Uighur unrest has yielded 198 sentences so far, says China

Beijing - Last year's demonstrations in Uighur-populated areas of China have resulted in 198 court sentences so far - with the expectation of more to come - a Chinese official told reporters Sunday. "The investigation, prosecution and trials are still going on, and the final figure of the people sentenced will be more than that," said Nur Berkri, chairman of China's Xinjian Province, speaking on the sidelines of China's annual People's Congress.

The protests last summer, which claimed 197 lives, show that China has lots of work ahead of it in the fight against separatism, he said.

The chairman made no reference to the number of death penalties or executions related to those charges, though Uighur groups have reported at least 26 death penalties and nine executions.

The fighting broke out between ethnic Uighurs and Chinese last summer over complaints from the Uighur side about mistreatment and repression from ethnic Chinese and the central government.

Nur said it it would not be long until full internet service is restored to the region following a blackout instituted to help quell the violence. Since then, only a few state-controlled websites have been reintroduced, though Nur pointed out that text messaging services had resumed in January.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312873,uighur-unrest-has-yielded-198-sentences-so-far-says-china.html.