Courts in Xinjiang will put sustained high pressure on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, said Rozi Ismail, chief judge of the northwest Chinese autonomous region, on Monday.

 

"Stability is paramount in Xinjiang and it is mainly threatened by the 'three evil forces'," said Rozi Ismail, who is in Beijing to attend the annual parliamentary session as a nonvoting delegate.

 

"If we cease cracking down, the society will turn chaotic and economic and social development will be seriously harmed," said Rozi Ismail, president of the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang.

 

The courts in Xinjiang have handled a number of cases involving the "three evil forces" and effectively curbed violent activities, the chief judge said.

 

The criminal activities of the forces include murder, bombing, poisoning and arson, and criminals involved will face severe penalties up to capital punishment, he said.

 

However, the chief judge said he had demanded all courts in Xinjiang to separate members deceived or intimidated into crimes from the leading members of a gang.

 

Days ago, Ismail Tiliwaldi, chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, told a press conference at the parliamentary session that the room for terrorist activities has been shrinking in Xinjiang as "the number of good people is increasing and bad people decreasing."

 

Xinjiang police crushed a terrorist training camp in January, in which 18 terrorists were killed and 17 others captured. The police also seized 22 hand grenades and more than 1,500 half-finished grenades, and some home-made explosives.

 

The training camp was run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group that the United Nations in 2002 labeled a terrorist organization. Leading terrorists in the camp had been trained by Taliban and Al-Qaeda and stole into Xinjiang later.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)