Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center
Special issue: News-Digest EXECUTIONS OF UYGHURS IN
CHINA SUMMARY According to the reports of the Western and Chinese news agencies included in this digest, the Chinese authorities executed 52 Uyghurs during the period from May, 1996, to April, 1998. These Uyghurs were convicted in counter-revolutionary activities, splittism, and disturbing the public order. Including the reports from the Uyghur sources, the number of Uyghurs charged in counter-revolutionary activities and executed is 169 during the period from March, 1994, to April, 1998. CITATIONS IN THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
In Kumul (Hami), three Uyghurs have been given prison sentences of between one and six years for separatist activities. (State radio in China's northwestern Xinjiang Region BC_04/21/98) JANUARY, 1998 Eleven Uyghurs have been executed in the north-western region of Xinjiang-Uyghur after being convicted of murder, setting police cars on fire and other offences. (Xinjiang Daily BBC_01/27/98) DECEMBER, 1997 Thirteen Uighurs were reported to have been executed in December. (BBC) On December 29, the executions took place after a mass trial -- seven were accused of violent acts in the regional capital, Urumqi, during a separatist uprising last February with the aim of destroying Chinese unity. (An official Chinese newspaper in Xinjiang, via BBC) JULY, 1997 Nine people were executed in the autonomous region for their roles in February riots against Chinese rule. (AFP) Chinese authorities executed a further three separatist Uyghurs for their alleged role in riots in February this year, separatist representatives said. (AFP) On July 22, the Ili province and Ghulje city people's courts staged trials at the Ghulje city's largest stadium. Twenty seven young Uyghurs were given various sentences in connection to the February Ghulje demonstration; seven among them were sentenced to death and executed the same day. One Chinese and one Hui were sentenced to death for drugs related crimes. Seven Uyghurs including JAPPAR TALET, HESENJAN IMIN, ALIMJAN YOLVAS, ABDUREHIM TUDAHUN, ABDUREHIM MEMET, SIDIK ROZI, MEMETJAN NURMEMET, were sentenced to death and executed the same day. (Eastern Turkistan Information Center) Nine people have been executed in Yining for their roles in february riots against chinese rule. The nine were executed on July 22 in the frontier town, which borders Kazakhstan, after a sentencing rally attended by more than 4,000 people, an official from the district regional court said. Three others were given suspended death sentences, while seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, one to 18 years and nine to 15 years or less. (AFP) China has executed nine more Moslem separatists for their roles inviolent anti-Chinese riots in the region of Xinjiang. The nine separatist activists were executed in the town of Yining immediately after sentencing at a mass rally attended by more than 4,000 people on July 22. All nine were from the Uighur ethnic group. Also at the mass rally, three people were sentenced to suspended death sentences, seven were jailed for life, one was sentenced to 18 years and nine were sentenced to terms of 15 years or less for their roles in the February unrest. (Reuters) [July 22] A total of 29 violent terrorists and other serious criminals involved in 12 cases received verdicts at the rally. Nine received death sentences, three received death sentences with reprieves, seven received life sentences, one was sentenced to 18 years in prison, and the other nine were sentenced to no more than 15 years of fixed-term imprisonment. (Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network) JUNE, 1997 Five people were publicly executed after hanging the banned flag of Eastern Turkestan from the statue of Communist China's founder, Mao Tse-tung, in Kashgar's main square. In the last 12 months alone, more than 1,000 ethnic Uighurs have been executed and more than 10,000 people have been arrested for political reasons, human rights activists say. Those reports are unconfirmed. (CNN, Reuters) In Kashgar, 20 Uighurs people were arrested and five executed for placing an East Turkistan flag on the statue of Chairman Mao in the main street. (Eastern Turkistan Information Center) According to Ismail Cengiz, the chairman of the Eastern Turkistan National Center in Turkey, reported that, on June 11, three more Uyghurs were convicted in causing social disturbances and hooliganism and executed in Ghulje. By his estimates, the total number of killed on and after the Ghulje events reached 162 people, and about 1600 people have been arrested. (Eastern Turkistan Information Center) MAY, 1997 [May 26 - 31] Eight people in Xinjiang were executed after being found guilty of involvement in crimes, including the planting of home-made bombs in the regional capital, Urumqi, that killed nine people. (Reuters) This morning [May 29], the Urumqi City Intermediate People's Court held a public-sentencing rally at the chief courthouse of the Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court to pass final verdicts according to law on 12 convicts involved in the 25 February bus bombings case. Mahmut Abdurahman and seven other convicts were sentenced to death on such charges as bomb-planting, murder, and robbery, with their political rights deprived for life. (Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network) [May 29] Eight terrorists were executed in Urumqi this morning for their connection in a series of bombings, killings and robberies which left 18 innocent people dead and 60 others injured in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Higher People's Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced in its final verdicts that Mahmut Abdurahman, Jilil Bilali and six other persons were sentenced to death for committing violent terrorist crimes "by extremely cruel and criminal means." (Xinhua) APRIL, 1997 On April 24, the Chinese authorities conducted a trial of 33 young Uyghurs accused by the government in causing disturbances on 5-6 February in Ghulje city of Uyghuristan. The court sentenced three Uyghurs to death, 17 Uyghurs were given life in prison, a 23 year old woman was given eight years in prison, and rest of the accused were given from 10 to 15 years in prison sentences. The same day the three sentenced to death Uyghurs were executed on the outskirts of the city. Their bodies were not released to the relatives, instead, were taken away in the unknown direction. (Eastern Turkistan Information Center) On April 24, three people were executed for their roles in the "serious riot." (AFP) Three men were sentenced to death and executed the same day for their roles in bloody riots that rocked northern China earlier this year, Chinese authorities said Saturday. Twenty-seven others were sentenced to penalties ranging from seven years in prison to life imprisonment. (CNN) Local courts executed three people and sentenced 27 to prison terms ranging from seven years to life for their roles in the February riots, which began as a demonstration against Chinese rule. (Reuters) The young man was executed in Ghulje without a trial in connection to the Ghulje uprising in February. (Eastern Turkistan Information Center) A self-taught expert on the Koran was executed for bombing a military vehicle last year. (Reuters) MARCH, 1997 Xinjiang officials denied reports that five ethnic Uighurs accused of leading a riot in Xinjiang last month had been executed, according to two Reuters