5 February 2010

CALL ON THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES TO PROTECT AND RESPECT UIGHURS’ RIGHTS

The police crackdown on peaceful Uighur demonstrations in Urumqi in July 2009 echoed incidents from the past, including the violent repression of a Uighur protest in Gulja (Chinese: Yining) 13 years ago in February 1997.

During the intervening years, the Chinese authorities have failed to effectively address Uighurs’ long-standing grievances about discrimination and widespread violations of their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.

On 5 February 1997, dozens of people were killed or injured in Gulja in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) when security forces opened fire on ethnic Uighur protesters.

That day, Uighur residentsof Gulja began a peaceful demonstration. They were protesting against the closure of independent religious schools, the banning of “meshreps” (a traditional form of social gathering), the closure of a local Uighur football league and high rates of unemployment among Uighurs.

Security forces carried out house-to-house searches detaining suspected protesters and supporters. Many of those detained were reportedly tortured, some to death.

No independent investigation is known to have taken place into the allegations of serious human rights violations in Gulja.

Violence in 2009
Violence erupted again last year in Urumqi (Chinese: Wulumuqi) and other parts of the XUAR after police cracked down on initially peaceful Uighur demonstrations on 5 July.

In 2009, the demonstrators were protesting against initial inaction following the death of at least two Uighur workers after a violent riot at a factory in southern China (Shaoguan, Guangdong province) on 26 June.

The crackdown included house-to-house searches, widespread detentions and disappearances and was followed by violence on the part of both Uighurs and Han Chinese that lasted for several days.

Official government reports state that 197 people were killed, the majority of which were Han killed by Uighurs, and that more than 1,600 people were injured.

However, eyewitnesses interviewed by Amnesty International following the unrest contradict the official version of the events. They report witnessing security forces using excessive force against Uighur protesters including beatings, use of tear gas and shooting directly into crowds of protesters, resulting in the deaths of possibly hundreds more.

No independent investigation into the July 2009 violence has taken place to date.

Repression unchecked
Since July, the authorities have detained thousands of people, brought dozens to trial and threatened those involved in the unrest with harsh sentences. By the end of January 2010, 26 people had been sentenced to death in connection with the 2009 unrest and nine executed.

The region has witnessed hasty trials and executions, a lack of legal representation for those detained and the indiscriminate rounding up and detention without charge or trial of Uighurs, under the guise of destroying the ”three forces” of “separatism, terrorism and religious extremism”.

Chinese authorities have failed to recognize and adequately address the repression and discriminatory policies that fueled the unrest in Gulja in 1997 and Urumqi in 2009.

These include arbitrary detention, unfair trials, employment discrimination, and repression of religious freedoms and cultural rights.

They have interpreted all Uighur dissent as stemming from “terrorist” or “separatist” activities, justifying their harsh crackdown on Uighurs’ civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

The ongoing human rights violations experienced by Uighurs need to be urgently addressed in order to achieve the ‘social harmony’ that the Chinese government claims to seek. The ethnic identity of Uighurs is being systematically eroded. They are being discriminated against simply because of who they are.

READ MORE
Rebiya Kadeer’s personal account of Gulja after the massacre on 5 February 1997
Uighur ethnic identity under threat in China

Image caption: A Uighur woman protests before a group of paramilitary police in Urumqi, 7 July 2009. © ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ng Han Guan

Stop human rights violations against Uighurs in China | Amnesty International

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS IN EAST TURKISTAN Uyghur Foundation Stichting Oeigoeren Nederland Stichting Uighur Jurat Barat  Stichting Uyghur Oost-Turkestan Uyghur Logo Nederlanders Holland Europe HUMAN RIGHTS  Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

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RFA

A map of China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

HONG KONG—Police in China’s remote Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region surrounded the home of an ethnic Uyghur man who died in police custody and forced the family to bury him without an inquiry into how he died, the man’s father said.

The burial on Sunday ended a tense standoff between police in remote Lengger [in Chinese, Langan] village and the family of Shohret Tursun, 31, whose badly bruised and disfigured body was released to his relatives on Saturday.

On Saturday, one villager said eight trucks of soldiers and two other armed vehicles had surrounded Tursun’s family home in Lengger [in Chinese, Langan] village in Qorghas [in Chinese, Huocheng] county, Ili prefecture—after the family refused to bury him as instructed without an inquiry.

“We locked the door of the room where we keep the body, but the police officers broke the lock,” Tursun’s father, Tursun Ishan, said in an interview. “There were too many…”

“There were police officers waiting in front of our door. From the cemetery to the house, it was full of police officers on the street. Since yesterday, there were police officers on each and every corner of the city. They wouldn’t let people from other neighborhoods join the funeral.”

“My two daughters were trying to prevent the police officers from entering, but the police were very harsh with them. We were forced to bury [the body],” Ishan said.

“They told me that he had a heart attack. But it was a lie. It is a lie. My son never had a medical problem in his life,” Ishan said.

“His body was full of wounds and bruises—his legs, belly, and back were covered with wounds and scars. His chest was full of bruises.”

Police continued to surround the family home and the cemetery shortly after midnight Tuesday, he said.

Ethnic rioting

Tursun, a member of the Uyghur ethnic minority and the father of a two-year-old, was among some 40 men from Qorghas detained around the time of deadly protests July 5 in the regional capital, Urumqi, villagers said.

The protests by Uyghurs, a largely Muslim Turkic people, followed alleged official mishandling of earlier ethnic clashes in far-away Guangdong province.

The July 5 protest sparked days of deadly rioting in Urumqi, pitting Uyghurs against majority Han Chinese and ending with a death toll of almost 200, by the government’s tally.

Tursun was detained July 6 in Urumqi. He was transferred to Ili on July 18 and Qorghas on July 23, he father said.

“If I had bribed the police officers, my son would probably be released,” he said. “I considered selling my land to save my child, but his wife and mother were afraid a bribe would make him look guilty.”

“Another boy in the same prison cell with my son was released after his family paid 30,000″ yuan, or about U.S. $4,400, he said.

About 10 days ago, relatives said, Tursun—along with Pazilat Akbar, Rabigul, Eli Hesenjan, and more than 35 others—were transferred from Urumqi to the Qorghas county jail.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China’s ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Xinjiang is a strategically crucial vast desert territory that borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

The region has abundant oil reserves and is China’s largest natural gas-producing region.

www.rfa.org

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS IN EAST TURKISTAN Uyghur Foundation Stichting Oeigoeren Nederland Stichting Uighur Jurat Barat  Stichting Uyghur Oost-Turkestan Uyghur Logo Nederlanders Holland Europe HUMAN RIGHTS  Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Erkin Alptekin Rebiya Kadeer

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