East Turkestan: Plan to demolish Uyghurs' symbol of hope

[Ray]

East Turkestan: Plan to demolish Uyghurs' symbol of hope

In a sign of increasing official pressure on the sons of Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer and her other family members in East Turkestan, Chinese authorities have forced imprisoned son Alim Abdureyim to sign documents releasing ownership of two buildings, one formerly owned by Ms. Kadeer and the other by her daughter Akida Rouzi, to the state. Judicial officials reportedly told Alim, who was escorted to a court in Urumchi before being taken back to prison, that the buildings would be demolished in about two weeks' time. The move comes following the recent transfer of another imprisoned son of Ms. Kadeer, Ablikim Abdureyim, to a high-security prison.

"In defiance of Chinese law and human decency, Chinese authorities stop at nothing to abuse my sons in prison," said Ms. Kadeer. "My sons' only 'crime' is their relationship to me- and because the Chinese government is no longer able to silence me, they are going after my family. We have seen that in other cases, such as with Chen Guangcheng, Chinese officials take a sick satisfaction in persecuting the family of those who have spoken out for truth and justice. The time has come for Chinese leaders to end the unlawful, brutal mistreatment of our loved ones."

According to a family member, Chinese authorities stated that they plan to demolish the Kadeer Trade Center and the Akida Trade Center. The family member said judicial officials told Alim, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2006, that he must sign the documents releasing ownership of the building, in exchange for very little compensation and a six-month reduction on his prison sentence. In August 2009, government authorities ordered Ms. Kadeer's children, grandchildren, and siblings to leave their homes in the Akida Trade Center . More than 30 members of the family had been living on the upper levels of the trade center.

The Kadeer Trade Center and the Akida Trade Center, which previously provided a place of employment to thousands of Uyghur merchants, have long been viewed by Uyghurs throughout East Turkestan as a symbol of hope. The Kadeer Trade Center, established by Ms. Kadeer in 1990, served for many years as the main wholesale center in East Turkestan. Uyghur businessmen at both trade centers used much of their earnings for philanthropic purposes where no government programs existed. Though empty in recent years, the buildings themselves have remained emblematic of Ms. Kadeer's former business and philanthropic endeavors. The Uyghur American Association (UAA) is concerned that if the buildings are demolished, any public expression of discontent on the part of local Uyghurs, who are likely to be dismayed over the demolition, would be met with brutal force.

According to a family member, Chinese officials are limiting both Alim and Ablikim to family visits once every two months. In general, according to China's Prison Law, prisoners' immediate family members are allowed to visit them once or twice a month. In addition, according to the family member, prison officials have restricted the amount of money relatives can bring to Alim and Ablikim on visits. This has resulted in them not having enough money to buy food, and the food they are given to eat is of very poor quality. Furthermore, they do not have enough money to see a doctor in prison, where payment is required.

Chinese authorities have also confined the grandchildren and other family members of Ms. Kadeer to their homes and prevented them from being able to secure employment. Security forces visit and interrogate Ms. Kadeer's family members several times each week. The exact location of the place where Ms. Kadeer's grandchildren and other family members reside is unclear, but according to information from a family member, they are living in a residential building in Urumchi that houses the families of security forces who monitor their activities.

It is unclear whether or not Chinese officials' recent actions against Alim are directly connected to official discontent over Ms. Kadeer's participation in the Fourth General Assembly of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in Tokyo, Japan. Chinese officials indicated their strong displeasure with the Chinese government over allowing the WUC to hold the meeting in Japan. Ms. Kadeer was reelected as president of the WUC at the mid-May forum.

In early November 2006, prior to her first election as president of the WUC, Ms. Kadeer was warned through a third party that her detained sons would suffer greatly if she were to run for the position. Alim's seven-year prison sentence was handed down later that month, on the day that Ms. Kadeer was elected as president of the WUC, and another son, Kahar, was charged with tax evasion and fined USD 12,500.

Recent developments continue a longstanding pattern of persecution of the family members of Ms. Kadeer, as well as state action against the family's business activities and properties. In response to the Uyghur human rights advocacy Ms. Kadeer has undertaken worldwide since her release from a Chinese prison in March 2005, Chinese authorities have retaliated with the imprisonment, torture, beating and harassment of her immediate and extended family. Soon after Ms. Kadeer arrived in exile in the U.S. in 2005, her son Alim Abdureyim was told to sign a statement confirming the Chinese government's allegations of tax fraud and embezzlement against his mother, and was told he would "sign it in prison after we've broken each one of your ribs" if he refused. Alim has been subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment while in prison, resulting in both physical and psychological trauma. Ablikim is also believed to have been tortured in prison.

In addition to his prison sentence on charges of tax evasion in November 2006, Alim was fined 62,500 USD. Ablikim was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of "secessionism" in April 2007. The trials of both men were plagued by a lack of evidence and conducted in the absence of due process of law. Both Alim and Ablikim were initially detained on June 1, 2006 and beaten severely by public security agents in front of their own children. Ms. Kadeer was elected president of the Uyghur American Association (UAA) on May 29, 2006 by the organization's members at the UAA's bi-annual congress in Washington, D.C.

