The Opposite End of China || Xinjiang & Northwest China Blog (中国的另一端 || 新疆 & 中国西北博客): Let My People Go

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May 30, 2007

Let My People Go

Rebiya Kadeer shows a photo of her children.

The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed letter by exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer today, in which she protests the imprisonment of two of her sons. Note: the words of this extremist splittist-terrorist should be read with extreme caution. The great motherland is indivisible!

Nothing compares to a mother's pain when her children are suffering. The anguish is even greater when the suffering is designed as an act of retaliation by a vindictive government determined to punish those who speak out against its egregious human-rights violations.

Upon my release in 2005 after five years in a Chinese prison, I was warned by the Chinese authorities not to speak out on human rights. I should not forget that I had family in China, I was told.

Fairly standard stuff from Rebiya, but still powerful. Interestingly, she doesn't quite jump on the oh-so chic "Genocide Olympics" bandwagon, preferring to criticize China's domestic rather than international behavior. Still, the fact that she even mentions the Olympics in passing shows what a public relations pain-in-the-ass China is going to encounter as the games approach.

With more than fourteen months to go, China is already facing Olympic-related protests over Sudan and Tibet. How long will it take before Xinjiang, democracy, Taiwan, undervalued currency, human rights, and the weak rule of law are all rolled into the same icy snowball? My suggestion: Zhongnanhai should hire Imagethief to cover their asses. Of course, I don't really believe that there will be an Olympic boycott by the nations that really count (USA! USA! USA!)... the 1980 and 1984 Olympics were just too lame, and nobody in the global community wants to watch that on TV for two weeks.

Towards the end of her plea, Rebiya really gets to the point:

True rule of law is still a foreign concept in China, for any ethnic group, including the majority Han Chinese. Imprisoning its own people and stripping them of their legal rights at the whim of the authorities is just another way that the Chinese government seeks to eliminate any form of dissent.

China will only become a great nation worthy of world-wide respect when it adheres to international legal and human-rights standards throughout its territory, and can guarantee those standards to all its citizens.

Word! You can read the full op-ed piece below.

P.S. You should really check out that Tibet piece in The Times. People are always writing to ask me about traveling to Tibet without a travel pass... it seems that as of this month, things have become decidely more difficult.

My Chinese Jailers
By Rebiya Kadeer
30 May 2007
The Wall Street Journal

Nothing compares to a mother's pain when her children are suffering. The anguish is even greater when the suffering is designed as an act of retaliation by a vindictive government determined to punish those who speak out against its egregious human-rights violations.

Upon my release in 2005 after five years in a Chinese prison, I was warned by the Chinese authorities not to speak out on human rights. I should not forget that I had family in China, I was told.

The Chinese government certainly lived up to its word. My family has been under constant pressure from authorities and my children have been repeatedly detained, tortured or imprisoned. Now my son Ablikim Abdureyim has joined his youngest brother Alim in prison. Ablikim received a nine-year sentence from a Chinese court on charges of "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities."

The real reason for his conviction is my human-rights activism on behalf of the 10 million Turkic Uighurs who live in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the former East Turkestan. Constantly being labeled terrorists for even the most modest attempt to preserve their unique culture, ethnic background and Muslim faith, Uighurs in Xinjiang continue to suffer under Beijing's repression and forced cultural assimilation. China's long and powerful arm prevents them from finding safety in countries bordering Xinjiang, and Uighurs are harassed by Chinese agents even in Europe and the U.S.

Ablikim's arrest, detention, trial and sentence were all in violation of China's Constitution: My son should have had access to a lawyer; he did not. My son should have had the right to a public trial; yet no family member was allowed to attend his trial or even notified of its existence. Numerous attempts to simply determine his condition were met with stonewalling and frustration.

Unfortunately, mine is just one of countless Uighur families that have been devastated by the Communist Party's use of vaguely defined "state security crimes." In the same week, and in the same court that my son was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, Uighur-Canadian Huseyin Celil was sentenced to life in prison on charges of "terrorist activities" and "plotting to split the country." No evidence against Mr. Celil was made public. In addition, Beijing acted in defiance of international law by refusing to acknowledge his Canadian citizenship and denying him consular assistance.

In recent years, and especially as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach, Chinese leaders have repeatedly claimed progress on human rights. President Hu Jintao has again and again stressed the importance of respecting the rule of law as a cornerstone of a new and improved China. In a speech at Yale University last year he promised to "protect people's freedom, democracy and human rights according to law."

Yet true rule of law is still a foreign concept in China, for any ethnic group, including the majority Han Chinese. Imprisoning its own people and stripping them of their legal rights at the whim of the authorities is just another way that the Chinese government seeks to eliminate any form of dissent. Polished political leaders in Beijing are eager to say what they believe the world wants to hear, while other government officials, particularly on the local level, routinely break the laws of their own country. All too often the international community is content to listen to the false promises of China's politicians and ignore the miserable reality of China's human-rights conditions.

China will only become a great nation worthy of world-wide respect when it adheres to international legal and human-rights standards throughout its territory, and can guarantee those standards to all its citizens. If Beijing really wants to show the world that it is serious about improving its human-rights record, releasing my two sons and Huseyin Celil would be a good place to start.

---

Ms. Kadeer is the president of the Uyghur American Association and World Uyghur Congress.

posted May 30, 2007 at 02:20 PM unofficial Xinjiang time | HaoHao This!

Comments

The pain and suffering of others means nothing to MNCs.

The comment above was posted by nanheyangrouchuan at May 31, 2007 03:35 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

Pure, naked anti China shit!

