China jails 32 on online extremism, terrorism charges

URUMQI , China, July 11 (UPI) -- Courts in China's Xinjiang region sentenced 23 people Friday on charges of organizing terrorist groups and online dissemination of extremist content.

The crackdown is part of a "year-long campaign against terrorism," announced in May and largely directed at Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group in western China seeking greater autonomy and religious freedom. Chinese officials regard Uighurs as responsible for a string of bombings and other attacks on civilian targets in Beijing and Xinjiang.

The defendants allegedly used mobile phones and social media to store and spread religious extremism and terror-related content, the Xinjiang courts said, adding the defendants were also guilty of building explosives, organizing and leading terror groups and "fanning ethnic hatred and prejudice."

Three were sentenced to life imprisonment. The others received sentences of between four and 15 years, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.