China Executes 9 Men

Posted on 9 November 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Society

While thousands across Europe celebrate the pulling down of the Berlin wall 20 years ago, across the world, China has executed nine men, for committing crimes during July’s riots that killed 200 people in far western Xinjain region.

The ruling came from the Supreme People’s Court, after secret-shrouded trials, condemning to death eight Uighurs, from the Muslim minority and one Han. The men were convicted of murder and other crimes.

In the worst ethnic unrest in decades, which started on July 5th, Uighurs attacked Han people in the regional capital of Urumqi.

The violence began after police broke up a demonstration by Uighur students demanding an investigation into a deadly fight at a factory in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan in which Han workers killed two Uighurs. The Uighur crowd then rampaged through the western city’s southern neighborhoods, hunting down Han residents, smashing vehicles and burning Han shops.

Two days after the riot, Han vigilantes stormed into Uighur neighborhoods with clubs, meat cleavers and lead pipes to take revenge. Numerous stories of bizarre hypodermic needle attacks also surfaced.

The official death count stands at 197 with 1,721 injured, most of them Han, although some Uighurs say many more on their side remain unaccounted for.

Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim linguistic and culturally ethnic group, distinct from the Han, have long resented Beijing’s heavy handed rule in their traditional homeland, Xinjiang.

The area is still under heavy security, with no Internet or international calls permitted.

China puts more people to death than any other country. An estimated 6,000 people were executed in 2007. Politically sensitive cases are normally decided within weeks, particularly when it involves major unrest and threatens social stability.

Most of the executions are carried out by gunshot, though some provinces have started to use lethal injection.

China accuses U.S. based Uighur activist, Rebiya Kadeer and other overseas Uighur rights groups for fermenting and stage managing the violence. Uighur overseas activist Dilxat Raxit condemned the executions as being politically motivated, alongside the need for China authorities to appease Urumqi’s angry Han residents, who marched in the thousands through the city in September. “The United States and the European Union did not put any pressure on China, or seek to intervene and for that we are extremely disappointed,” Raxit said.

China expert Steve Tsang of Oxford University said, “The authorities will achieve their goal of short term stability, but they’re not solving the basic problems and they’re not going to be able to put the issues behind them.”

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