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[East Turkistan Information Center, 3/2/2001]
On February 3, the middle Court of Hotan prefecture convicted Abla Ebey, one of the leaders of the Uighur liberstion movement in Hotan prefecture, for being "a terrorist, a separatist, a violator of the national unity, and a splittist" and sentenced him to life in prison.
The Chinese authorities have also arrested about 400 young Uighurs suspecting them in contacts with Abla Ebey's underground organization.
Being a religious person, Abla Ebey, a 31 years old resident of the village of Tevekkul Chatka in Hotan Prefecture, was engaged in the religious education of young people during the last few years.
By the official allegation, Abla Ebey was engaged in 1998 in buying firearms in China's inner provinces and had contacts with an anti-government resistance group in Qaraqash of Hotan.
The Chinese police was given a warrant for his arrest in June of 1999.
Since then, Abla Ebey had to hide from the authorities.
The police interrogated Abla Ebey's parents, and the property of his family members was confiscated. His old mother and wife were detained for three months and treated harshly by the police.
On November 1999, Abla Ebey was detected by the Chinese intelligence service in the village of Shorbagh. The governor of Hotan, Aziz Qurban, led personally a police squad team to the village. The police used Abla Ebey's brother, Emin Tohti, as a shield, entered the house and captured Abla.
By an order of the governor, Emin Tohti was brutally beaten by the police and was kept under cold water for three hours.
After the arrest of Abla Ebey, hundreds of his followers were also detained. Property of many of the detained was confiscated. Houses of some of the detained were set on fire. Twenty seven people who donated money to Abla Ebey were fined to the amount equal to five times the size of the donation. |
