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China urged to
grant Uighurs freedom
Sunday 21 December 2003 3:25 PM GMT
A Muslim separatist group
branded as "terrorists" by China has said it was
willing to disband if the communist state offered
freedom of expression and Internet access to Uighur
Muslim minorities.
The Munich-based East Turkistan Information
Centre (ETIC) was set up in 1996 by Uighurs living in
Germany to provide information to Uighurs living in
northwest China's Xinjiang region, its spokesman
Dilxat Raxit said.
Its aim was also to expose the government's abuses of
Uighurs' rights, he told AFP during a telephone
conversation on Sunday.
"If the Chinese government thinks we're inciting
activities from overseas in the mainland, we hope the
Chinese government will allow press freedom, allow
foreign journalists to freely report in Xinjiang and
allow international rights rapporteur to investigate
in the jails without any obstacles," Raxit said.
"And if Uighurs can have Internet freedom, then
there's no reason why we need to exist. We will then
disband," he said.
Uighurs, who make up a large portion of the population
in the restive Xinjiang region, are prevented from
freely accessing the internet to read non-government
sanctioned information about Xinjiang and the outside
world.
They are also prohibited from freely expressing their
views online and risk being jailed if caught
expressing dissent.
Human rights violations
China last week labelled the group, along with three
other Uighur separatists groups, as terrorist
organisations and sought international help to shut
down the organisations and arrest their leaders.
Critics, including Amnesty International and other
human rights groups, however, said China was making no
distinction between terrorists and people practising
peaceful dissent and who simply wanted more rights and
autonomy from Chinese rule.
The Uighurs are the majority ethnic group in the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) where the
local population is predominantly Muslim.
Following ethnic unrest in February 1997, according to
Amnesty International, the authorities tightened
controls and repressed any activity suspected of
supporting Uighur nationalism - officially termed "separatism"
- including peaceful religious activities.
Some Uighurs, Amnesty says, have been detained merely
for being relatives or friends of political prisoners
or fugitives, or simply for being Uighurs.
Many have been held without charge for several months,
in violation of Chinese law.
AFP (with additions)
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