25-04-2024 07:27 AM Jerusalem Timing

China Sentences Two to Death over Attack on Kah Mosque

China Sentences Two to Death over Attack on Kah Mosque

A court in China’s far west has sentenced to death two teenagers for the killing of the head of the country’s biggest mosque

A court in China's far west has sentenced to death two teenagers for the killing of the head of the country's biggest mosque, state media reported.
  
The Kashgar Intermediate People's Court on Sunday handed down the death penalty to Gheni Hasan and Nurmemet Abidilimit "on charges of forming and leading terrorist groups and murder", the official Xinhua news agency said.
  
A third person, Atawulla Tursun, received a life sentence for "taking part in terrorist groups and murder", Xinhua said. "The court said the gang, led by Gheni Hasan, was influenced by religious extremism and trained its members to murder patriotic religious figures," the report said.
  
The state-run China Daily newspaper on Monday gave Abidilimit's age as 19 and Hasan's as 18, though it identified Hasan as Aini Aishan, a Chinese transliteration.
  
Jume Tahir, the government-appointed imam of the 600-year-old Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, was killed on July 30.
  
The reports said Abidilimit and two others killed the imam, adding that the others were shot dead by police in an ensuing manhunt.