URUMQI, July 11 -- Courts in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have given 32 people prison terms ranging from four years to life imprisonment for spreading terror-related audio and video and organizing terrorist groups.

The courts in seven cities and prefectures of Xinjiang, including Urumqi, Aksu, Kizilsu Kirgiz, Ili, Hotan, Turpan and Bortala, handed down verdicts in 11 terror audio and video cases on Thursday.

Among them, three were sentenced to life in prison and the remaining 29 were sentenced to between four and 15 years in prison, the regional publicity department said in a press release on Friday.

The suspects were found to have used phones and the Internet to store, download and spread religious extremism and violent terror audio and video files, said the statement.

They were convicted of using the materials to lead and organize terrorist groups, illegally make explosives, instigate ethnic hatred and discrimination and teach criminal methods, it said.

To fight terrorism, the regional government launched a year-long campaign in late May in the wake of a string of deadly attacks, including one at an open market in the regional capital of Urumqi on May 22 that left 39 innocent people dead and 94 injured.

To guard against possible terrorist attacks, police authorities nationwide have beefed up armed patrols and other precautions.

Terrorist attacks have spread to other parts of the country with an attack near Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on October 28 and another at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on March 1 killing 29 and injuring 143.