Chinese Muslim plight highlighted in US Congress
14 December 2005
Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (AFP) -

The exiled leader of China's Muslim Uighur minority charged in the US Congress Wednesday that Beijing was using the US-led "war on terror" to persecute her people, including subjecting women to forced abortions.

"Today, besides our culture, history and language, our very survival as an indigenous and unique people is now under the direct threat of Beijing's ruthless policies," said Rebiya Kadeer, who was released from nearly six years of detention in Beijing.

Kadeer, who was deported to the United States immediately after her release in March, alleged "massive" human rights abuses in China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region.

"The truth is that the Chinese government has shown it will use the war against terror as a justification to persecute Uighurs," she said.

"Attempting to stop dissent, free expression and free assembly by labelling them as terrorism is not acceptable," said Kadeer, a former millionaire businesswoman and highest-profile Uighur political prisoner who became a symbol of the struggle of her eight million community.

She claimed "tens of thousands" in Xinjiang had been held incommunicado, tortured and sentenced after unfair trials.

"Women are frequently forced to terminate their pregnancies if they are found to be pregnant outside of the Chinese family planning policies," she said.

"There are frequent reports of heavy fines and other reprisals for women who break the birth control rules," the 58-year-old Kadeer said, citing her own experience once when she had to go into hiding in the ninth month of her pregnancy after being threatened by birth control officers.

She said she had met the UN Human Rights Commission's special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak in Geneva before his visit to China earlier this month.

The visit was the first by a UN special rapporteur on torture and his claim of widespread torture in China had been strongly rejected by Beijing.

T. Kumar, the Washington-based Asian advocacy director of Amnesty International, told the Congressional hearing that "Xinjiang was the only place in China where political executions of Uighurs are taking place in large numbers.

"China is using the war on terror as an excuse to crack down on the Uighurs. Unfortunately they a minority and are Muslims and that fits well into Beijing agenda of branding them as terrorists," he said.

Kumar said that in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Congress should ask President George W. Bush to demand a "deadline" from his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to stop the execution of Uighur political prisoners.

He also said Bush should invite Kadeer to the White House ahead of Hu's expected visit to Washington early next year for talks with the US leader.

"That will send a very strong message to Hu and also symbolise the plight of the Uighurs," he added.

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China calls on US not to provide platform for Muslim dissident
15 December 2005
Agence France Presse

BEIJING, Dec 15 (AFP) -

China called on the United States Thursday not to provide a platform for the exiled leader of its Muslim Uighur minority after she used a US Congressional hearing to accuse Beijing of massive abuses.

Rebiya Kadeer, a former millionaire businesswoman and the highest-profile Uighur political prisoner, told the hearing that China was using the US-led "war on terror" to persecute her people with torture and forced abortions.

"The United States should not grant any platform for her to engage in activities aimed at separating China or to make these kind of remarks," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing.

Kadeer, a native of northwest China's Xinjiang region, spent six years in detention and was deported to the United States immediately after her release in March this year.

"Everyone knows what kind of person Kadeer is. She's been engaging in criminal activities in China," Qin said. "Out of humanitarian concerns, China allowed her to go abroad to receive medical treatment."

He said Kadeer's remarks once again prove that she is closely connected with the East Turkestan movement, referring to underground groups pushing for independence for Xinjiang.

Uighur separatists, who maintain a distinct ethnic identity from the Chinese, have been fighting to re-establish an independent state of East Turkestan in Xinjiang since it became an autonomous region of China in 1955.

State media said in September separatists wishing to establish an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang had committed 260 terrorist attacks since 1995, or roughly one every two weeks, killing 160 and injuring 440.