China issues Guidelines to 'Rehabilitate' Terrorism Accused

The Chinese counter-terrorism-related ministries have jointly issued a guideline on legal procedures to rehabilitate terrorism accused.

The four departments; Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), Supreme People's Court (SPC), Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) jointly issued the guideline which states people who write, publish, broadcast or advocate terrorism-related content online, will be criminally liable, Chinamil reported Monday.

The guideline aims to ‘safeguard national security, social stability and ensure public safety by punishing terrorism and extremism,” the SPP website reported Thursday.

The guideline also specifies the crimes of aiding terrorist activities, preparing terrorist activities and wearing clothes or symbols which advocate terrorism and extremism.

The guideline provides a legal basis and clear punishment standard for the country to deal with acts against social stability, especially in border regions such as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Xiong Kunxin, an ethnic studies expert and professor at Beijing's Minzu University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

Separately, Zhao Kezhi, the minister of the MPS and head of the National Counter-terrorism Leading Group, completed a four-day visit on Friday to Xinjiang on anti-terrorism, Xinjiang Daily reported on Saturday.

Zhao visited Urumqi and southern Xinjiang areas, including Hotan, Kashgar, and the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous prefectures, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

"Zhao went to Xinjiang as the minister of the MPS for the first time. Xinjiang's stability will continue to be an important mission of the department, especially in southern Xinjiang, where terrorist activities are rampant," Xiong noted.

Zhao also visited the family of a police officer in Kashgar, who died 20 years ago in an explosion, capitalnews, a WeChat account affiliated with the Beijing Daily, reported.

"Zhao's visit encouraged police officers in Xinjiang to actively devote to maintaining regional stability," Xiong noted.