In early December five people were sentenced to death and a further eight given prison terms, bringing to 17 sent to be executed in trials of the first two groups of people from the bloody unrest. Nine have been executed so far.

The province of Xinjiang, of which Urumqi is the capital, remains locked down with internet, text messaging and international phone access cut off.

The Australian has learned that three new trials were held today with other accused expected to be given their final sentences in coming days.

On July 5, long simmering tensions between Muslim Turkic-speaking Uighurs and the majority ethnic Han erupted as members of the minority group attacked and killed dozens of Chinese, sparking citywide violence that lasted several days in which thousands were injured along with the casualty count.

The unprecedented events saw a massive lockdown of the city and others parts of Xinjiang province where Uighurs account for about 40 per cent of the 22 million population.

The military and police presence in Urumqi has been reduced in the past few months but machine-gun-toting groups of uniformed militia regularly patrol the streets in the Uighur sector south of the Urumqi business district.

Nineteen-year-old Uighur Mehmet Maheti was sentenced to death yesterday after being found guilty of two murders and robbery. He has five days to decide whether to appeal or not.

Maheti was accused beating 41-year-old Han businessman Yang Quanhong to death on the night of July 5 – leaving a widow, his seventy-year-old parents and a son born at the end of July.

“My husband didn’t have a chance to have a single look at his son,” Mr Yang’s widow Luan Xingyan Yang told The Australian.

“He was hoping for a child for years, and got me pregnant when he was not young. It’s a feeling nobody else can experience.

“We were driving on street the evening of July 5, they dragged me and my husband out of our car and started beating him. I ran away back home for help, and they stole my mobile too.

“I called my mobile, and got through at around 2am the next day. Maheti picked up my call and said ‘we beat your husband dead, you come here’.”

Ms Luan said that during the trial Maheti showed no regret. He said he beat Yang but didn’t beat at fatal parts of his body.

“He showed no sign of regret, nor did he apologise as have some others at previous trials,” Ms Luan said.

But overseas Uighur groups have claimed that since an initial seven-week clampdown, dozens of Uighurs have “disappeared” and other have been regularly harassed by authorities and rounded up in mass detentions. Police announced on December 4 they had arrested a further 94 people as part of a “strike hard” campaign started in November that has so far netted an extra 382 in custody.

Xinjiang Information Office Director General Hou Hanmin said that about 825 people were arrested between the start of the riots and the end of August.

“The trials have been open to family and the media and have been according to the law,” Ms Hou told The Australian.

But journalists in Urumqi who spoke on condition on anonymity said that they had been given less than a day’s notice of the trials and warned by the government not to write detailed reports or conduct their own investigations into the murders or the accused.

Yet almost six months since the violence, it remains unclear how quickly the trials of the remaining detainees will progress through China’s opaque legal system.

The fresh trials are set to begin only days after Cambodia deported 20 Uighur asylum-seekers to China as the emerging economic superpower unveiled $1 billion in development aid to the impoverished south-east Asian nation. China has denied the money is linked to the return of the Uighurs.

More Uighurs sentenced to death in China | The Australian

BEIJING — A Chinese court has handed down death sentences for five people convicted of participating in the ethnic violence in July that killed nearly 200 people in the far western region of Xinjiang, the authorities there announced Thursday.

The sentences, after a series of trials this week, bring to 22 the number of people given the death penalty since trials began in September. The court, in the regional capital, Urumqi, gave five other people suspended death sentences, which are often equivalent to life in prison.

Nine of those sentenced have already been executed, according to the state media.

The sentences were announced by the Xinjiang regional government and distributed to news outlets.

In recent months, public security officials have detained more than 800 people who they say played a role in rioting that pitted the region’s Han Chinese majority against the Turkic-speaking Uighurs. Officials say more than 1,600 people were wounded during the three days of unrest, which deeply unnerved the ruling Communist Party.

Those convicted in trials on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the statement, were guilty of “extremely serious crimes.” It described several defendants, all with Uighur names, who attacked Han residents as they drove or bicycled through the city, bludgeoning and stoning them.

Most of the dead were Han, although a small number of Uighurs were killed during retaliatory violence in the days that followed.

