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East Turkestan: Amnesty
International report 2004
China
Despite a few positive steps, no attempt was made to
introduce the fundamental legal and institutional
reforms necessary to bring an end to serious human
rights violations. Tens of thousands of people
continued to be detained or imprisoned in violation of
their rights to freedom of expression and association,
and were at serious risk of torture or ill-treatment.
Thousands of people were sentenced to death or
executed. Restrictions increased on the cultural and
religious rights of the mainly Muslim Uighur community
in Xinjiang, where thousands of people have been
detained or imprisoned for so-called "separatist" or "terrorist"
offences. In Tibet and other ethnic Tibetan areas,
freedom of expression and religion continued to be
severely restricted. China continued to use the
international "war against terrorism" as a pretext for
cracking down on peaceful dissent.
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
The authorities continued to use the international
"war against terrorism" to justify harsh repression in
Xinjiang, which continued to result in serious human
rights violations against the ethnic Uighur community.
The authorities continued to make little distinction
between acts of violence and acts of passive
resistance. Repression was often manifested through
assaults on Uighur culture, such as the closure of
several mosques, restrictions on the use of the Uighur
language and the banning of certain Uighur books and
journals.
The crack-down against suspected "separatists,
terrorists and religious extremists" intensified
following the start of a renewed 100-day security
crack-down in October. Arrests continued and thousands
of political prisoners, including prisoners of
conscience, remained in prison. Concerns increased
that China was putting pressure on neighbouring
countries to forcibly return Uighurs suspected of "separatist"
activities, including asylum-seekers and refugees.
Officials confirmed in October that Shaheer Ali, who
had been forcibly returned to China from Nepal in
2002, had been executed after being found guilty of "terrorist"
offences in a closed trial. He had been recognized as
a refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in
Nepal. Shaheer Ali had secretly left behind a detailed
testimony in which he described being beaten, given
electric shocks and kicked unconscious during a
previous period of detention in 1994.
Source: Amnesty
International
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