Forty-five people were given jail terms ranging from four years to life imprisonment for terrorism, the local people's courts in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said on Thursday.

The regional High People's Court said on Thursday that the  suspects were tried in 10 cases in courts in Yili, Aksu, Hotan, Kashgar and Karamay recently.

The 45 people were accused of helping others illegally cross the Chinese border, organizing, leading and participating in terrorism and funding terrorist organizations.

In two of the cases, 18 human traffickers from other parts of the country were found guilty of helping more than 300 people enter Vietnam, making illegal profits of nearly 2 million yuan ($312,000).

Human traffickers Wei Hai and Chen Qianggui were sentenced to life in prison while the other 16 were handed prison terms ranging from seven to 15 years, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

In a case tried in Kashgar, five people were sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison after being arrested on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan attempting to join the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and Taliban terrorist groups.

The group often gathered to read books on religious extremism, watch videos featuring violent terrorism and conspire to migrate to other countries to join the jihad, the local court found.

In another case in Hotan, three were sentenced to 10 to 15 years for forging Turkish passports and attempting to fly from Beijing to Turkey to join the jihad, reports said.