YINCHUAN, March 21 -- A man who murdered his wife and six other family members last October was sentenced to death on Friday by a court in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Ma Yongdong was given the death sentence and was deprived of his political rights for life by Pengyang County People's Court.

Ma had confessed to the murders and accepted the verdict.

Ma killed his pregnant wife, her parents and grandparents and two nieces aged three and one in their Wengou Village home in Pengyang on the night of Oct. 14, 2013 after an argument that afternoon.