China Sentences Two Ex-Xinjiang Officials to Death on Separatism Charges

Two former government officials in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang have been sentenced to death on charges involving separatism. 

Wang Langtao, the vice president of Xinjiang’s higher people’s court, told reporters Tuesday that Sattar Sawut and Shirzat Bawudun have both been granted a two-year reprieve on their sentences.  Such sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment.  Sattar Sawut, a former education official, has been convicted of incorporating ethnic separatism violence, terrorism and religious extremism into Uighur-language school textbooks.   Shirzat Bawudun, a former head of Xinjiang’s regional justice department, has been convicted of colluding with members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has been listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations, as well as carrying out “illegal religious activities at his daughter’s wedding.”