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Andrea Chen

Three people were sentenced to death by a Yunnan court for their role in the attack at a Kunming rail station that killed 31 people and injured 141 in March.
A fourth defendant, a pregnant woman, was given a life sentence, the city's intermediate people's court said on its weibo account.
Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad were found guilty of "organising and leading a terrorist group" and intentional homicide after the one-day trial.

Patigul Tohti, who was wounded and captured at the scene, was jailed for life after being convicted of taking part in the attack.
She was given a more lenient sentence because it emerged she was pregnant while in detention, the court said.
The ethnicity of the suspects was not given, but authorities said translators were present at the trial "to protect the rights of the defendants".
According to the court, the group was influenced by religious fundamentalism and began to meet in December for physical training.
Tohtunyaz helped them to acquire more than 10 knives used in the attack.
They continued to meet in February at a hair salon in Gejiu, near Kunming, and plot their strategy, it said.

Two days before the attack, local police arrested Tohtunyaz, Ehet and Muhammad as they tried to illegally cross into Vietnam via Honghe county, the court said. They did not confess to the planned attack after their capture, and so should bear full responsibility for the loss of life, the court said.
Despite losing contact with the three men, five other members of the group went ahead with the attack.
Police shot dead four of them, and captured the fifth, Tohti, after she was wounded.
Initial reports by a variety of media, some quoting witnesses, said eight people brandished knives in the Saturday, March 1 attack.
But the court account places only five assailants at the scene.
Police announced on the Monday after the attack that three suspects had been taken into custody, which now appears to be a reference to the trio detained on February 27.
At least five more people will be tried over the attack, Xinhua has reported.
More than 300 people, including victims and their relatives, attended the trial.
The government has blamed separatist forces from Xinjiang for the attack.
Uygur activists say the government's high-handed policies fuel discrimination against them by the Han. Mainland authorities have launched a massive crackdown against terrorism in wake of a string of violent attacks in the restive Xinjiang region and other cities on the mainland.
In June, courts around Xinjiang sentenced nine people to death in a mass trial of 81 terror suspects, state media reported.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
 


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Three given death penalty over Kunming rail station attack

Kunming railway station attack

The four defendants accused of participating in an attack at Kunming train station went on trial on Friday. Photos: Reuters

Armed policemen outside Kunming railway station on March 2 following the terroist attack. Photo: AP

Police stand near luggage left at the ticket office in the station after the attack. Photo: Reuters

Four suspects in deadly Kunming station attack charged with terror offences

Paramilitary police patrol Kunming railway station in the wake of the attack. Photo: EPA

Kunming massacre gang 'tried to become jihadists overseas' before station attack

Chinese police and paramilitary soldiers patrol the streets after the attack at the main train station in Kunming, Yunnan province. Photo: AFP 

A man holds a poster with slogans urging retaliation against terrorists on a square outside Kunming Train Station. Photo: AP

Luggage lies scattered inside the Kunming Railway Station after the attack. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

Influenced by religious extremism, trio plotted knife rampage, court says, while a fourth defendant handed life sentence for taking part


Three people were sentenced to death by a Yunnan court for their role in the attack at a Kunming rail station that killed 31 people and injured 141 in March.
