[ETIC, 11/14/97] According to the information obtained from a police officer, about 560 thousand Uyghurs have been arrested with charges in separatist activities in Eastern Turkistan in the last 3 years. Most of them were locked up in the prisons without trials for many days and months.
During this period, the Chinese communist regime has publicly executed 300 political prisoners in Eastern Turkistan. At least 7 thousand were sentenced to 15 and more years in prison. More than 5 thousand died in prisons, and it is most likely that they were tortured to death.
The number in the Yarkand county alone, with the total population about half a million, has topped 30 thousand. On September 15 this year, authorities ordered all the government employees, schools children, police officers, hospital doctors, workers, business people and farmers to attend an open trial in the Yarkand county. At the trial, 2 men were accused in separatism and sentenced to death in front of 50 thousand people. Another 5 men of ages from 16 to 25 were given sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to 2 years delayed execution.
This year, more than 10 thousand people were arrested in Kashgar shortly before July 1, the national holiday in the People's Republic celebrating foundation of the Chinese Communist Party. The majority of them were detained for not carring identification cards or for sharing the same names with the alleged criminals on the loose. The authorities have been asking exorbitant amounts of money from the relatives for releasing the arrested on bails.
It was reported that many Uyghurs, who were sentenced for illegal religious and counter-revolutionary activities in Eastern Turkistan, and who finished their prison terms, have again been arrested without any reason by the Chinese police. On August 1, 30 suspects of Uyghur nationality were arrested after an explosion took place in the Tokhsu county. Among them there were Abdukerim, Ibrahim and Jamal, all released from prisons not so long ago.
The Chinese government blames rising pro-independence activities in Eastern Turkistan on Islamic students, talips, and has arrested thousands of them. The government has been strengthening the Strike Hard campaign to eliminate involvement of young Uyghurs in religious activities. It is reported that many Uyghurs were accused in nationalism and arrested only for wearing ethnic scullcaps called doppa. [Burkut, Kiyan]
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