reports. (CND) Uighur groups also allege that about 150 Uighurs have been executed in Xinjiang or beaten while trying to escape jail. Up to 100 people died after clashes on February 5-6 in Xinjiang between Uighurs and Chinese in the Xinjiang frontier town of Yining, according to reports by witnesses. (AFP) A Uighur exile group said on Monday China had executed [March 20] five ethnic Uighurs who were accused of involvement in bloody riots that rocked the country's predominantly Moslem northwest province of Xinjiang last month. (Reuters) Officials in northwestern Xinjiang dismissed reports that five ethnic Uygurs accused of leading a riot there last month had been executed. A court official in Yining said China had ended hearings for six men on trial for their role in the anti-Chinese riots, but said the verdict would be announced next month. The six men, all members of the Uygur minority, had been charged with hooliganism and with endangering social order. (Reuters) Ethnic muslims along the Kazakstan-China border say five Uighurs have been executed in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang for being involved in riots between Uighurs and Chinese in early February. China denies the report. ... Mr. Mukhlisi said one of the executed, 27-year old Abdul-Khalil Abdul-Medchit, was a prominent leader in the uprising that took place in the town of Yining. (VOA) A court in Yining, Xinjiang, has completed hearings for six men on trial for their role in rioting in the Moslem region of Xinjiang last month. The six men, all members of the ethnic Uighur minority, have been indicted on charges of hooliganism and endangering social order. ... Officials refused to name the defendants and denied allegations by exiled Uighur separatists that China would have executed two rioters by last Thursday. (Reuters) FEBRUARY, 1997 In February, the smouldering Uighur rebellion burst into flame when three young separatists were executed in Xinjiang's capital, Urumchi. (The Guardian, London) Sources in Yining earlier said Chinese retribution for the rioting had been swift and around 100 people had been executed almost immediately following summary trials. (AFP) Uighur groups, most of which are exiled abroad in Kazakhstan, said that several thousand people, including children, were arrested in a security sweep during the arrest, and some said that 100 were executed. (AFP) JANUARY, 1997 The eight defendants who made up the bombing, robbery, and theft gang involved in the 13 February explosion case were Maimaiti Wubulihashengmu, Maimaiti Musilimu Abudureheman, Abudusilimu Abuduailimu, Xierli Niyazi, Yusufu Keyoumu, Maimaiti Niyazi, Rouziaji Aimaiti, and Abudureheman Aibaidula. ... The Urumqi City Intermediate Court sentenced Maimaiti Wubulihashengmu to death and deprived him of political rights for life on charges of explosion and robbery. It also sentenced him to life in prison on charges of theft. Combining punishments for several offenses, the court decided to execute him and deprive him of political rights for life. Because defendant Maimaiti Musilimu Abudureheman confessed his crime, the court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve on charges of explosion, robbery, and theft. Combining punishments for several offenses, the court decided to impose a two-year suspended death sentence on him and to deprive him of political rights for life. The other defendants involved in robbery and theft were either sentenced to life in prison or given fixed-term imprisonment. (Urumqi Xinjiang Ribao) MAY, 1996 Aronghanaji's assailant had been executed in Kashgar. (Reuters) APRIL, 1994 Since the beginning of this year, he [Alptekin] said, nine people charged with counterrevolutionary" activities had been executed in Eastern Turkestan. (Eastern Turkestan Information Bulletin) MARCH, 1994 It has also been reported that four Uighurs, Mutajip Jan, Mehmet Yunus, Tahir Jan and Idris Omer were executed on March 16, 1994 in the city of Kargalik charged with being "counterrevolutionaries". (Eastern Turkestan Information Bulletin) TEXTS/QUOTES FROM THE REPORTS Title: Three Uighurs sentenced in NW China
State radio in China's northwestern Xinjiang Region says three people have been given prison sentences of between one and six years for separatist activities. The sentences on the three -- who were from the Muslim Uighur minority -- were passed by a court in the eastern town of Hami. In March Communist leaders in Xinjiang said they were winning their fight against separatists campaigningfor an independent Uighur state. Twenty-five Uighurs were reported to have been executed in December and January after unrest in the region. Title: China Uighurs executed An official Chinese newspaper Xinjiang Daily has reported that eleven people have been executed in the north-western region of Xinjiang after being convicted of murder, setting police cars on fire and other offences. Correspondents say that the list of names of the executed indicate they were Uighurs -- members of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang. The authorities blamed Uighur separatists for explosions in the regional capital, Urumqi, a year ago in which nine people were killed and for rioting in Yining, near the Kazakh border, in which at least ten people died. Thirteen Uighurs were reported to have been executed in December. The latest executions took place a week ago. Title: More Uighur separatists executed Reports from China's north-western region of Xinjiang have confirmed last month's execution of sixteen people.A spokesman for an Uighur separatist exile movement in Kazakhstan said thirteen of the executed were Uighurs.An official Chinese newspaper in Xinjiang reported that the executions took place on December the twenty-ninth after a mass trial – seven were accused of violent acts in the regional capital, Urumqi, during a separatist uprising last February with the aim of destroying Chinese unity. The paper said China had drafted more than one-hundred-thousand extra troops into Xinjiang from other parts of the country and had carried out arrests in local universities and schools.Eighteen people were killed in a series of bombings and other anti-Chinese attacks during last year's riot; official reports had already spoken of twenty people being executed for their involvement.Ethnic Uighurs have been campaigning for a separate state in Xinjiang. ============================================================================== Title: China's policy of tolerance
questioned in Xinjiang ... Earlier this year in Beijing, a group of Uighur separatists bombed a bus, killing two people. In June, in Xinjiang, five people were publicly executed after hanging the banned flag of Eastern Turkestan from the statue of Communist China's founder, Mao Tse-tung, in Kashgar's main square. In the last 12 months alone, more than 1,000 ethnic Uighurs have been executed and more than 10,000 people have been arrested for political reasons, human rights activists say. Those reports are unconfirmed. ============================================================================== Title: Half a million Uyghurs arrested
