China executes 9 Uighurs over July ethnic riots

Nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death in the unrest, the official China News Service reported yesterday.
The nine were put to death recently after a final review of the verdicts by the Supreme People's Court as required by law, the news service said, but gave no specific date or other details.
They had been convicted of murder and other crimes committed during the riots in the western city of Urumqi in China's worst ethnic violence in decades.
Hundreds of people were rounded up in the wake of the riots, in which Uighurs attacked members of China's Han ethnic majority on July 5, only to face retaliatory attacks two days later. Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim ethnic group linguistically and culturally distinct from the Han and many resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland.
China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Four months after the violence, Xinjiang remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut and international direct dialling calls blocked.