Praise the great motherland, read David Gosset's `
The Xinjiang factor in the new Silk Road, on Asia times online on 21st May 2007, as follows:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/IE22Ag01.html

The comment above was posted by Mainlander at May 31, 2007 10:47 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

About David Gosset's piece of &*!, please read the following responce:

http://www.registan.net/index.php/2007/05/23/us-threatens-central-asian-comity-says-expert/

The comment above was posted by Heverci at May 31, 2007 07:38 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

David Gosset's article is rightly dissected and labelled at the link below for what it is: a tender love letter to the Communist regime in Beijing.

http://www.registan.net/index.php/2007/05/23/us-threatens-central-asian-comity-says-expert/#more-7165

By contrast, the kind of China Ms. Kadeer is advocating for -- one that respects the rights of its citizens and the rule of law -- is one all mainland Chinese should be working towards.

The comment above was posted by ChiMomo at May 31, 2007 10:07 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

The Chinese authorities go to all the trouble if
Ablikim Abdureyim, Alim and family did not incite civil disorder and treason.
There anti-China racism is so prevalent in the west that hiding it behind Xinjiang, democracy, Taiwan, undervalued currency, human rights, and the weak rule of law etc etc is oh so convenient. Pathetic...
Traitors in Tibet, Xinjiang, TW have no problems selling their integrity if it makes them feel accepted in the west. Truely pathetic...

I suggest China should start harping on the crimes and abuses of the west, from Iraq, Guantanemo, all the way to the World Bank and IMF.

The comment above was posted by Eagle at June 1, 2007 03:12 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

This old bitch should just go to hell and die instead of being a lap dog of her American master.

The comment above was posted by office dweller at June 5, 2007 12:44 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

Bush meets China's exiled Uighur leader
Published: 6/5/2007

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush met the exiled leader of China's Uighur Muslims on Tuesday, US Uighurs said, as he accused Beijing of jailing her sons in retaliation against her human rights campaign.

Rights activists described Bush's meeting with Rebiya Kadeer as significant amid international pressure on China to put a stop to what they called serious human rights abuses ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

Bush met Kadeer at the sidelines of a conference in Prague attended by political dissidents from around the world shortly before he flew to Germany to attend the G8 summit starting Wednesday, a statement from the Uighur American Association said in Washington.

Before the meeting, Bush highlighted Kadeer as the symbol of struggle for the 10 million mostly Muslim Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in China's Xinjiang region.

"Another dissident I will meet with here is Rebiya Kadeer of China, whose sons have been jailed in what we believe is an act of retaliation for her human rights activities," Bush said in his speech at the Prague conference.

"The talent of men and women like Rebiya is the greatest resource of their nations -- far more valuable than the weapons of their army or oil under the ground," he said.

T. Kumar, Washington-based advocacy director for Asia Pacific for Amnesty International, said Bush's meeting with Kadeer sent a "powerful message" to the Chinese leadership to "take constructive steps" to improve human rights before the Olympics.

"The jailing of Kadeer's children is an example of how China uses innocent family members as hostages to silence political dissidents," Kumar said.

Kadeer's son Ablikim Abdiriyim, the latest family member to be jailed, was sentenced in April to nine years in prison for what Beijing called "secessionist" activities.

Two other sons were jailed for alleged tax evasion while her daughter was put under house arrest for a specific period last year.

Kadeer herself was imprisoned for six years after Beijing accused her of leaking "state secrets" to a US congressional delegation visiting the region in the 1990s.

She was released in March 2005 and allowed to go into exile in the United States, from where she continues to speak up for her people. China has continued to express anger over her comments while in exile.

A millionaire businesswoman before her arrest, she was among nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

06/06/2007 02:03 GMT

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=179863

The comment above was posted by Turkeyman at June 6, 2007 10:51 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

Thanks to this brave woman and her suffering family, we can all see the red, sweaty dog face of bad, dirty, backward China.

The comment above was posted by nanheyangrouchuan at June 7, 2007 09:19 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

She is not brave. She is just plain stupid. She can bark and bark, but China will not lose a single hair because of her barking. By the way, the same applies to you, yangrouchuan. Your many china bashing posts on various forums do you nothing good except wasting you a lot of time. China and Chinese people stand proud. Your soft barking doesn't really hurt anybody.

The comment above was posted by office dweller at June 8, 2007 12:04 AM unofficial Xinjiang time.

hei,office sucker, you seem like a soooooo fucking passionated GAY,huh! sorta like Borat.

"even though my anus was broken ,i know the rest of my journey would be a great success"

The comment above was posted by warrior at June 9, 2007 07:36 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

nimixka uyghurqe betlerni kurelmeymiz ?
kandak kilsak siler bilen nurmal alake kilhikli bolidu?

The comment above was posted by pirappisor at July 5, 2007 03:49 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

China is learning how to handle Xinjiang like how English can slowly dilute Australia, United States, New Zealand and Canada by mass english migration and eliminating the locals. 10 millions Uighurs ? No problem 60 million overseas chinese waiting to go home.

The comment above was posted by QinShiHuang at August 27, 2007 07:21 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.

many chinese are accuctomed to being exploited and brainwashed that a little more bread can swing their mind and have little taste the fruites of treating humanly toward others throughout history. not to speak of human rights or democrecy or value life, pathetic. and those who barking here in the interest of their red master here regardless of grass root people's call for basic rights nation wide are nothing more than their spoiled pets. i praise whoever calls for human rights and better treatment for their nation regardless of their race, religion and nationality, even though just a call nevertheless they have the guts to call!

The comment above was posted by herald at November 18, 2007 10:10 PM unofficial Xinjiang time.