during 1995-1997 [ETIC, 11/14/97] According to the information obtained from a police officer, about 560 thousand Uyghurs have been arrested with charges in separatist activities in Eastern Turkistan in the last 3 years. Most of them were locked up in the prisons without trials for many days and months. During this period, the Chinese communist regime has publicly executed 300 political prisoners in Eastern Turkistan. At least 7 thousand were sentenced to 15 and more years in prison. More than 5 thousand died in prisons, and it is most likely that they were tortured to death. The number in the Yarkand county alone, with the total population about half a million, has topped 30 thousand. On September 15 this year, authorities ordered all the government employees, schools children, police officers, hospital doctors, workers, business people and farmers to attend an open trial in the Yarkand county. At the trial, 2 men were accused in separatism and sentenced to death in front of 50 thousand people. Another 5 men of ages from 16 to 25 were given sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to 2 years delayed execution. This year, more than 10 thousand people were arrested in Kashgar shortly before July 1, the national holiday in the People's Republic celebrating foundation of the Chinese Communist Party. The majority of them were detained for not carring identification cards or for sharing the same names with the alleged criminals on the loose. The authorities have been asking exorbitant amounts of money from the relatives for releasing the arrested on bails. It was reported that many Uyghurs, who were sentenced for illegal religious and counter-revolutionary activities in Eastern Turkistan, and who finished their prison terms, have again been arrested without any reason by the Chinese police. On August 1, 30 suspects of Uyghur nationality were arrested after an explosion took place in the Tokhsu county. Among them there were Abdukerim, Ibrahim and Jamal, all released from prisons not so long ago. The Chinese government blames rising pro-independence activities in Eastern Turkistan on Islamic students, talips, and has arrested thousands of them. The government has been strengthening the Strike Hard campaign to eliminate involvement of young Uyghurs in religious activities. It is reported that many Uyghurs were accused in nationalism and arrested only for wearing ethnic scullcaps called doppa. [Burkut, Kiyan] ============================================================================== Title: Elizabeth Tadic's film on Eastern
Turkistan ... Recently in Kashgar, 20 Uighurs people were arrested and five executed for placing an East Turkistan flag on the statue of Chairman Mao in the main street. ============================================================================== Title: Statement by an Uyghur woman at the
US Congress hearings "I heard Chinese made large scale secret execution to the demonstrators, religious figures who refuse to comply with government. One of my friend's brother was among the secret executed Uighurs. His brother was arrested one night in April after the Ghulja incident, at 3pm next day, his father and spouse were informed to pay final visit for five minutes. The young man was executed afterwards without any judicial trial. Nobody knows where is his dead body." ============================================================================== Title: China's restive moslems chafe at
Beijing ... Recent uprisings in the western Xinjiang region against rule from Beijing have been met with less warmth by China's communist rulers. Ringleaders and participants have been swiftly executed or jailed.... Last February, anti-Chinese riots in the town of Yining on the border with Kazakhstan left nine dead and 198 injured.... In May, eight people were executed for the planting of home-made bombs on buses in the regional capital Urumqi. The explosions were timed to coincide with the funeral of the late leader Deng Xiaoping.... RELIGION NOT TO BLAME SAY LEADERS Religious leaders in Xinjiang bristle at the suggestion that Islam could be involved in the anti-China movement. ``Those who believe in Islam would never take actions that would split the country, killing people and stealing,'' said Imam Tsadik Kara Haji, 60, head of the Aidkah mosque and deputy director of the state-sponsored Kashgar Islamic Association. ``Those involved in splittist activities do not understand Islam,'' he said, citing the attempted assassination in May 1996 of his colleague Aronghanaji, top leader of Xinjiang's Moslems, as the 73-year-old imam strolled to prayers in Aidkah mosque.Aronghanaji's assailant had been executed, the imam said, pointing a finger at his forehead to mimic the firing squad. ============================================================================== Title: Expert sees China's Xinjiang
unlikely to separate ... Uighur militants want to set up an independent ``East Turkestan'' in Xinjiang, and last May eight people were executed after being found guilty of involvement in the planting of home-made bombs on buses in the regional capital, Urumqi, that killed nine people. Last February,anti-Chinese riots in the Xinjiang border town of Yining left nine people dead and 198 injured. =============================================================================== Title: Exiled Uighurs step up fight
against Beijing ... This March, Mukhlisi and two other Kazakhstan-based Uighur groups issued a common declaration, saying they were taking up arms to fight against Chinese oppression. The declaration followed the execution by Chinese authorities of three alleged Uighur separatists in the city of Urumqi. The executions provoked an anti-Chinese riot in the western city of Kuldja, that was brutally put down by Chinese troops. Reports say at least 10 people were killed in the incident, and up to 190 people injured. Three more Uighurs were subsequently executed by the Chinese authorities and 27 others given long prison sentences for allegedly organizing the riot. The three Uighur groups claim that since then, over 60,000 alleged Uighurs separatists have been arrested by the Chinese and sent to labor camps. They say over 500 of them have died during internment or under interrogation. =============================================================================== Title: Chinese official discloses
assassinations in restive muslim region BEIJING (AP) - Seven pro-Chinese clerics in northwestern China were assassinated last year during a bloody campaign by Muslim separatists, a Chinese official said Wednesday. The comments by Wang Lequan, secretary-general of the Communist Party in Xinjiang, were the first official word of the April 1996 attacks by rebels accused of arson, murder and bombing public buses in the far northwestern province 1,600 miles west of Beijing. The indigenous Muslim minority resents Chinese rule in Xinjiang, which had its own independent republic from 1944 to 1949. Little independent information is available about the violence in the remote, sparsely populated region of deserts and rugged mountains. Three to four people died in each incident during the attacks that began Feb. 10, 1996, Wang said at a news conference with party leaders from Xinjiang and Tibet. He did not give a total death toll or say if the attacks have ended. Wang said Beijing would refuse to compromise with the separatists. ``The most serious murders happened on April 29th of last year. On that day alone, they killed several patriotic religious figures,'' he said. ``We cannot be expected to be lenient with those thugs.'' There have been scattered reports of attacks on pro-government figures in Xinjiang over the past two years. In April 1996, two men in a town near the Pakistani border tried to assassinate a high-ranking Muslim cleric who advises the government. Earlier this year, separatists were blamed for bombs that exploded Feb. 25 on three public buses in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, killing nine people. They also were blamed for a Feb. 5 riot that killed 10 people. At least 12 people have been executed in connection with that violence, the worst in Xinjiang since the start of communist rule in 1959. =============================================================================== Title: Uighurs smoulder under China's yoke ... In February the smouldering Uighur rebellion burst into flame when three young separatists were executed in Xinjiang's capital, Urumchi. Several hundred demonstrators took to the streets of Gulja, near the Kazakh border, demanding that Chinese colonists quit the region. =============================================================================== Title: Paper says PRC ministry links CIA
