BEIJING: Courts in China’s restive far western region of Xinjiang have sentenced four people to death for violence in two cities over the summer which left 32 people dead, a government website said.

The government blamed the incidents in Kashgar and Hotan – both in the majority Uighur southern part of Xinjiang – on religious extremists and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang, resent Chinese rule and controls on their religion, culture and language.

The courts in the two cities found the four, who all appeared to be Uighurs judging by their names, to be guilty of crimes including involvement in terrorism, arson and murder, the Xinjiang government website said late on Wednesday.

“Both cases were heard in open courts in accordance with the law, with representatives from all walks of life attending,” the report said. “During the trial, the accused … confessed everything.”

But the Germany-based exile group the World Uyghur Congress said the four had been tortured while in detention and were given only very limited access to lawyers. Full story