Xinjiang courts sentence 9 for inciting hatred

Nine people were punished by local courts in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Wednesday on criminal charges of inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination by using the Internet, a regional official confirmed on Thursday.

The nine convicts were given a sentence ranging from two to six years by courts in the Aqsu Prefecture and Kashgar on Wednesday, Hou Hanmin, a deputy director with the publicity department under the regional Party committee, told the Global Times.

Meanwhile, another two offenders were handed administrative punishment by local police in Bachu county and Urumqi, Hou added.

A Uyghur suspect, who uploaded videos and e-books from illegal websites advocating religious fanaticism, "crusade," "immigration" and hatred toward ethnic groups to the data storage website doucin.com in 2012, was sentenced to six years by an Aqsu Intermediate People's Court, the Xinjiang Daily reported Thursday.

In another case, eight suspects, incited by religious extremism who rushed into the homes of 10 families in Yexian county, Kashgar, to smash 17 televisions in February, were sentenced to two to five years.

Local police in Bachu put a man in detention for 15 days and fined him 500 yuan ($81.5), after he uploaded to his blog audio files by overseas terrorist organizations in April, which spread ideas on religious extremism and terrorism to incite hatred among ethnic groups.

Similarly, a local resident surnamed Gu was given a five-day administrative detention by police in Urumqi after fabricating rumors about suicide bombings on the online messaging service QQ on May 21.