Rightful punishment

No mercy should be shown to criminals who intentionally take other people's lives, loot property and set fire to shops with a view to disrupting social order. So the death sentences given to six criminals for their part in the July 5 murderous riot in Urumqi are delivery of justice that all people with conscience are expecting.

The riot was the most serious and horrible of its kind in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the last six decades. Altogether 197 innocent people were killed, more than 1,800 injured, and 380 shops and 169 motor vehicles smashed or burned down.

Looking at the crimes these criminals have committed, we can hardly understand how they could be so cruel and heartless. Abdukerim Abduwayit, one of the six, stabbed five people to death and burned down a building, which resulted in injuries to several people. Two of the victims were under 18 years. In another case, another of the six criminals set ablaze a grain and oil shop along with others, killing all five of a family, with the eldest victim being 82 years old and youngest just 12.