For many (read: the Chinese government) this will represent a measure of closure for for a rapid succession of terrorist incidents that occurred in Xinjiang right before the Olympics (and one right after). Granted, the two suspects sentenced yesterday are supposedly responsible for an incident that was merely one of many – still awaiting sentences are the the hijacking incident suspects (who may face a more protracted legal process as they possibly are citizens of Pakistan), suspects for the Kucha attack, and the old lady and 8 year old kid apprehended in Peziwat in an incident that probably occurred during pursuit of people connected to the Kucha attack. Nonetheless the Kashgar attack was the most violent and most clearly defined instance of violence with terrorist intent against agents of the sovereign government.

Or was it? In September a tourist traveling in Kashgar at the time gave the New York Times some pictures he took during the aftermath of terrorist attack and the only eyewitness account of it, which was, frankly, befuddling and vague but nonetheless was enough to cast doubt on the official version of things, should we decide to take the alleged eyewitness’ photos and testimony seriously. As usual, the whole incident is mired in doubt, suspicion, and, most crucially, a lack of clear information, meaning that one can only speculate and make insinuations with word choice. Like, China hands death sentence to Xinjiang attackers (Reuters), two ‘terrorists’ will be executed (AFP – scare quotes in original), and Two Uighurs sentenced to death (NYT) – all hesitating to come out and just say plain terrorist. Well, except for terrorists sentenced to death from the China Daily.  But the China Daily is not a newspaper known for being unsure about anything, is it? I’m sure there’s one thing all the outlets can agree on, and that’s the impending deaths of two Uyghurs named Abdurahman Azat and Kurbanjan Hemit.