In addition to those given death sentences this week, eight others were given life imprisonment and four others were sentenced to 10 or more years in prison.

Uighur exile groups and rights advocates have criticized the judicial proceedings as lacking transparency. They also say that scores of Uighurs have been held incommunicado and without legal representation.

In recent weeks the authorities have detained 94 additional people whom they describe as fugitives. Not included in that number are the 20 Uighurs repatriated to China last week after seeking political asylum in Cambodia. Those Uighurs, including three children, told the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that they feared long prison terms or the death penalty if they returned.

Two days after they were forcibly sent home, China signed 14 business deals with the Cambodian government worth about $1 billion.

Citing “official sources,” an editorial published Thursday in China Daily, the state-run English-language newspaper, described seven of the Uighurs as fugitives. It criticized the United States for calling them political refugees and for suggesting that they would face peril if they were returned to China.

“Based on the professionalism of past judicial hearings on the July 5 massacre in Urumqi, it gives us confidence that the 20 members of the Uighur minority group just extradited from Cambodia would not be mistreated,” it said.

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting.

More Death Sentences for Mayhem in China’s Xinjiang Region – NYTimes.com

BEIJING (AP) — China has sentenced five more people to death for crimes committed during riots in the western region of Xinjiang in July in country’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

The Xinjiang government said five were convicted of ”extremely serious crimes” and sentenced in separate trials Tuesday and Wednesday in the regional capital of Urumqi. A faxed statement Thursday didn’t specify the crimes or give details.

Five others were also sentenced this week to death, but with two-year reprieves — a penalty usually commuted to life in prison. Based on their names, all those given death or suspended death sentences this week appeared to be ethnically Uighur.

Nine people have already been executed.

Hundreds were rounded up after the riots that saw Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group linguistically and culturally distinct from China’s Han majority, attacking Hans on the streets of Urumqi on July 5. Uighurs were targeted in revenge attacks two days later. Nearly 200 people, mostly Hans, were killed.

In all, 22 people were convicted of riot-related crimes in five trials this week, the statement said. Eight were sentenced to life imprisonment and four to 10 years or more in jail.

Many Uighurs resent Beijing’s heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland, and the region has long been wracked by ethnic tensions that occasionally break out into acts of violence. China says it respects minority rights and has spent billions on boosting living standards and economies in minority areas such as Xinjiang.

China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Five months after the violence, Xinjiang remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut and international direct dialing calls blocked.

Overseas Uighur groups deny having a hand in the violence and say the trials of riot suspects are politically biased. They say judges have been ordered to issue death sentences before trial and suspects tortured into giving incriminating testimony.

China Sentences 5 More to Death Over Ethnic Riots – NYTimes.com

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It was not immediately clear from the brief report by the official Xinhua news agency if any of the death sentences would be commuted, as sometimes happens in China.

Another person was give life imprisonment, Xinhua said. It gave no other details.

State television showed deserted streets and heavy security around the courthouse, which it said was closed for all other business.

Last month, China announced the first charges to be laid in connection with the unrest, with 21 people charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property during ethnic riots that erupted in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, on July 5.

In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in southern China in June that left two Uighurs dead.

Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.

The violence left 197 people dead, mostly Han Chinese, and wounded more than 1,600, according to official figures. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Chris Buckley and Alex Richardson)

www.alertnet.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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Twenty-one people had been charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property during ethnic riots that erupted in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, on July 5, Xinhua news agency said.

A total of 197 people were killed over several days of rioting in the ethnically divided city, most from the Han Chinese majority.

Of the eight “leading” suspects identified in the report, six appear to be Uighurs. Investigations continue.

Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur leader accused by China of inciting the violence, said the “shadow of communism” could fall on democratic Taiwan, China’s neighbor and diplomatic rival, which refused her permission to visit.

Citing security concerns, Taiwan’s interior minister told parliament that Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, could not accept an invitation backed by the island’s anti-China opposition to visit in December for a series of speeches.