to Xinjiang troubles ... Ethnic Uighur groups claim that several thousand people were arrested in a security sweep during the unrest, and some said 100 were executed. =============================================================================== Title: Call to crush Xinjiang's muslim
separatists ... Nine people were executed in the autonomous region last month for their roles in February riots against Chinese rule. =============================================================================== Title: Three Uighur separatists said
executed in Urumqi Almaty, July 28 (AFP) - Chinese authorities executed a further three separatist Uiyghurs for their alleged role in riots in February this year, separatist representatives said here Monday [28 July]. The three people executed in Urumqi, capital of the autonomous province of Xinjiang in northwestern China were part of a group of 20 recently arrested militants, a spokesman for the United Revolutionary National Front in the Kazakh capital Almaty said. The other 17 were sentenced to heavy prison terms. Chinese authorities accused the three separatists of taking part in racial riots at the beginning of February in Yining in the northwest of Xinjiang province. Xinjiang, which borders Kazakhstan, has been plagued by violence in the past year as ethnic Uighurs fight for independence from Beijing. Up to 100 people died in clashes on February 5-6 between Uighurs and Chinese in the Xinjiang frontier town of Yining, according to witnesses. Official figures said only 10 people were killed. According to the United Revolutionary National Front, arrests have escalated over the course of the past month. The latest killings on Sunday bring to 183 the number of Uighur separatists executed or shot dead during attempts to escape from prison since 1996 when the separatist uprising began. Over the same period, an estimated 62,000 Uighurs have reportedly been arrested by the Chinese authorities. According to an earlier toll 57,000 Uighurs have been arrested by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang since April 1996. =============================================================================== Title: Seven young Uyghurs are executed
and 20 jailed by the chinese suppressors in Ghulje By Rabiyem Yakub [ETIC, 8/1/97] On February 5-6 this year, the Uyghur youth of Ghulje city rallied on a peaceful demonstration demanding respect for human rights. But, the communist Chinese authorities preferred a brutal suppression of the young men instead of entering into dialogue. Paying absolutely no respect for the young people's concerns, the police poured cold water on the demonstrators from fire trucks in the conditions of severe winter weather of Ghulje, and then released several rounds from automatic guns intimidating the demonstrators, but killing a toddler of one Uyghur woman. Infuriated by the police brutality, the young men clashed with the armed police resulting in several Chinese and dozens of the Uyghurs killed. Shortly after in the retaliation, the Chinese colonialists launched an intimidation and terror campaign towards the entire Uyghur population of Eastern Turkistan. Thousands of the Uyghurs are being labeled and arbitrarily arrested as "nationalists", "separatists", and "murderers". On July 22, carrying the medieval intimidation campaign on, the Ili province and Ghulje city people's courts staged "open" trials of the "criminals" at the Ghulje city's largest stadium. At the forged trials, 27 young Uyghurs were given various sentences in connection to the February Ghulje demonstration. To demonstrate that the authorities do not have biases against the Uyghurs, one Chinese and one Hui were sentenced to death for drugs related crimes. Among the convicted young Uyghurs, 7, including JAPPAR TALET, HESENJAN IMIN, ALIMJAN YOLVAS, ABDUREHIM TUDAHUN, ABDUREHIM MEMET, SIDIK ROZI, MEMETJAN NURMEMET, are sentenced to death and executed the same day; 3 others, including HALMEMET ISLAM, were given suspended death sentences; 7 young men were sentenced to life in prison; 16 years old REHMETJAN was sentenced to 18 years in prison; The rest 9 people were sentenced to different terms up to 15 years in prison. The trials were administered by the Ili province court chairman AKAN, and were attended by the Ghulje city communist party and government officials Jang Gulyan, QURBANJANG, ZUNUN, TOKHTAR, HEYDER, KAYSAR, ZORDUN GHOJA, Vang Junvey, Ren Shudung, Hvan Jenjuang, SAVUTBEK, Yang Yujuang, POLAT, and others. The deputy chairman of the Ili province Communist Party committee KURBANJAN (In Eastern Turkistan, chairmen of the communist party committees are Chinese at almost all levels, and the Uyghurs can hold onle a deputy position, WUNN ed.) delivered a speech at the meeting, and, in particular said: "The regional, province, and city communist party and government officials, including social security (China's internal intelligence and law enforcement establishment, WUNN ed.), investigation, judicial organizations, and armed police have been carefully studying, centralizing, and widely spreading the spirit of the communist party central committee's directives "On maintaining stability in Xinjiang" (This document will soon be disclosed by the ETIC, WUNN ed.), and, through a hard work, achieved outstanding results in carrying out the party's policies. Today's open trials and sentences crashed resolutely the threats of our enemies, and strongly defended respect for the motherland's laws. We have clearly demonstrated that the communist party and government have strong and resolute wills to crash splittists by striking hard, and to safeguard motherland's unity, and political stability in the Ili region. This meeting inspired the representatives of all nationalities in the army, police and masses for struggle until all our enemies are wiped off from the region." He also said, "The overall situation in the Ili province is normal and good. But we have to be vigilant in the struggle with our enemies; the struggle against national splittists is long run, strong, and complicated." Uniting, closing our ranks, and standing all together against our common enemies, representatives of all nationalities must enforce the weight of our hard strike over the enemies, national splittists, terrorists, the leaders of dark and fanatical religious forces." The same day, being afraid of the Uyghur people's anger and possible revenge form the one hand, and to put an additional psychological pressure on the people from the other, the Chinese suppressors stopped traffic all over the Ghulje city, closed all offices, and took the entire city under military and police control. About 4 thousand specially "invited" participants from the provincial, city, and villages party and government officials, "the representatives of the masses" according to the