In the wake of unrest that took place in the regional capital of Urumchi on July 5, 2009, Chinese authorities intensified their harassment against Ms. Kadeer's family, and engaged in an aggressive propaganda campaign to demonize Ms. Kadeer as the "mastermind" of the unrest. In August 2009, government authorities ordered more than 30 members of Ms. Kadeer's family, including, her children, grandchildren and siblings, to leave their homes in the Akida Trade Center. In interviews broadcast on state television in August 2009, sons Alim and Kahar, together with daughter Rushangul and younger brother Memet, were compelled to make false accusations about Ms. Kadeer's role in the unrest in Urumchi and condemn her for allegedly destroying the ethnic unity that had existed in the region. In addition, her children, their spouses and five of her young grandchildren were forced to sign a letter accusing Ms. Kadeer of having broken her promises not to participate in "ethnic splittism" when she left China.

Since convening a top-level meeting on economic development in East Turkestan in 2010 known as the Xinjiang Work Forum, Chinese authorities have focused on the promotion of trade, industry and other fields in Urumchi and other cities. Official policies have facilitated growth in Urumchi's development zones and industrial parks, and have upgraded an annual municipal trade fair into an international trade expo aimed at making the city into a center of regional commercial hub. Alongside these moves, Chinese officials have carried out demolitions of poor, largely Uyghur areas in Urumchi, leaving many Uyghur merchants from the southern part of East Turkestan without a place to live and do business in the city.

UAA calls upon the Chinese government to end its egregious persecution of the family members of Rebiya Kadeer and refrain from demolishing the Kadeer Trade Center and the Akida Trade Center. In so doing, Chinese officials would be taking a positive step toward ethnic reconciliation, and they would demonstrate their willingness to adhere to the rule of law. The continuance of the violation of family members' rights, on the other hand, demonstrates the will of a government to sacrifice the rule of law in favor of intimidation, cruelty and violence.

[Updated: 31 May 2012]

UNPO: East Turkestan: Plan to demolish Uyghurs’ symbol of hope

It is important for China to suppress the 'Face' of the Uighur Freedom movement leader, Rebiya Kadeer.

She still seems to have influence in Xinjiang, even though she is in the US now.

The problem with China, inspite of efforts to modernise ancient people and their lifestyle, they feel that by wiping out the cultural, religion, customs and traditions of such people, China will be able to sterilise them from their ancient roots and embrace the Han.

That is why anything constructive China does, it is not welcomed by people with their history and culture ingrained in their ethos and roots.

 

[Ray]

East Turkestan: Families Speak Out About Disappearances

May 16, 2012

An increasing number of families, whose loved ones remain missing as a result of the widespread arbitrary detentions carried out by Chinese authorities following the unrest in Urumqi on 5 July 2009, are publically speaking out about missing family members in a bid to attract attention to their cases. 

More families of Uyghurs missing in the aftermath of ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang region in 2009 have come forward to highlight their cases in the absence of information from the Chinese authorities.

Since RFA's Uyghur service reported last week about the plight of a Uyghur mother who said her missing son was last seen tortured and bundled to hospital three years ago, 36 families have come forward with their own stories of missing loved ones.

Exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer said about 10,000 Uyghurs have been reported missing since the July 5, 2009 violence, when ethnic tensions between the minority group and Han Chinese in Xinjiang erupted into riots that left 200 people dead in the region's capital Urumqi.

Most of them were believed taken into custody by authorities in large-scale sweep operations after the bloody incident.

Nineteen of the 36 families—from Xinjiang's capital Urumqi, Silk Road city Kashgar, and Qaraqash county in Hotan prefecture—provided details, including photos, of their missing siblings or parents to RFA.

They appealed to the international community to help pressure the Chinese authorities to release information about the missing family members.

The 19—comprising three businessmen, 10 services industry workers or salesmen, and six unemployed—were believed detained by Chinese authorities just about a month after the violence, family members said.

The detentions were confirmed by fellow prison cellmates or the police, who did not provide any other details, they said.

The youngest of the missing is 16-year-old Nabi Eli, who was last seen paraded in the streets of Urumqi on Aug. 15 [2009] with several other detainees surrounded by about 30 armed police personnel, according to his father, Elijan Rozi.

Astride a motorcycle, he tried to keep pace with a police van that took away his son, who was later forced into another police vehicle.

"They forced him into the vehicle by beating and kicking him," Elijan Rozi said. "When I witnessed that scene and I was helpless, I just asked myself for the first time why was I born into this world."

Later, he attempted to inquire about Nabi Eli's fate from the police but was told that he was not on the list of detainees.

Another missing person, musician and songwriter Eysajan Memet, also disappeared just after the Urumqi violence, leaving a pregnant wife.

"Our son is two years old now and whenever he sees any man on television he often asks me, 'Is that my father?,'" Eysajan Memet's wife Toxtigul said.

