TASEK PAUH blogspot

Muslim executed for trying to 'split' China

Beijing, February 9 (Agencies) - China has executed an activist for attempting to "split the motherland", sparking protest from rights groups, which said that there was no sufficient evidence.

Ismail Semed was executed on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang, Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted his widow, Buhejer, as saying.

"When the body was transferred to us at the cemetery I saw only one bullet hole in his heart," Buhejer told the radio station on Friday.

The Xinjiang regional government declined to comment.

RFA said the charge on Semed stemmed from allegations that he was a founding member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, outlawed by Beijing as a terrorist group.

However, Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch said: "The death penalty was widely disproportionate to the alleged crimes ... his trial did not meet minimum requirements of fairness and due process." GulfNews

Labels: China, Luar Negeri, Ummah