The Higher People's Court of central China's Hubei Province on Friday sentenced Peng Ming, a Chinese national extradited from Myanmar, to life imprisonment after convicting him of organizing and leading terrorist organizations, kidnapping and holding fake currencies.

The court also deprived Peng of his political rights for life and fined him 35,000 yuan (about 4,300 U.S. dollars), upholding a verdict issued in the first instance trial in October.

Court investigation showed that since November 2000, Peng had disseminated and pushed forward his propositions of violence and terrorism, recruited terrorists and incited kidnapping, murder and other terrorist activities through publishing books and Internet articles, and had formulated teaching schemes on terrorism.

To obtain funds for his terrorist activities, Peng masterminded, organized and directed six kidnaps in Wuhan, Changsha and Beijing from early 2002 to May 2004.

The court found that Peng plotted and established a terrorist training base in Myanmar from June of 2003 to early 2004, and demanded all trainees of the base enroll new members and carry out terrorist activities after returning to China.

Peng was arrested by Myanmar police on May 22, 2004 when he was carrying 10,800 yuan (about 1,300 U.S. dollars) of fake Chinese currency into Myanmar from Thailand. A local court in Myanmar sentenced Peng to seven years in jail on May 26, 2004. Later, Myanmar handed over Peng to the Chinese judicial authorities in accordance with an agreement between the two countries.

The Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan City, capital of Hubei, issued a verdict in the first instance trial in October, and Peng raised an appeal.

Source: Xinhua