Fifty-five people have been brought to a mass trial in Xinjiang, China, and have been sentenced for various crimes including terrorism, murder, and separatism.

The sentencing of the Muslim Uighur defendants, which was held in Yili near the China-Kazakhstan border, was attended by around 7,000 spectators. Three of them received the death sentence, based on a state media report cited by BBC News.

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The Chinese government has blamed Uighur militants for the recent series of violent attacks in different parts of the country. Based on reports, the three people who received death sentences had murdered a family in an "extremely cruel" way in 2013 using some weapons.

According to Celia Hatton of BBC News Beijing, mass sentencing had been held in the 1960s and 1970s during the Cultural Revolution, when a crowd would gather to condemn the people who defied the Communist Party leadership. In the next few decades until the 1990s, the government also used public trials to quell down crime incidents in the country.

This kind of public spectacle seems to be the government's way of showing a bit of force after it had launched a nationwide campaign against terrorism with a special focus on Xinjiang. Last week, Chinese officials announced that they will begin a one-year anti-militant violence campaign in Xinjiang and will not allow people to conduct or support extremist movements.

The announcement came on the heels of the death of 39 people during a suicide bombing attack in an Urumqi street market launched last week by five terrorists. China believes that Uighur separatists were responsible for the market bombing and other recent terror attacks in the region.

These attacks include the Beijing incident, where a car crashed into a crowd in Tiananmen Square, resulting in five deaths. Railway stations in Kunming and Urumqi have also been attacked by terrorists.

Beijing claims it is investing money in Xinjiang, but some members of the Uighur community say that the government is trying to take away their freedom and traditions.

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