Mar 24, 2015

East Turkestan: Three Executed over Kunming Station Attack


Chinese authorities executed three Uyghurs convicted of involvement in the Kunming knife attack. Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad were convicted of murder and terrorism offences in relation to the attack that took place at Kunming station in March 2014. Beijing blamed the attack on Muslim extremists from East Turkestan, but activist groups say the unrest in the region is due to the suppression of Uyghurs' cultural and religious freedoms. Police have claimed the men did not take part in the attack but had trained others for terror activities.

 

Below is an article published by BBC


Three men convicted of involvement in the Kunming knife attack have been executed, a court in China says.

Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad were convicted in September of murder and terrorism offences.

The attack at Kunming station in March 2014, left 31 people dead and more than 140 injured. It caused shock across China.

Beijing blamed it on Muslim extremists from Xinjiang, next to Central Asia.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur minority. It has seen a series of violent attacks and clashes which Beijing blames on separatists inspired by terror groups outside China.

Uighur activists say the suppression of residents' cultural and religious freedoms is fuelling unrest in the region and attacks elsewhere in China.

Police say three men did not take part in the station attack but had trained others for terror activities, the Xinhua state news agency reported. They were arrested two days before the attack, as they were trying to leave China.

They were put to death on Tuesday, the Kunming City Intermediate People's Court said.

Police shot dead four other assailants during the attack. One woman has been jailed for life.

Uighurs and Xinjiang

Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims

They make up about 45% of the region's population; 40% are Han Chinese

China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan

Since then, there was large-scale immigration of Han Chinese

Uighurs fear erosion of traditional culture

Who are the Uighurs?

Photo Courtesy of: BBC