Uyghur minority group: November 2006 Archives

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.

By Daniel Nolan | The Hamilton Spectator
November 21, 2006

Though it hasn't altered his plight, the wife and lawyer of a Burlington man held by China are taking comfort his imprisonment was raised in a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and China's president.

Chris MacLeod, lawyer for Huseyin Celil and his wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, said he didn't expect Harper's meeting with Hu Jintao in Hanoi on the weekend to immediately produce results, but he called it "a quantum shift" that the prime minister raised the situation.

"I'm absolutely pleased that he did," said MacLeod, who spoke to officials from the Prime Minister's Office yesterday. "I think the important message was that at the highest levels of this government, the Canadian government, this is a top priority.

"Nothing's changed, but I think the change is -- message sent, message received. I think China knows this is something that is a top priority and they need to deal with it to deal with Canada."

Celil, 37, has been in Chinese custody since the end of June. The father of six was accused of terrorist activities, but his family and friends say he's being persecuted because he's a member of the Uyghur minority group.

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