The six were convicted of murder and other crimes by a court in the regional capital Urumqi in the first trials over the riots that killed nearly 200 people and left the city riven by ethnic tension.

China Central Television (CCTV) said one other defendant was sentenced to life in prison over the unrest, in which members of the Uighur minority went on a rampage in attacks directed at members of China's dominant Han ethnic group.

Xinhua news agency said the seven, all men, were convicted in three separate cases. It identified them by names that appeared to be Uighur.

Television footage showed the defendants with their heads shaved and wearing orange and blue vests lined up or seated before the court tribunals with most of the convicted appearing to be in their twenties and thirties.

Authorities had tightened up security ahead of the trials, state media reported, apparently fearing the verdicts could touch off further violence.

China National Radio said up to 14,000 security forces were deployed in the city on Sunday to begin 24-hour patrols.

The exiled World Uighur Congress condemned the sentences, saying that the defendants were not given access to lawyers of their own choosing.

"The verdicts by China against the Uighurs were not reached in accordance with normal legal procedures but were made in accordance with political demands," congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit told AFP.

"Concerning the death sentences, we believe this will only make the overall situation worse."

Footage broadcast by CCTV showed deserted streets in front of the Urumqi court where the trials were held, with police lining sidewalks carrying riot shields and truncheons.

Locals contacted by AFP by phone shortly after the verdicts were announced said the city remained calm amid the heavy security.

Officials at the Urumqi court refused to immediately confirm the sentences when contacted by AFP.

The riots were the worst ethnic violence to hit China in decades, leaving 197 people dead, most of them Han, and more than 1,600 injured, according to the government.

Detailing the cases, Xinhua said a man named Abdukerim Abduwayit was convicted of beating five innocent people to death and setting a building on fire.

Four others sentenced were convicted of jointly beating four people to death, it said, while another defendant killed five people when he set a grain shop on fire.

The man who received life in prison, Tayirejan Abulimit, was convicted of "attacking, smashing, looting and burning," a term Chinese authorities use for rioting.

"Tayirejan Abulimit was given life imprisonment, a lesser punishment as he admitted charges of murder and robbery and helped the police capture another suspect," Xinhua said.

Police have detained at least 718 people suspected of crimes related to the unrest, earlier reports said.

Charges against 21 defendants were publicised by Xinhua late last month, with three other cases pending involving 14 other suspects who are facing charges of homicide, arson, robbery and property damage related to the riots.

China's roughly eight million Uighurs have long complained of religious, political and cultural oppression by Chinese authorities.

Uighurs say the unrest was triggered when police cracked down on peaceful protests by Uighurs over a late June brawl at a factory in southern China that state media said left two Uighurs dead.

One ethnic Han man was sentenced to death and a second handed a life prison term over that brawl in verdicts announced on Saturday in southern China.

Authorities, however, have blamed the Xinjiang unrest on "ethnic separatists," without providing any evidence, and have vowed to come down hard on those found guilty, including use of the death penalty.

Urumqi has been under extremely heavy security since the riots, tightened amid a wave of needle attacks beginning in late August which Han have blamed on Uighurs.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News