Chinese propaganda media, took part in the meeting. Regretfully, these trails were assisted by a number of traitors of the Uyghur nationality. They will never be forgiven nor forgotten. [Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek] =============================================================================== Title: Nine executed for Xinjiang riots Beijing, July 28 (AFP) -- nine people have been executed in the troubled muslim border town of yining for their roles in february riots against chinese rule, officials said Monday. The nine were executed on July 22 in the frontier town, which borders Kazakhstan, after a sentencing rally attended by more than 4,000 people, an official from the district regional court said. Three others were given suspended death sentences, while seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, one to 18 years and nine to 15 years or less, he added. Exiles in Kazakhstan reported the executions earlier and said 34 people had been convicted for their roles in the disturbances. After the heavy rioting on February 5 -- with a death toll put at 10 by officials but at nearer 100 by observers -- police and soldiers rounded up more than 1,000 people in the predominantly-Muslim town. On April 24, three people were executed for their roles in the "serious riot." China is fighting a running battle against simmering separatist sentiment in the northeastern region of Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim area with a long history of animosity towards Beijing. Only three weeks after the Yining riots, three bombs exploded on buses in the regional capital of Urumqi, leaving nine dead and 58 injured. Eight people have already been executed for involvement in that case. The official Xinjiang Daily reported the vice general secretary in Yining told the sentencing rally that Beijing was determined to fight against "splittists" to the bitter end. "We are determined to fight against national splittists, terrorists and religious extremists to the end," Kuerbanjiang said. "We have to see clearly that the fight against ethnic terrorists has a long way to go and the battle is complicated. People of all ethnic groups must unite and fight against the enemy together," he added. China has ruled Xinjiang in varying degrees for centuries and it re-established control there in 1949 by crushing the short-lived state of East Turkestan that emerged during the Chinese civil war. Since then, Beijing has adopted a policy of Han Chinese migration to the region to dilute nationalist tendencies, but hopes of independence there have been rekindled since the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Muslim states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. =============================================================================== Title: Nine more moslem separatists
executed in China BEIJING, July 28 (Reuters) - China has executed nine more Moslem separatists for their roles inviolent anti-Chinese riots in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, local authorities said on Monday. The nine separatist activists were executed in the town of Yining immediately after sentencing at a mass rally attended by more than 4,000 people on July 22, an official of the Yining City Court said. "Their actions damaged state security," the official said. All nine had Moslem names that showed they were from the Uighur ethnic group that forms the majority of the population in the Xinjiang region, a report in the Xinjiang Daily said. Their crimes were committed during or soon after the anti-China riot in Yining last February 5 that left at least nine people dead and 198 injured, the court official said. "The terrorists were involved in bombings, arson, robbery, and murder during the riot in February this year," he said. Also at the mass rally, three people were sentenced to suspended death sentences, seven were jailed for life, one was sentenced to 18 years and nine were sentenced to terms of 15 years or less for their roles in the February unrest, he said. Local courts last April executed three people and sentenced 27 to prison terms ranging from seven years to life for their roles in the February riots, which began as a demonstration against Chinese rule. Chinese paramilitary police shot dead two people in Yining last April when a mob of more than 100 tried to rescue the three convicted rioters en route to the execution ground. "The current situation in the Yining region is good," the Xinjiang Daily quoted Yining district deputy Communist Party secretary Kuer Banjiang as saying. "But we must be vigilant and aware that the struggle against ethnic separatists is long-term, acute and complicated," he said. "People of all ethnic groups must unite against our common enemy and ... fight to the last in the struggle against the backbone of ethnic splittism, the violent terrorist criminals and the leaders of religious extremist forces," he said. Xinjiang authorities said last week that while they had successfully crushed the February riots, a handful of separatists who had not resigned themselves to defeat and were still operating. Militants of Xinjiang's Uighur ethnic minority have said they want to set up an independent state of "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three mostly Moslem Central Asian states. In May, eight people in Xinjiang were executed after being found guilty of involvement in crimes, including the planting of home-made bombs in the regional capital, Urumqi, that killed nine people. The Urumqi bombings coincided with the funeral rites in Beijing of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, who died on February 19. Exiled ethnic Uighurs have claimed responsibility for the bombings and vowed to stage more attacks until they gain freedom for their Moslem homeland. Last year, the region was rocked by several assassination attempts against government officials and religious leaders regarded as being pro-Beijing. =============================================================================== Title: Seven more young Uyghurs are
executed in Ghulje [ETIC, 7/27/97] On July 22, 1997, the Chinese authorities conducted an open trial and convicted to death 7 young Uyghurs, and gave life and long term sentences to 20 more people in connections to the Uyghur youth demonstration in Ghulje city on February 5-6 this year. Among the death convicts is 22 years old Gappar Talat. The sentenced were executed the same day at the outskirts of Ghulje. Their bodies were not released to parents, and were buried at Apar place of Ghulje's Chapchal county. On the day of trial, the Ghulje city was completely sealed by the military prohibiting all in and out traffic. Work at all businesses, schools and markets was cancelled. [Burkut] =============================================================================== Title: 'Terrorists' in Xinjiang unrest
