighurs. The men were reportedly sentenced for three separate incidents of violence last year. They are Turhun Turdi, Abdulla Tunyaz, Ahunniyaz Nur, and Abdukerim Abdurahman. The report of the sentencing first appeared on Wednesday in Xinjiang Daily, an official newspaper published out of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, a vast region in western China where Uighurs, the largest ethnic group there, chafe against policies set by the ethnic Han, who rule China.

Two of the men were convicted in connection with an explosion that killed at least seven people last year in Aksu. "By sentencing these four Uighurs to death, China is attempting to intimidate the Uighur people, fearing that they will take to the streets to demand human rights, democracy and freedoms from the authoritarian Chinese government," Rebiya Kadeer, a leader of Uighur exiles, said in a written statement late Wednesday.

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