“I am very concerned about the future of Taiwan,” the exiled, U.S.-based Kadeer said in a statement. “I fear that the shadow of communism may fall on the people of Taiwan.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT fled to the island. Beijing has threatened to use force, if necessary, to bring Taiwan under its rule.

www.reuters.com

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These are men who cannot be returned to their home countries because of fears that they will face torture, or further arbitrary imprisonment, on their return, although Fried is also responsible for trying to broker a deal with Yemen, whose nationals make up around 40 percent of the remaining 225 prisoners. Fried spoke mainly to the BBC about negotiations with Europe, but it is apparent that attempts to overcome the long-standing failure to secure a deal with the Yemeni government remains one of the most difficult tasks that he faces.

In an interview for Radio 4’s Today program, which was partly filmed and televised on BBC News, Fried gave Jon Manel a largely spin-free account of the problems he faces, some of which have been exacerbated by the U.S. government’s unwillingness — or inability — to resettle some cleared prisoners on the U.S. mainland.

To my mind, President Obama missed a golden opportunity to bring 17 prisoners to the U.S.. in his early days in office. These men, the Uighurs (Muslims who had fled oppression in China’s Xinjiang province, and who were sold to U.S. forces after being betrayed by Pakistani villagers, following their flight from Afghanistan) had been cleared of any involvement with al-Qaeda, the Taliban or any form of international terrorism by the Bush administration and by the U.S. courts, but the President wavered, allowing Guantánamo’s supporters in Congress (scaremongers inspired by the hateful and false rhetoric of former Vice President Dick Cheney) to gain the upper hand, eventually persuading Congress to pass legislation blocking the transfer of any cleared prisoners to the U.S. mainland.

Fried began by explaining that his job was “miserable,” because he was “cleaning up a problem” inherited from the Bush administration, which had nothing to do with advancing any positive aspects of U.S. policy. “It’s not like we’re advancing liberty or making peace,” he said. He added that working out what to do with the remaining prisoners is “a huge problem and a complicated one,” but according to Manel, although he said that he would “not criticize Congress,” he stated, unambiguously, “It is fair to say, as just an objective statement, that the U.S. could resettle more detainees [worldwide], had we been willing to take in some.”

The interview was also notable for the following frank exchange about the perception of the remaining prisoners as “the worst of the worst,” which included, I believe, the first public admission, by a senior Obama administration official, that some of the prisoners were nothing more than low-level Taliban recruits, in an inter-Muslim civil war (with the Northern Alliance) that preceded the 9/11 attacks and had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or international terrorism, and that they should not have been in Guantánamo for the last seven years:

Daniel Fried: The detainees in Guantánamo run a spectrum. Some really are awful. Some qualify as “the worst of the worst,” and we’re going to put those on trial. Some, frankly, should not have been in Guantánamo for the past seven years.

Jon Manel: So they were innocent?

Daniel Fried: Innocent, guilt … I look at their files and some of them seem relatively benign, and I have in mind the Uighurs, in particular, but others …

Jon Manel: They’re the minority from China …

Daniel Fried: That’s right, the Uighur minority from China, but if I had to describe — if there’s such a thing as an average Guantánamo detainee, it’s someone who was a volunteer, a low-level trainee or a very low-level fighter in a very bad cause, but not a hardened terrorist, not an organizer. Now it is those people whom we’re asking Europeans to take a look at, and each government has to evaluate the background of each individual and make a decision.

Despite his criticism of the implications of the failure to accept any cleared prisoners into the United States, Fried did make the point that “parliamentarians in Europe” — as well as the U.S. – “have raised questions about security, and we have to respect those opinions,” although he was also concerned to publicize the successful resettlement of four of the Uighurs in Bermuda (in June), even though it had apparently brought him into conflict with the British government, because, as the BBC described it, “Bermuda is a British overseas territory and Britain was not informed until the last minute.”

“The British government, it is fair to say, cannot be considered part of the deal. This was worked out between the Americans and the Bermudans,” Fried told Manel, adding, “I will say that I’ve been admonished by the British government in very clear terms.” He insisted, however, that the deal had been successful. “We are very grateful to the Bermudan government and the behavior of the four Uighurs has been exemplary, which really bolsters our contention that they were not any kind of threat,” he said, adding, “These are four people who are enjoying freedom who would otherwise be in Guantánamo.”

