The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) has learned that Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of prominent Uyghur human rights defender Rebiya Kadeer, was sentenced today by a Chinese court on charges of “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities”. The verdict, announced by the Intermediate People's Court of Urumchi, also states that Ablikim will be deprived of his political rights for three years.

“I am extremely saddened by the nine-year sentence handed down to my son, as his arrest, detention, trial and sentence were all in violation of China's constitution,” said Ms. Kadeer, “, just like his brother Alim, is innocent of all charges against him, and there is a severe lack of evidence to back up any of these charges. He has been sentenced not because of any of his actions in China but because of my human rights activism in the U.S. and around the world.”

Xinhua News Agency, an official Chinese media outlet, reported today that “Ablikim Abdiriyim's [sic] legal rights were protected during the trial and the information concerning the time and venue of the trial was publicized three days beforehand.” However, as understood by members of Ms. Kadeer's family, Ablikim has thus far been denied access to legal representation and access to any lawyer. Family members also did not receive any advance notice prior to Ablikim's trial. Ablikim was reportedly tried on January 22.

“If Ablikim's legal rights were indeed protected, then he should have been granted access to legal representation or access to a lawyer,” said Ms. Kadeer. “We do not know how he has been treated in detention, or how he was treated during his trial, because no family member has been allowed to visit him in detention and no family member was allowed to attend his trial.”

The Xinhua report also states that Ablikim “confessed to the charges [against him] during the trial”. It is unclear whether or not Ablikim did make a confession during the trial, but UHRP believes that if he indeed confessed, he likely did so under conditions of extreme duress. When Ms. Kadeer was tried in secret in March 2000, she was forced to sign a pre-prepared confession, like many other Uyghur political prisoners. Uyghur political prisoners have no choice but to sign these pre-prepared confessions, because they will face even more severe consequences if they refuse to sign. Chinese authorities then use the signed pre-written confessions as indisputable evidence of their political crimes.

The charges brought against Ms. Kadeer's children have been inconsistent. Alim was charged with “tax evasion” and sentenced to seven years in prison last November. But according to Ablikim's April 17 verdict, issued by the Urumchi Intermediate People's Court, Alim, Ablikim and their sister all allegedly “circulated a rumor that the authorities would close down Rebiya Building Co. Ltd,” planned to “distribute 450 copies of written proposals and slogans in an attempt to stir up public protest against the local government,” and “wrote an article which distorted China's human rights system and ethnic policies.” Yet only Ablikim was charged with “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.”

“My children did not circulate a rumor about the government closing down my business- the authorities sent police to various business entities and threatened to close down my business,” said Ms. Kadeer regarding these allegations. “They did not plan to distribute written proposals and slogans in an attempt to stir up public protest against the local government. They wrote something to prove their innocence to business people who were renting business spaces at our office building when the authorities threatened to take over the building. Likewise, they did not write an article distorting China's human rights and ethnic policies, as stated in the verdict against Ablikim. He wrote a financial report regarding our financial dealings with other businessmen after the Chinese police raided and confiscated all of our official business documents.”

UHRP believes that the sentencing of Ablikim on charges of “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities” is part of a continuing strategy by Beijing to retaliate against Ms. Kadeer's human rights activism in the United States and counter the influence she maintains as the “spiritual mother” of the Uyghur people. Since Ms. Kadeer's arrival in the U.S. in March 2005, after spending nearly six years as a political prisoner in East Turkistan, her children have been repeatedly detained, tortured or imprisoned.

Since Ms. Kadeer's release, Chinese police have launched an investigation into alleged financial irregularities by her family's company in Urumchi. Earlier this month, Kahar Abdureyim, the older brother of Ablikim and Ms. Kadeer's eldest son, was put in change of a working group established to oversee the liquidation of the family's business assets in Urumchi, and threatened with arrest if he failed to cooperate. Provincial and local authorities reportedly ordered Kahar to organize the operational arrangements for the 30 members of the working group. He is being required to certify that the approximately RMB 22 million dollars (USD 2.8 million) in fines levied against the Kadeer family businesses are assessed and implemented correctly. These fees were handed down as part of a legal ruling made last November by the Tianshan District Court in Urumchi.

On June 1, 2006, Ablikim and his brother Alim were beaten by police in front of their young children and their sister Rushangul, who was then handed a cell phone and told to call Ms. Kadeer and inform her about what was happening. On November 27, 2006, the day after Ms. Kadeer was elected president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), the court sentenced Alim and Kahar on charges of tax evasion, fining them both and sentencing Alim to seven years in prison.

Ablikim was previously detained in August 1999, at the same time as his mother, and was at that time reportedly accused of “providing information to foreigners”. On November 20, 1999, Ablikim was assigned to two years of “re-education through labor” (an administrative punishment imposed by a government committee without charge or trial). He was reported to have been ill-treated in detention. From the time of his release until the time of his most recent detention in June 2006, Ablikim had been subjected to heavy surveillance on the part of Chinese authorities. As a result, Ablikim had been very cautious when communicating with others, especially when using the Internet.

According to the Xinhua report regarding his sentencing, Ablikim had downloaded two articles and asked the Uygur-language webmaster of Yahoo.com to publish them online. However, a number of computer experts contacted by UHRP have said it is highly unlikely that there is a Uyghur-language webmaster working for Yahoo because, unlike Google, Yahoo does not provide any Uyghur language services.

“If China wants to become a great nation worthy of the respect it hungers for, then it should learn to respect the human rights of the people under its rule and listen to the voices of human rights activists,” said Ms. Kadeer. “China will not be respected by the international community if it continues to grossly violate human rights and persecute the children of human rights activists to retaliate against them. I believe China's future lies in respecting human rights and upholding the rule of law, and not in punishing people arbitrarily.”

