China's security services regularly crack down on activists in Xinjiang province

The Chinese court ruled on Thursday that Huseyin Celil was a member of the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation and said that he was guilty of helping Chinese Muslims to travel to Pakistan for military training.
 
Celil, who has dual Chinese-Canadian citizenship, has denied any involvement in "terrorism" while acknowledging his role in promoting Uighur culture and Islam among Chinese Muslims.
 
He is the second member of China's Uighur ethnic minority to be jailed on terrorism charges in the past week.
 
Celil was sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, a majority Muslim area of northwest China.
 
The region is home to an estimated eight million Uighurs, a Turkic, largely Muslim people who share linguistic and cultural ties with their Central Asian neighbours.

Muslim Uighurs are a majority in China's north-western Xinjiang province

"The Canadian government is reviewing the verdict and will have a reaction in due course," the spokesman said.
 
"We continue to be in very close contact with the family and offering them what assistance we can at this time."
 
It is not known if Celil will appeal against his sentence.
 
He was arrested in Uzbekistan in March 2006 while visiting his family and was then extradited to China.

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