39 sentenced for inciting violence in Xinjiang

Thirty-nine people have been sentenced to up to 15 years imprisonment for inciting violence in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region within the last two months, the regional higher court said on Wednesday.

Yu Huitang, spokesman with the Xinjiang Regional Higher People's Court, said the guilty were sentenced in 16 separate trials since March 31 for spreading videos that incited violence, organizing and taking part in terrorist activities, advocating ethnic hatred and illegally manufacturing firearms.

Yu said organized terrorist crimes have become a priority for the court.

China has witnessed a surge in the number of terror attacks under the name of Islam, which have caused deaths and serious losses.

In the latest cases, three people were killed and 79 injured in an attack on April 30 at a railway station in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Earlier in March, assailants killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 at a railway station in the southwestern city of Kunming. A police investigation found evidence linking the crimes to Xinjiang separatists.

Yu said separatists from home and abroad have resorted to Internet communication methods and mobile storage devices to incite activities.

He said courts, procuratorate, public security, cultural, industry and commerce departments in Xinjiang have launched a concerted combat against the illegal spreading of video and audio that incites violence.

He said the sentences are a warning to those who have religious extremist thoughts and intend to incite violence.