At this time it is unclear whether or not Ablikim will appeal, or whether Chinese authorities will grant him his legal right to file an appeal should he choose to do so. However, Ms. Kadeer and her family members remain extremely concerned about his health, due to reports in early March that he was gravely ill as a result of beatings suffered during his detention and when he was first detained last year. No family members have been able to visit Ablikim since he was first detained last June, and no evidence has been presented to his family to indicate the current state of his health. It is unknown whether or not he has been given access to adequate medical care. His current whereabouts have also not been disclosed to his family.

Timeline of events

• On April 17, 2007, the Intermediate People's Court of Urumchi sentenced Ms. Rebiya Kadeer's son Ablikim to nine years in prison on charges of “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities”. The court's verdict also states that Ablikim will be deprived of his political rights for three years.

• On April 2, 2007, a working group responsible for implementing RMB 22 million dollars (USD 2.8 million) in fines against the Kadeer family businesses posted notices announcing the start of an assessment and liquidation process to be carried out on the Kadeer family business property. According to posted notices, the Kadeer family businesses had evaded taxes or delayed tax payments, and had hidden financial assets.

• On November 27, the court announced a seven-year prison sentence and a fine of RMB 500,000 (USD 62,500) against Alim Abdureyim; and a fine of RMB 100,000 (USD 12,500) against Kahar Abdureyim. On the same day, UHRP's sources reported that Ablikim Abdureyim, who is in detention awaiting trial on charges of ‘subversion', was seen being taken from the Tianshan District detention center on a stretcher, apparently in need of medical attention. The court also announced a fine of RMB 22 million dollars (USD 2.8 million) to be carried out against the Kadeer family businesses.

• Ablikim Adbiriyim was reportedly tried on January 22 on charges of “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.” Details of the trial are not clear, and no family members were permitted to attend the trial.

• On November 26, Ms. Kadeer was elected to the position of president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), based in Munich.

• On October 27, Kahar and Alim were tried at Tianshan District court in Urumchi, with the court stating that a sentence would be announced within 10 days.

• On July 14, the Tianshan District Procuratorate Office formally issued an indictment charging both Kahar and Alim with tax evasion and Ablikim with subversion. At this time, UHRP was aware that Ablikim was still being interrogated in detention, indicating his case was not yet ready to be submitted by police to state prosecution offices.

• On July 10, Kahar and Alim were arraigned on criminal charges.

• On July 6, Alim was reported to have 'confessed' on or around July 1 to the criminal and political charges against him as a direct consequence of being tortured. He is understood to have signed confessions to the charges against him of tax evasion and “attempting to split the state”.

• On June 23, UHRP learned that Alim Abdureyim had been tortured in detention.

• On June 14, police read the arrest warrants of Kahar Abdureyim, Alim Abdureyim and Ablikim Abdureyim to Rushangul Abdureyim, and told her that they were arrested by the orders of the Fifth Branch of the Public Security Bureau in Urumchi. Rushangul was then placed under house arrest under the watch of nine policemen. After their arrest, the Fifth Branch of the Public Security Bureau in Urumchi turned Kahar, Alim and Ablikim over to the Urumchi Municipal Public Security Office and the Tianshan District Procuratorate Office for interrogation and the filing of charges.

• On June 13, the Chinese authorities officially charged Kahar Abdureyim, Ms. Kadeer's eldest son, with alleged tax evasion, Ablikim with alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government, and Alim with alleged tax evasion and attempting to split the state. Also on June 13, police detained Kahar at his home in Aksu (200 miles southeast of Urumchi) and brought him to Urumchi by chaining him to the floor of a minibus.

• On June 1, police took Alim, Ablikim and Rushangul, along with their children, by vehicle to a point halfway between Urumchi and the Nanshan Mountains. At this location, police officers dragged Alim and Ablikim out of the vehicle they were in and beat them severely. At this time, one police officer present forced Rushangul to inform her mother of the beating. Following the beating, Alim was taken to a detention center and Ablikim was reportedly taken to a hospital.

• On the evening of May 29, 2006, five police officers from the Nanguan Police Station detained Alim, Ablikim and Rushangul Abdureyim (two sons and a daughter, respectively, of Rebiya Kadeer). They were first brought to the police station to be detained there, and were later allowed to go home and were put under house arrest.

• On May 29, 2006, Ms. Kadeer was elected president of the Uyghur American Association (UAA) by the organization's members at the UAA's bi-annual congress in Washington, D.C.

• On August 30, 2005, Radio Free Asia reported that police in Urumchi had formed a special unit to investigate the relatives and business interests of Rebiya Kadeer, citing her son Alim Abdureyim and a local police officer. Alim, who was the managing director of his family's Akida Trading Co., told RFA's Uyghur service that police in the mostly Uyghur Nanguan area of Urumchi had formed a unit known as “the number 307 office, [or] the Rebiya Kadeer investigation office.” Alim stated that police from Unit 307 required members of the Kadeer family to give them advance notice if they wished to leave Urumchi.

• On May 13, 2005, police brought both employees back to the Kadeer Trading Center as they raided the company's offices. Police took Mamat and Kerim away again after the raid. During the raid, police tried to arrest Ms. Kadeer's son, Ablikim Abdureyim, but he managed to evade arrest.

• On May 11, 2005, police detained two employees of the Kadeer Trade Center. Ruzi Mamat, 25, and Aysham Kerim, 34, worked at Rebiya Kadeer's firm as company secretary and company director, respectively. Both Mamat and Karim were reportedly held at the Fifth Branch of the Public Security Bureau in Urumchi.

Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 349 1496