A court in Xinjiang has tried and sentenced three suspects accused of joining in an outburst of needle-stabbing that ignited sometimes deadly riots and deepened ethnic divisions in the tense frontier region.
The Intermediate Court of Urumqi yesterday announced jail sentences of up to 15 years against the suspects — the first to appear before a judge over the scare — the Xinhua news agency reported.
Muhutaerjiang Turdi, a 34-year-old man, and Aimannisha Guli, a 22-year-old woman, were jailed for 10 years and seven years respectively. They were accused of using a syringe to threaten a taxi driver into giving them 710 yuan (US$103), Xinhua reported.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In a separate trial in the same court, Yilipan Yilihamu, 19, was sentenced to 15 years on a charge of “spreading false dangerous substances.”
He was accused of jabbing a woman with a pin while she bought fruit at a stall, Xinhua said.
The report said the defendants were Uighurs.
Urumqi has been struggling to return to order after panic and protests over claims that Uighurs used syringes to attack residents, especially members of China’s Han ethnic Chinese majority, who many Uighurs see as an unwelcome and growing presence in the region.
TIBET
Meanwhile, a British minister underlined London’s support for greater Tibetan autonomy on an unprecedented visit to Lhasa last week.
Junior Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis visited China from Monday to Thursday and made the first ever trip to Tibet by a British government member, 18 months after an internationally criticized Chinese crackdown in Tibet.
“This is a historic visit,” the office quoted him as saying on Friday, adding that it was in the context of “our decision to change UK policy, and the significant international concern following the events in March 2008.”
“We recognise Tibet as an autonomous region of China ... But long-term stability can only be achieved through respect for human rights and greater autonomy,” the statement quote him as saying.
“This depends on substantive dialogue between the Chinese government and the representatives of the Dalai Lama,” he said.
In Tibet, Lewis met the chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Drepung Monastery.
Ahead of the visit, pro-Tibet campaigners urged Lewis to speak out against China’s rule of the Himalayan territory and human rights abuses there.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary