China executes nine people for ethnic riots

China says it has executed nine people for their part in ethnic rioting that left almost 200 people dead in its western region of Xinjiang in July.

No details of when the nine were put to death were given, but local authorities claim eight of them were Uighurs and one was Han Chinese. They were executed following a Supreme Court review.

Hundreds of people were arrested in the wake of the riots, in some of the worst ethnic violence in China in decades.

China accuses overseas based groups calling for equal rights for Xinjiang’s Uighur community of stirring the unrest.

However, the activist group Human Rights Watch says at least 43 Uighurs, including children, who were arrested, have since disappeared.

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tags: China, Death penalty, Justice