Rights Group, Uyghur Activist Condemn China

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
28 November 2006

A leading international rights organization and exiled Muslim dissident Rebiya Kadeer have condemned China for targeting her children.

Kadeer's youngest son, Alimu Ahbudurimu, have been sentenced to seven years for tax evasion, while another son, Kahaer Ahbudurimu, has been found guilty of the same charges, but was spared a jail term.

A third son, Ablikim Abdureyim, is facing subversion charges.

Kadeer linked the persecution of her sons to her election as president of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress on November 26.

Amnesty International denounced a "pattern of threats and harassment" against the families of human rights activists in China.

Kadeer is a leading figure in the movement to defend the rights of the Uyghur people, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in northwestern China that is believed to number about 8 million.

She was jailed for five years for having given state secrets to foreigners before being sent into exile in the United States in 2005.