receive death sentences Ili Prefectural Intermediate People's Court and Yining City People's Court held a judgment pronouncement rally yesterday [22 July] and handed down severe judgments on a group of violent terrorists and criminals who participated in the serious disturbances involving assault, damage, looting, and arson on 5 February, and on a number of other serious offenders. [video opens with a medium shot of a two-storey building; a banner with a black background hangs in front of the balcony on the second floor; on the banner are white characters in Uygur and Chinese. The Chinese characters read: "Judgment Pronouncement Rally of Ili Prefectural Intermediate People's Court and Yining City People's Court"] A total of 29 violent terrorists and other serious criminals involved in 12 cases received verdicts at the rally. Nine received death sentences, three received death sentences with reprieves, seven received life sentences, one was sentenced to 18 years in prison, and the other nine were sentenced to no more than 15 years of fixed-term imprisonment. [video shows a row of at least eight military trucks in front of the building; the prisoners are on the trucks; they are all bound with ropes and carrying placards inscribed with Chinese and Uygur characters on their chests; each criminal is escorted by one or two armed police officers who press his head down and pin his hands behind his back] (Hapaer Tielaiti), who faced charges of intentional injury that caused death, and the gang of (Aishanjiang Imamu), (Alimujian Uliwasi), (Abdukrimu Tudahon), and (Abdureyimu Maimaiti), who participated in, organized, and took the lead in cases of theft and making explosives, were sentenced to death. An offender in the same cases, (Halimaimaiti Silamu), received a death sentence with reprieve. (Abdushala Abdumijiti), who was charged with intentional injury that caused death, arson, and hooliganism, received a life sentence. (Rihemaitijiang Rebuke) was sentenced to 18-years' imprisonment for intentional injury that caused death and hooliganism. Four other serious criminals were sentenced to death: (Sidike Rozi) and (Maimaitijiang Urmaimaiti) for intentional homicide, (Ma Chenglin) for drug trafficking, and (Tang Jun) for theft. Over 4,000 people of various nationalities from various circles attended the judgment pronouncement rally. (Kurbanjiang), deputy party secretary and administrative office commissioner of Ili Prefecture, spoke at the rally. He said: Party committees and governments at autonomous prefectural, prefectural, and city levels; public security, procuratorial, and judicial authorities; and armed police corps in Ili have conscientiously implemented the party Central Committee's series of important guidelines and spirit on maintaining stability in Xinjiang, meticulously organized and launched a special intensive rectification of public order, and accomplished significant results through their efforts. The judgment pronouncement rally today has once again forcefully clamped down on the arrogance of the enemy, guarded the sanctity of the law, upheld justice for people of all nationalities, fully demonstrated the strong power of the people's democratic dictatorship, demonstrated the party and government's firm determination to crack down on national separatism and on safeguarding national unification and political stability in Ili, and aroused the fighting will of the masses, police, and armymen of all nationalities. Administrative Office Commissioner (Kurbanjiang) said: The current situation in Ili Prefecture is good. But we should also be clearly aware that the struggle against national separatism is a long-term, incisive, and complicated mission. People of all nationalities must work together to fight the enemy; exert greater efforts to fight them; and firmly carry out to the end the struggle against core national separatist members, violent terrorists and criminals, and leading religious extremists. [video shows citizens sitting in order and Kurbanjiang addressing the rally from the balcony] =============================================================================== Title: Call for people's war on
separatists ... The February riots, which began as a demonstration for Xinjiang's independence, left nine people dead and 198 injured, by official tally. Three people were executed and 27 sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven years to life after the riots. =============================================================================== Title: Explosives find sparks plea to
Xinjiang clerics ... In May, Chinese authorities executed eight people in the regional capital Urumqi for bombings, murders and robberies that left nine people dead. In April, a self-taught expert on the Koran was executed for bombing a military vehicle last year. =============================================================================== Title: Three more Uyghurs were executed in
Ghulje According to Ismail Cengiz, the chairman of the Eastern Turkistan National Center in Turkey, the Chinese authorities continue to conduct fabricated trials of the Uyghurs arrested after the Uyghur youth clashed with the armed police in Gulje city of Eastern Turkistan on February 4-6. He reported to an ETIC correspondent that, on June 11, 3 more Uyghurs were convicted in causing social disturbances and hooliganism and executed in Ghulje. By his estimates, the total number of killed on and after the Ghulje events reached 162 people, and about 1600 people have been arrested. [Abduljelil, Istanbul] =============================================================================== Title: Ten 'terrorist acts' reported in
Xinjiang since 1996 Beijing, June 11 (AFP) -- Security forces in China's troubled Xinjiang province have dealt with 10 terrorist acts since last year including a demonstration which left at least 10 dead and several deadly bomb attacks, a report said. "Security forces in the region have since 1996 dealt with 10 acts of terrorist violence in accordance with the law, including the February 5 (1997) incident at Yining and the attacks on the buses in Urumqi on February 25," said the Xinjiang Daily, received here Wednesday. The predominantly Moslem area in northwest China has been plagued by clashes. On February 5 rioting by ethnic Uighur in Yining left at least 10 people dead by official count, but at least 100 according to the separatists. On February 25 three bomb blasts on buses in the regional capital Urumqi killed nine and injured 74. Three people were executed in April for involvement in the Yining clashes, while the following month eight were shot for the bomb blasts, blamed on separatists among the majority Uighur Moslems. The newspaper also mentioned the assassination attempt on May 12, 1996 against a senior official. Of the two men who stabbed the official at least one was killed a few days later in a gunfight. The paper did not give details of the other incidents in the region =============================================================================== Title: China executed eight men last week China executed eight men last week for their roles in a series of bus bombings that rocked the regional capital of Urumqi on February 25. In April, it executed three men and jailed 27 for their part in an anti-Chinese riot in the border town of Yining. The Urumqi attacks, a series of five separate time bombs, killed nine people and wounded 58. The bombings coincided with the funeral rites for China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in the nation's capital of Beijing. Deng died in February aged 92. Three others were sentenced to long jail terms for roles in the Urumqi attacks while one man who had confessed his crimes and implicated others was given a death sentence suspended for two years. That often means a reduction to life in jail if a prisoner cooperates. The group had also bought guns and ammunition, the official media have said. =============================================================================== Title: Urumqi court sentences bus bombers