This was an important point to make, although I maintain that the Uighurs’ “exemplary” behavior, which “bolsters” the government’s “contention that they were not any kind of threat,” would have had a far more powerful impact if it had happened in Washington D.C., where American citizens would have been able to appreciate, first-hand, that the Uighurs are not, and have never been terrorists.

In conclusion, Fried told Manel that he was “confident” that the President’s January deadline for closing Guantánamo would be met, although he could not guarantee it. “President Obama’s timetable is what we’ve got,” he said, “we don’t have Plan Bs, we’re looking at that timetable. We’ve got a lot of work to do, we need help getting this done, and we’re going to be working hard at it. But you’re not going to have Guantánamo II. Whatever solution we come up with, it will be one based firmly on the rule of law and transparency.”

Fried’s interview coincided with an announcement that Hungary is preparing to take a cleared prisoner from Guantánamo, to add to those already accepted by the UK (Binyam Mohamed, a British resident, in February), France (Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian, in May), and Portugal (Mohammed al-Tumani and Moammar Dokhan, both Syrians, last month). Other countries who have agreed to take cleared prisoners are Belgium, Ireland, Italy (although with some disturbing conditions), and Spain, and discussions are apparently ongoing with both Lithuania and Switzerland.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/guantanamo-envoy-us-shoul_b_289747.html

www.huffingtonpost.com

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Recent ethnic clashes between Han Chinese and ethnically Turkic Uighurs in western China’s Xinjiang Province left a reported 156 people dead and prompted authorities to send thousands of troops to restore order. The violence, following major riots in Tibet last spring between ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese, has highlighted “deep ethnic and racial differences” in the country, says Dru C. Gladney, an expert on China’s ethnic minorities. He says the protests, which devolved into what he called almost “an ethnic war,” had started off peacefully and were really about social justice. They had “nothing to do with Islam, or separatism, or independence.” Gladney fears the protests may also spark greater Chinese nationalism across the country, similar to anti-Tibetan sentiment after riots in Tibet last year.

China’s ethnic minorities, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet, have frequently complained of economic discrimination and are resentful of policies that they see as an attempt at changing the demographics of their regions through migration of Han Chinese. Gladney says China has a progressive affirmative action policy for its minorities, but only in writing. In reality, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet, he says the local populations feel they have not benefited from the booming economy or the extraction of resources from their region.

While Tibetans and Uighurs share grievances regarding social justice and freedom of religion, Uighurs, unlike Tibetans, receive much less support internationally for their cause. Gladney says it’s because the Muslim Uighurs are portrayed as terrorists by Beijing. “Since 9/11, being a Muslim group accused of terrorism does not engender any warm sympathy. The Uighurs are faced with this issue of not having a positive image in the media or abroad with non-Muslim populations, and even Muslim countries really haven’t spoken out on their behalf,” he says. He hopes the latest round of clashes will cause the Chinese government to reallocate resources to local populations and to allow local populations greater participation in economic opportunities.

www.cfr.org

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Kazakhstan is home to the largest Uighur community outside China. About 500 people, many wearing the blue badges with white crescents of the Uighur independence movement, gathered at a mosque for a traditional ceremony.

In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic unrest in decades, Uighurs staged protests in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5 following a clash among migrant workers at a factory in south China that had led to two Uighur deaths.

The Urumqi violence left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 wounded, mostly members of the China’s ethnic Han majority, according to Chinese authorities.

Han Chinese launched revenge attacks on Uighurs in Urumqi days later. About 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been detained in an ensuing crackdown by security forces.

Han migration into Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language and whose culture has strong links to Central Asia, has helped fuel the conflict.

“What is our goal? We want an independent state,” Kakhraman Khodzhaberdiyev, a vice president of the U.S.-based World Uyghur Congress, told the Almaty meeting.

“The current autonomy (of Xinjiang) is not real and we demand that its status be changed as a first step.”

Another Uighur community leader, Abdulla Ushurov, attacked what he said were Chinese attempts to portray Uighur protests as purely criminal riots.

“You cannot say that a group of people just started crushing everything,” he said.

“These are being described as criminal acts but it is a century-long fight for independence.”

Police in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, also home to a significant Uighur minority, detained two Uighur leaders after a similar rally this week, saying it had not been given official permission.

The Almaty city government had permitted the Thursday meeting.

source: www.reuters.com

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