Last week, the mother of a missing Uyghur man told RFA that she has been under constant surveillance by authorities bent on dissuading her from continuing the search for her son.

Patigul Eli said her son Imammemet Eli, 25, was taken by police on July 14, 2009 and that she last heard about him nine months later when fellow inmates said he was found severely tortured and sent to a hospital. Since then, there has been no news about him.

"I don't know where my son is, whether he is alive or dead," said Patigul, who has been knocking at the doors of various government departments and police stations to seek information about her missing son.

She said that in March of 2011, she confronted Wang Mingshan, the chief of the Urumqi Public Security Department, who told her that he had received 300 requests to track down missing Uyghurs following the July 2009 riots.

"Please understand us, there are more than 300 applications to look for the missing," she quoted Wang as telling her. "We need some time to clarify this issue."

The Chinese authorities had set up centers at two hotels in Urumqi—the Global Hotel and the Changcheng Hotel—for people to report missing people following the riots, according to Kurbangul, who is looking for her son Alim Helaji.

She said during her visits to the centers, she had never come across Han Chinese looking for missing parents or siblings.

The establishment of the centers shows that there could be a large number of people who were missing, the families said.

Three months after the Urumqi riots, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said that it had documented the "enforced disappearances" of 43 Uyghur men and teenage boys detained by Chinese security forces in the wake of the protests, saying the number was "likely just the tip of the iceberg."

The youngest reported missing following the riots, one of the worst episodes of ethnic violence in China in decades, were 12 and 14 years old, Human Rights Watch said.

Many of the families of the missing who contacted RFA were troubled that they could not get the whereabouts of their children or parents from the Chinese authorities.

They said some of the families of the missing did not highlight their plight, as they could not afford to travel to the various government offices to inquire about their whereabouts.

"There are more than 100 families in Karakash county [in Hotan prefecture] who lost their relatives but have remained silent because of financial difficulties," said Elijan Said, one of whose family members is also missing.

Families looking for their missing loved ones have not given up hope and still remember their parting moments.

One of them, identified as Abdurehim Sidiq, a car mechanic, had been missing since July 5 [2009], when he went to buy shoes and never returned, according to his wife Ayse.

"That day, my husband went to Sanshixiangzi [one of the areas worst hit by the violence] to buy shoes. He had called me from the shoe store around 3:00 p.m., but when I called him back around 7:00 p.m. his phone was turned off and since then I have had no information from any officials or the public about him," his wife Ayse told RFA.

Another missing man was identified as Turghun Obulqasim, a restaurant manager at the Urumqi-based Huaqiao Hotel and among seven of its employees arrested on July 9, 2009. All except him were released six months later.

"I was able to send him 500 yuan (about U.S. $80) on the first week [of his arrest]," said Pakistani businessman Salfurat, who manages the hotel.

"Since then, I could not get any information about him and I stopped looking for him because the police started to watch me with suspicion, wondering why I was involved in a Uyghur case."

Salfurat said he had been paying Turghun Obulqasim's wife Merhaba, who is unemployed, 700 yuan (U.S. $110) a month on "humanitarian grounds, as she desperately looks for her husband."

According to Salfurat, Chinese police took into custody more than 70 employees from four restaurants, including from his hotel.

Two of the missing 19 people were Kazakhs, who like Uyghurs belong to a Turkic ethnic group. They were identified as Amantay Jumetay, 35, and Aytqazi Hasanbek, 26.

"We paid the price for race. My son was detained just because he looked more like a Uyghur than a Han Chinese," one family member said.

UNPO: East Turkestan: Families Speak Out About Disappearances

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Uighyur will slowly fade away first Chinese took their religion away from them and now
chinese are taking their identity away.

 

[Ray]

The Chinese have imposed draconian restrictions on the practice of Islam as a religion in Xinjiang and of that there is no doubt, Schoolchildren and Govt officials have to eat during Ramazan, no teaching of Islamic scriptures, no person below 18 are allowed to pray in the Mosque, so on and so forth.

Even so, Islam continues to be there and its adherents are a prickly thorn on the side of the Han Chinese.

South Xinjaing is a hotbed of Pakistan assisted insurgents.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

The Chinese have imposed draconian restrictions on the practice of Islam as a religion in Xinjiang and of that there is no doubt, Schoolchildren and Govt officials have to eat during Ramazan, no teaching of Islamic scriptures, no person below 18 are allowed to pray in the Mosque, so on and so forth.

Even so, Islam continues to be there and its adherents are a prickly thorn on the side of the Han Chinese.

South Xinjaing is a hotbed of Pakistan assisted insurgents.

Insurgency will pick up in the future. When US starts a withdrawl from Afghanistan more focus
will be given to this area by extremists.

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Uighyur will slowly fade away first Chinese took their religion away from them and now
chinese are taking their identity away.

Why is that a bad thing?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Why is that a bad thing?

For Chinese to do it and get away with it must mean it is ok with the world?

 

[Ray]

Apart from the world, one wonders what has happened to the fiery pan Islamist terrorists?

Fearing that China will bamboo them since they don't care about the whines of the Human Rights champions?