to death This morning, the Urumqi City Intermediate People's Court held a public-sentencing rally at the chief courthouse of the Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court to pass final verdicts according to law on 12 convicts involved in the 25 February bus bombings case. Mahmut Abdurahman and seven other convicts were sentenced to death on such charges as bomb-planting, murder, and robbery, with their political rights deprived for life. [Video opens with a wide shot of the dock of the courthouse, cutting to show each of the 12 convicts in medium-range shots, with hands cuffed, legs chained, a rope around the neck, and held in the back by three guards in military uniform] After premeditating the plot of launching terrorist bombing acts in mid-January 1997 in Urumqi City, Mahmut Abdurahman and other convicts illegally purchased such explosive devices as dynamite and detonators and incited others to buy other criminal tools, which led to the making of five time bombs. On the morning of 25 February, Mahmut Abdurahman gathered his accomplices together to once again premeditate and agree on the plot of detonating bombs on buses from 1630 to 1730 Urumqi time of that day. Eventually, they placed the five time bombs on Routes No. 2, No.3, No.10, No.44, and No.58 buses respectively, causing explosions of two buses while traveling along their routes. One of the explosive devices placed on a bus was discovered by its passengers and exploded after being thrown out of the bus, while the others placed on two other buses failed to explode. The consequences of this incident were so serious that nine people were killed and 58 others injured. Prior to this, Mahmut Abdurahman and other convicts had committed violent terrorist acts against innocent people in an extremely ferocious way. They had killed nine people in succession and maliciously wounded two others, plundered and stolen huge amounts of company property, and illegally purchased firearms and ammunition. Various violent terrorist acts committed by them seriously endangered the public order of Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, and the safety of its people's lives and property, and the way in which the crimes were committed was particularly vile and the consequences were particularly serious. After being tried by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court in accordance with our country's law and the legal provision of allowing higher people's courts to ratify some of the death penalty cases with the Supreme People's Court's authorization, convicts Mahmut Abdurahman, [Abdulah Moniaji], Abul'ahat Memet, [Usua Amiti], [Yusufu Ayiti], [Mustafa Lua], [Aily Yuyimu], and Jilil Bilali were sentenced to death according to law and executed immediately after the rally. [as the announcer reads the report, video pans the fully packed courthouse and occassionally shows closeups of the judge reading verdicts on the stage; one shot shows approximately a dozen armed guards seated among the audience] Convict [Ibahim Tobuti], who committed such particularly serious crimes as murder and robbery, should have been seriously punished. But since he had performed major meritorious services by making a clean breast of his crimes and exposing others' criminal offenses after being placed under arrest, he was sentenced to death according to law, with a two-year stay of execution. The public-sentencing rally also passed final verdicts on three convicts who had committed murder, robbery, and larceny, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment or set terms of imprisonment respectively. [video ends with shots of the convicts being escorted out of the courthouse] =============================================================================== Title: Terrorists executed for bombings --
killings in Xinjiang Urumqi, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Eight terrorists were executed here this morning for their connection in a series of bombings, killings and robberies which left 18 innocent people dead and 60 others injured in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Higher People's Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced in its final verdicts that Mahmut Abdurahman, Jilil Bilali and six other persons were sentenced to death for committing violent terrorist crimes "by extremely cruel and criminal means." The court also gave another four accomplices the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, life imprisonment and jail terms for murder, robbery and larceny respectively. The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court on May 16 issued its verdicts regarding on the first instance, which occurred on February 25, saying that the 12-member gang placed five homemade explosive devices on public buses in Urumqi, the capital city of the autonomous region. Three of the five explosive devices exploded, killing nine passengers and injuring 58, who were all innocent local residents of the Uygur, Han, Hui and Kirgiz ethnic groups. Court investigations revealed that Mahmut Abdurahman, Abul'ahat Memet and other members of the gang robbed local cab drivers, shop owners, residents and pedestrians of Han nationality and the Uygur ethnic group with knives and guns on eight occasions from December 18, 1996 to February 20, 1997. Nine persons were killed and two injured in the incident. The court said that Mahmut Abdurahman and his gang illegally purchased three pistols and more than 90 bullets for their criminal activities and stole 49,600 yuan-worth of public and private property. After an open trial, the court ruled that Mahmut Abdurahman and his gang had seriously endangered the life and property of the people, the way in which the crimes were committed was absolutely vile and the consequences extremely grave. Based on the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and the decision to severely punish those criminals who pose a serious threat to the society issued by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the 12 members of the gang were convicted of crimes of bombing, homicide, robbery and larceny respectively. After the sentence of the first trial by the Urumqi City Intermediate People's Court, Jilil Bilali and five other criminals appealed the verdict, but the Higher People's Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region rejected the appeal after a hearing of the collegiate bench. =============================================================================== Title: More innocent blood spilt in Ghulje [ETIC, 4/29/97] The following report was given to the Eastern Turkistan Information Center bureau in Bishkek by the two Uyghurs recently escaped from Eastern Turkistan. On April 24, the Chinese authorities conducted a trial of 33 young Uyghurs accused by the government in causing disturbances on 5-6 February in Ghulje city of Uyghuristan. The trial was closed for public, and was attended only by the Chinese officials. All the traffic in the center of Ghulje city was stopped, and only Chinese soldiers were seen on the streets. The police put armed soldiers on roofs of many buildings. The court sentenced three Uyghurs to death, 17 Uyghurs were given life in prison, a 23 year old woman was given 8 years in prison, and rest of the accused were given from 10 to 15 years in prison sentences. The same day the three sentenced to death Uyghurs were executed on the outskirts of the city. Their bodies were not released to the relatives, instead, were taken away in the unknown direction. The other convicted Uyghurs were put on trucks with their hands and mouths tired with wires, and with placards hang on their necks. They were put on knees with their heads pushed down by the soldiers. In spite of heavy military presence in the city, many crying Uyghurs went on streets and followed the trucks shouting "Good Bye", "Let the God help you", "The God is great", and "The truth will find its way". The people followed the trucks, and the soldiers open fire on suffering people, killing three, and wounding 10. One of the killed is 43 years old Uyghur named Anwar, a father to 7 children. The next day, the official TV reported that the soldiers had to open fire to stop a small group of criminals in their attempt to rescue the convicts. Witnesses say that every day many Uyghurs are arrested by the police, including some 12 year old children. The prisons in Ghulje are overcrowded. Even more people run from one government office to another in vain attempts to obtain some information on their imprisoned relatives. [Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek] =============================================================================== Title: China executes 3 for inciting riots
