A court in Xinjiang has sentenced 25 people for a variety of terrorism-related offenses, including setting up an “illegal religious group which preached jihad and other violent, extremist ideologies.” Edward Wong at the New York Times reports:
The names of the 25 people sentenced indicated that they were all from the Uighur ethnic minority.
[…] The sentences, issued by a court under the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a powerful state entity that oversees large areas of farmland and other industries in Xinjiang, ranged from three years in prison to life imprisonment. [Source]
Reuters has more on the charges against the men:
One of the group was responsible for buying knives and explosive devices and for planning attacks on police posts and government officials, the paper said.
Others were responsible for raising funds for their holy war or helping fugitives flee from justice, it added.
Hundreds of people have died in violence in Xinjiang in the last two years or so, and the past few weeks have seen dozens of people jailed, some at mass public sentencings reminiscent of China’s revolutionary-era rallies. [Source]
Dozens of people have died in recent attacks and conflicts in Xinjiang, though the details of many incidents remain murky with the media and other observers not allowed to independently investigate.