China has sentenced to death another five people over riots in the country's western region of Xinjiang, according to officials in Urumqi, the provincial capital. |
The sentences, reported on Thursday, bring to 22 the number of people sentenced to death over the unrest.
A statement from the regional government said that the new cases were from among 22 people who received various sentences in trials that took place earlier in the week in the regional capital of Urumqi.
The Xinjiang riots, which occured in July, saw ethnic Uighurs attack members of China's Han majority, leaving nearly 200 people dead.
It was unclear what charges had been brought against the defendants.
Executions
Hou Hanmin, the director of the Xinjiang government information office, refused to say what the charges were, but said they had been published in local newspapers.
The internet has been blocked in Xinjiang since July and local newspaper websites cannot be accessed from outside the region.
The court in Urumqi also sentence five people to death with a two-year suspension - a sentence that is usually commuted to life imprisonment - and jailed another eight people for life, according to a statement reported by the Reuters news agency.
Nine people were executed in November over the riots, and eight others were sentenced to death earlier this month.
Following the July riots, mobs of Han Chinese roamed the streets of Urumqi staging attacks on Uighurs in revenge.
Cambodia deportations
Thursday's sentencing comes days after a decision by the government of Cambodia to deport 20 Uighurs who had sought asylum there after fleeing the unrest in Xinjiang.
They were deported last week to China, a decision criticised by human rights groups and the US government.
The UN refugee agency also condemned the deportations.
The Cambodian government said the Uighurs were being deported for breaking immigration laws and entering Cambodia illegally.
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