27 others sentenced to jail BEIJING (CNN) -- Three men were sentenced to death and executed the same day for their roles in bloody riots that rocked northern China earlier this year, Chinese authorities said Saturday. Twenty-seven others were sentenced to penalties ranging from seven years in prison to life imprisonment. More than 5,000 people packed a sports stadium in the Yili district of Xinjiang, the troubled Muslim region near the border with Kazakstan, to see the group sentenced at a Thursday rally. All of the convicted men were members of the ethnic Uighur minority, Xinjiang's largest Muslim group, who have grown increasingly resentful in recent years of Chinese rule and settlers. The three men executed were sentenced to death for wounding, hooliganism, arson and beatings. Death penalties in China are often carried out shortly after sentencing with a bullet to the head. At least 10 people were killed and 140 others injured when crowds of young Muslims beat people during a pro-independence rally in Yining on February 5 and 6. It was among the worst violence to rattle Xinjiang since the 1949 Communist takeover. News reports said the Yili District Intermediate People's Court and the court for Yining city in Yili, which held the public rally, sentenced one person to life imprisonment for hooliganism. Twenty-six others reportedly drew sentences ranging from 7 to 18 years in prison. The Xinjiang Daily said they were first batch of rioters sentenced, suggesting there will be more. Xinjiang, a vast region that is home to many Turkic-speaking peoples such as the Uighurs, has a long history of ethnic unrest and has recently been rocked by Muslim separatist violence. =============================================================================== Title: China Denies Executing Five Uighur
Rioters [CND, 03/25/97] Xinjiang officials denied reports that five ethnic Uighurs accused of leading a riot in Xinjiang last month had been executed, according to two Reuters reports. Mukhiddin Mukhlisi, spokesman for the United National Revolutionary Front of East Turkestan, said at a congress of exile Uighur groups near Almaty, the Kazakh capital, that one of the five executed was Abdukhalil Abdulmedchit, who was reported to have been a prominent leader of the rioting. (Yinrong HUANG, Daluo JIA) =============================================================================== Title: ... Uighur groups also allege that about 150 Uighurs have been executed in Xinjiang or beaten while trying to escape jail. Up to 100 people died after clashes on February 5-6 in Xinjiang between Uighurs and Chinese in the Xinjiang frontier town of Yining, according to reports by witnesses. =============================================================================== Title: A Uighur exile group said on Monday China had executed five ethnic Uighurs who were accused of involvement in bloody riots that rocked the country's predominantly Moslem northwest province of Xinjiang last month. ``We know for sure that five people (Uighurs) were executed on March 20 (Thursday),'' Mukhiddin Mukhlisi, spokesman for the United National Revolutionary Front of East Turkestan, told Reuters at a congress of exile Uighur groups near Kazakhstan's capital Almaty. =============================================================================== Title: Execution of Xinjiang riot leaders
denied Officials in northwestern Xinjiang yesterday dismissed reports that five ethnic Uygurs accused of leading a riot there last month had been executed. "This report is really laughable," said an official of the regional Communist Party Committee. "We have also heard a lot of rumours but we haven't finished dealing with this case." A Uygur exile group in Kazakhstan, which shares a border with Xinjiang, said China had executed five Uygurs accused of involvement in last month's rioting in Yining in which nine people were killed and 198 hurt. "We know five people were executed on March 20," a spokesman for the United National Revolutionary Front of East Turkestan, said at a congress of exile groups. A Yining procuratorial official denied the report. On Friday, a court official in Yining said China had ended hearings for six men on trial for their role in the anti-Chinese riots, but said the verdict would be announced next month. The six men, all members of the Uygur minority, had been charged with hooliganism and with endangering social order. Meanwhile, Beijing is to crack down on separatists in Tibetan prisons and terrorist groups. Officials had discussed the political "re-education" of prisoners, especially pro-separatists, the Tibet Daily said. =============================================================================== Title: China / Uighurs INTRO: Ethnic muslims along the Kazakstan / China border say five Uighurs have been executed in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang for being involved in riots between Uighurs and Chinese in early February. China denies the report. Birgit brauer reports for v-o-a from Almaty, Kazakstan. text: The head of the United National Revolutionary Front in Almaty, Yusupbek Mukhlisi, said five young Uighurs were executed in Yining, in China's Xinjiang province, last Thursday. He says the Uighurs were found guilty of participating in the riots that left at least 10 people dead and 140 injured. Mr. Mukhlisi said one of the executed, 27-year old Abdul-Khalil Abdul-Medchit, was a prominent leader in the uprising that took place in the town of Yining, only 50 kilometers from the Kazak border. Chinese authorities in Xinjiang province have dismissed the reports of the five executions. Last week, 35 uighurs demonstrated in front of the Chinese embassy in the center of Almaty to protest against the planned executions. With fists raised, the group shouted "Stop the repression" and "Allah Akbar" (god is great). Chinese diplomats photographed and videotaped the demonstrators and western journalists. =============================================================================== Title: Six charged in Xinjiang's muslim
rioting, face death [CND, 03/22/97] A court in Yining, Xinjiang has completed hearings for six men on trial for their role in rioting in the Moslem region of Xinjiang last month, Reuters reports. The six men, all members of the ethnic Uighur minority, have been indicted on charges of hooliganism and endangering social order. They could face the death sentence if convicted. In February, one of the largest demonstrations for independence. Prepared by: *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |