Kadeer said the death sentences passed over the July riot would not create peace and stability [AFP]

Speaking on a visit to New Zealand, Rebiya Kadeer, who herself was jailed for several years in China before being released into exile in the US, said she did not believe the trials of the six had been conducted fairy under Chinese or international law.

"This is not going to create peace and stability in the region, this will further enrage the Uighur people," she through an interpreter, a day after the sentences were passed by a court in western China.

The six were convicted of what Chinese state media said were serious crimes committed during last July's riots in Urumqi, capital of China's far western region of Xinjiang.

Almost 200 people were killed in the unrest, according to Chinese state media, which said most of the dead were ethnic Han Chinese killed by Uighur rioters.

The ethnicity of those sentenced on Monday was not reported, although all appeared to have Uighur names.

The convictions are the first to be reported since the July 5 riots which broke out following street protests against attacks on Uighur workers at a toy factory in southern China in June that left two Uighurs dead.

Urumqi has been under extremely heavy security since the July riots, with armed police manning road blocks and patrolling the streets.

According to earlier reports police have detained more than 700 people suspected of crimes related to the riots, although how many will face prosecution remains unclear.

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