Uyghur minority group: February 2007 Archives

By Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
09 February 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned China Friday not to threaten Canada with economic repercussions for bringing up the Asian country's human rights record and standing up for the rights of Canadians abroad.

"I would point out to any Chinese official that just as a matter of fact, China had a huge trade surplus with this country, so it would be in the interest of the Chinese government to make sure any dealings on trade are fair and above board," Harper told reporters Friday in Halifax.

The prime minister's comments came in response to statements from a Chinese official, who warned that Ottawa's criticism of China's human rights record could be straining relations between the two countries.
Harper also dismissed reports suggesting trade between Canada and China has been hurt by a lack of trust between the two countries and hit out at critics from within Canada's own political ranks.

There are those in the opposition who will say, 'You know, China is an important country, so we shouldn't really protest these things … so maybe someday we'll be able to sell more goods there,'" said Harper, who was in Halifax to speak the annual general meeting of Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservative party.

"I think that's irresponsible. I think the government of Canada, when a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it's always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that Canadian citizen.

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By RADIO FREE ASIA
February 08, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8—Chinese authorities in the far-west city of Urumqi today executed an ethnic Uyghur man for allegedly attempting to “split the [Chinese] motherland.”

“The execution was carried out at 9 a.m.,” Ismail Semed’s widow, Buhejer, told RFA’s Uyghur service. “They gave his body to us at the cemetery. Some of his relatives and friends joined us. When the body was transferred to us at the cemetery I saw only one bullet hole in his heart.”

Semed, a Uyghur political activist deported to China from Pakistan in 2003, was sentenced to death Oct. 31, 2005, by the Urumqi City Intermediate People’s Court for “attempting to split the motherland” and “possessing firearms and explosives,” according to Uyghur sources.

“The authorities informed us about the decision to execute him Monday afternoon,” she said. “They allowed us met him just for 10 minutes on Monday. He said, ‘What can I do, it's my fate… Please take care of our children, and let them get a good education.”
get a good education.”

Semed's widow:
“[It was] only for 10 minutes, we didn’t have too much time to talk…There were several of us. Previously, he had said his leg hurt, and his stomach hurt, and other parts of his body hurt, and that he needed medicine,” she said.

Confession said to be coerced
At trial, she said, Semed told the court his confession was coerced. "They forced me," she quoted him as saying. The Semeds have a young son and daughter, whose ages were not immediately available.

No comment was immediately available from Chinese officials.

Two other Uyghurs—a majority Muslim people with ethnic ties to the Turkic populations of Central Asia—had testified against him: Osman Hamit and Memet Rahmat. Both have since been executed, according to sources in the region.

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http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/