AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
AI
Index: ASA 17/010/2005
(Public)
News
Service No: 064
17
March 2005
China: Rebiya Kadeer release welcome,
but tactically timed
Amnesty International welcomes Rebiya
Kadeer's release from prison on medical
parole, but notes with scepticism the
timing. On the same day, the US
announced it will not seek to sponsor a
resolution on China at the ongoing UN
Human Rights Commission. US Secretary of
State Condaleezza Rice is also due to
visit China shortly, creating the
impression that once again the Chinese
government is using political prisoners
to play "hostage politics".
Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uighur
businesswoman from the northwest region
of Xinjiang, should never have been in
prison in the first place. She was
detained, tried and imprisoned for eight
years in 2000 on charges of "leaking
state secrets", having sent
newspaper clippings to her husband in
the USA.
"We are extremely concerned that the
release of Rebiya Kadeer will be cited
as evidence of improvements in human
rights as the European Union debates
lifting its arms embargo on China. This
embargo was put in place as a direct
result of human rights violations linked
to the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrations," said Catherine Baber,
Deputy Asia Director at Amnesty
International. "Rebiya Kadeer's release
does not alter the laws and practices
regularly used by the Chinese
authorities to detain and imprison
individuals who peacefully exercise
their rights to freedom of expression,
association and other fundamental human
rights."
Other Uighur prisoners of conscience
remain behind bars. Abdulghani Memetemin
was sentenced to nine years in prison in
2002, also on charges of "leaking
state secrets" after sending
information abroad about human rights
violations against Uighurs in Xinjiang.
It is precisely the information on such
individuals that should be informing the
UN Commission on Human Rights and other
debates. Tohti Tunyaz was sentenced to
11 years in prison in 1999 on various
charges including "inciting
separatism", referring to a book he
was alleged to have written on Uighur
history. Both of these prisoners of
conscience will still be in prison
during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and
Amnesty International is calling for
their immediate and unconditional
release.
"Amnesty International members around
the world of course welcome the release
of Rebiya Kadeer," said Catherine Baber.
"Her release will encourage their
efforts to secure the release of other
prisoners of conscience in the region,
as well as secure reforms to the laws
that put them behind bars in the first
place."
Rebiya Kadeer's success in business was
recognised and celebrated by the Chinese
authorities, earning her a position as
an official representative to the UN
Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing in 1995. She later became a
member of an official advisory body to
the National People's Congress, but was
barred from re-election in 1998 for
failing to condemn her husband's "separatist"
activities in the USA. She was detained
in August 1999 while on her way to meet
a US Congressional Research delegation
in China at the time, and was alleged to
be in possession of a list of 10 people
"suspected of having a connection
with national separatist activities".
Rebiya Kadeer's release comes around a
year and a half before she was due to
complete her sentence. According to
reports, she is flying to the United
States where she will receive medical
treatment and be reunited with her
family.
Public
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