The authorities in Xinjiang, an ethnically divided region in northwest China, have imprisoned 22 people in a mass sentencing that included charges of rape, disturbing public order and \u201cillegal preaching,\u201d a state news media outlet reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
By ANDREW JACOBS
NOV 11, 2014<\/p>\n
BEIJING \u2014 The authorities in Xinjiang, an ethnically divided region in northwest China<\/a>, have imprisoned 22 people in a mass sentencing that included charges of rape, disturbing public order and \u201cillegal preaching,\u201d a state news media outlet reported on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sentences ranged from five to 16 years, according to the state-owned China News Service, which published a short article about the crimes of \u201cviolent terrorism\u201d in the southern Xinjiang city of Kashgar.<\/p>\n The article did not indicate the ethnicity of the defendants, but a vast majority of previous terrorism convictions have involved Uighurs<\/a>, the largely Muslim, Turkic-speaking people who make up more than 90 percent of the city\u2019s population.<\/p>\n A storied outpost on the ancient Silk Road, Kashgar has been at the center of violence<\/a> in the region that has claimed hundreds of lives in the past year. Uighurs<\/a> have protested discrimination, restrictive religious policies and the suppression of Uighur-language education as people from the Han majority have settled in Xinjiang by the millions.<\/p>\n Those whose sentences were announced on Tuesday included people who were convicted of continuing to work after being dismissed from religious positions, \u201cinciting ethnic hatred and discrimination,\u201d \u201cexploiting superstition to undermine implementation of the law\u201d or \u201cpicking quarrels and provoking trouble,\u201d the news report said.<\/p>\n Another category of defendants included so-called wild imams, who illegally deliver sermons.<\/p>\n The report featured a photograph of the accused wearing signs around their necks listing their crimes, but it did not say how they had been involved in acts of terrorism.<\/p>\n The public sentencing, which reportedly took place on Monday, was part of an aggressive, high-profile campaign<\/a> against religious extremism that began in May. It has included a crackdown on young men who download jihadist speeches from the Internet, but also limitations on the practice of Islam outside state-approved mosques. In recent months, the authorities in some cities in Xinjiang have tried to ban women from wearing veils, or men from growing long beards.<\/p>\n According to the China News Service, Mayor Enwaer Tursun of Kashgar praised the sentences, saying religious extremism had \u201cseriously affected people\u2019s thoughts and hindered normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear when the defendants had been tried. A spokeswoman for the People\u2019s Court of Kashgar said that all 22 suspects had been represented by defense lawyers, but that she was not authorized to discuss the cases.<\/p>\n