URUMQI - A court in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Tuesday sentenced Ablikim Abdiriyim to nine years in prison on charges of instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.

Ablikim Abdiriyim was also deprived of political rights for three years, the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi announced after the first trial.

Ablikim Abdiriyim was found having spread secessionist articles over the Internet, instigated public against government, and written articles distorting China's human rights and ethnic policies, according to the court.