July 2009 Ürümqi riots

A series of violent riots over several days broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China. The first day's rioting, which involved at least 1,000 Uyghurs,^[12] began as a protest, but escalated into violent attacks that mainly targeted Han people. According to Chinese state media, a total of 197 people died, most of whom were Han people or non-Muslim minorities,^[10][7] with 1,721 others injured^[8] and many vehicles and buildings destroyed. Many Uyghurs disappeared during wide-scale police sweeps in the days following the riots; Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented 43 cases^[13] and said figures for real disappearances were likely to be much higher.^[14]

Rioting began following the Shaoguan incident, where false accusations of rape of a Han woman by Uyghur men led to a brawl between ethnic Han and Uyghur factory workers in Shaoguan, resulting in the deaths of two Uyghurs who were both from Xinjiang.^[15] The Chinese government claimed that the riots were planned from abroad by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and its leader Rebiya Kadeer.^[16][1] Kadeer denies fomenting the violence.^[17]

When the riots began, telephone and internet connections within Xinjiang were cut off. In the weeks that followed, official sources reported that over 1,000 people were arrested and detained;^[10] Uyghur-run mosques were temporarily closed.^[18] The communication limitations^[19] and armed police presence remained in place as of January 2010.^[20] By November 2009, over 400 individuals faced criminal charges for their actions during the riots.^[11] Nine were executed in November 2009.^[21] According to China News Service, they were executed for crimes such as murder or arson.^[21] By February 2010, at least 26 had received death sentences.^[22]