China jails 39 over violence in Xinjiang

39 people have been sentenced to up to 15 years imprisonment for inciting violence in northwest China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang region within the last two months, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday, citing the regional higher court. "The guilty were sentenced in 16 separate trials since March 31 for spreading videos that incited violence, organizing and taking part in terrorist activities, advocating ethnic hatred and illegally manufacturing firearms," said Yu Huitang, spokesman with the Xinjiang Regional Higher People's Court, adding that organized terrorist crimes have become a priority for the court. China has witnessed a surge in the number of terror attacks under the name of Islam, which have caused deaths and serious losses, the report said. In the latest cases, three people were killed and 79 injured in an attack on April 30 at a railway station in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Earlier in March, assailants killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 at a railway station in the southwestern city of Kunming. A police investigation found evidence linking the crimes to Xinjiang separatists. "Separatists from home and abroad have resorted to Internet communication methods and mobile storage devices to incite activities," said Yu. Courts, procuratorate, public security, cultural, industry and commerce departments in Xinjiang have launched a concerted combat against the illegal spreading of video and audio that incites violence, according to the spokesman. He said the sentences are a warning to those who have religious extremist thoughts and intend to incite violence. About 41.5 percent of Xinjiang's 21 million population are Uygurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group. China took control of the area in 1949