HONG KONG, March 27 (UPI) -- About 20 ethnic Muslims in China's Xinjiang province have been convicted of militant separatism and sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Courts in Kashgar and Bayingol prefectures in the northwestern Chinese province handed down sentences ranging from 5 years to life in prison in five separate cases, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
While the ethnicity of the defendants, their distinctive names and the specific allegations indicate they are Uighur, a Muslim ethnic group with a Turkic language.
Chinese media reported the suspects were accused of being "seduced by ideas of religious extremism and terrorist violence" and used "the Internet, mobile phones and digital storage devices to organize, lead and participate in terror organizations, provoke incidents and incite separatism."
While Uighurs once made up was the dominant group in the province, their numbers have fallen as Han Chinese immigrated into the area. Tensions in Xinjiang have risen between the groups as the government tightened controls on the region and the practice of Islam.
Some of those convicted in Kashgar were accused of using cellphones and videos to spread the militant ideas of the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement," and the "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," which China has accused of a separatist ideology.
One person in Bayingol was convicted to setting up a chat room to promote "ethnic separatism, terrorist violence and religious extremism."
