An electronic newsletter Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 37 29 April 1997 In this issue: (1) MORE INNOCENT BLOOD SPILT IN GHULJE
(2) CHINESE POLICE THWART RESCUE OF CONVICTS, KILL TWO
(3) TWO KILLED AS CHINESE TROOPS OPEN FIRE IN XINJIANG
(4) PLEA FOR HELP IN CRUSHING REBELS
(5) CHINA EXECUTES 3 FOR INCITING RIOTS 27 OTHERS SENTENCED TO JAIL
(6) UIGHURS EXECUTED
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
The following report was given to the Eastern Turkistan Information Center bureau in Bishkek by the two Uyghurs recently escaped from Eastern Turkistan. On April 24, the Chinese authorities conducted a trial of 33 young Uyghurs accused by the government in causing disturbances on 5-6 February in Ghulje city of Uyghuristan. The trial was closed for public, and was attended only by the Chinese officials. All the traffic in the center of Ghulje city was stopped, and only Chinese soldiers were seen on the streets. The police put armed soldiers on roofs of many buildings. The court sentenced three Uyghurs to death, 17 Uyghurs were given life in prison, a 23 year old woman was given 8 years in prison, and rest of the accused were given from 10 to 15 years in prison sentences. The same day the three sentenced to death Uyghurs were executed on the outskirts of the city. Their bodies were not released to the relatives, instead, were taken away in the unknown direction. The other convicted Uyghurs were put on trucks with their hands and mouths tired with wires, and with placards hang on their necks. They were put on knees with their heads pushed down by the soldiers. In spite of heavy military presence in the city, many crying Uyghurs went on streets and followed the trucks shouting "Good Bye", "Let the God help you", "The God is great", and "The truth will find its way". The people followed the trucks, and the soldiers open fire on suffering people, killing three, and wounding 10. One of the killed is 43 years old Uyghur named Anwar, a father to 7 children. The next day, the official TV reported that the soldiers had to open fire to stop a small group of criminals in their attempt to rescue the convicts. Witnesses say that every day many Uyghurs are arrested by the police, including some 12 year old children. The prisons in Ghulje are overcrowded. Even more people run from one government office to another in vain attempts to obtain some information on their imprisoned relatives. [Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek] (2) CHINESE POLICE THWART RESCUE OF CONVICTS, KILL TWO
BEIJING - Chinese paramilitary police shot dead two people in the restive Muslim region of Xinjiang last week when a mob of more than 100 tried to rescue convicted rioters from execution, an official said on Monday. The People's Armed Police opened fire on the mob and thwarted the rescue attempt in Yining city in northwestern Xinjiang on April 24, a Communist Party official said by telephone from Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Two people died on the spot, while five were wounded and rushed to hospital, said the official who asked not to be identified. It was not clear if paramilitary police were among the casualties and officials declined to say if any arrests were made. The incident occurred when vehicles transporting a group of 30 convicted rioters reached Qingnian Road in Yining shortly after sentencing and about 100 people charged paramilitary police escorts to try to rescue the prisoners, the official said. "The PAP fired warning shots into the air ... and had no choice but to take action after repeatedly trying without success to dissuade them," the official said. "The whole incident lasted only a few minutes," the official said. "Things have returned to normal." The 30 had just been been convicted and sentenced by an Yining court for their roles in riots in the town on February 5-6 that left nine people dead and 198 injured. Of the 30, three were sentenced to death and executed on the same day. The others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven years to life imprisonment. All 30 were of the Moslem, Turkish-speaking Uighur ethnic minority. The February riots had began as a demonstration for Xinjiang independence and turned violent. Uighur militants want to set up an independent "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang. China's leaders have said the battle against separatism would continue to top the government's agenda in Xinjiang. Xinjiang, bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan and three mostly Muslim Central Asian states, has also been shaken by bombings in recent months. Bombs planted on three buses blew up within minutes of each other in Urumqi on February 25 in an apparently coordinated attack that coincided with funeral rites in Beijing for paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. The bombings killed nine and wounded 74, mostly ethnic Han Chinese who account for about 90 percent of China's population of 1.2 billion but who are the minority in Xinjiang. Police have arrested more than 10 suspected bombers. Exiled ethnic Uighurs have claimed responsibility for the bombings and vowed to stage more attacks until they gain freedom for their Moslem homeland. Last year, the region was rocked by assassination attempts on officials and religious leaders regarded as pro-Beijing. Authorities have intensified a crackdown on separatists as well as on underground religious activity. By BENJAMIN KANG LIM, Reuters (3) TWO KILLED AS CHINESE TROOPS OPEN FIRE IN XINJIANG
HONG KONG - Two people were killed as Chinese troops opened fire on rioters in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, a report said here Sunday. The deaths in the town of Yining followed the executions of three for earlier rioting there in February, the Chinese-language daily Ming Pao said. More than 1,000 youths, mainly ethnic Uighurs, rioted Thursday in a bid to rescue another 27 who were imprisoned by a court that day. Quoting local sources in Yining, the report said the trouble broke out after the group of young men tried to stop a van carrying the 27. Two people died while seven were injured after police, who numbered more than 200, opened fire. Another local source quoted by the paper put the number of injured at more than 20. More than 5,000 people turned out to witness the executions, the paper quoted the Xinjiang Daily News as saying. The area has been placed under curfew following Thursday's unrest, although no arrests were reported. Local Han Chinese had received threats and have been afraid to leave their homes at night, the paper said. In neighboring Kazakhstan, a spokesman for the National United Revolutionary Front said in Almaty seven ethnic Uighur student activists were "sentenced to death and executed" on Thursday. Before their execution, they were paraded in the Uighur town of Yining wearing placards around their neck with the word "Criminal" marked on them. Citing sources from the town, the spokesman said the youths had been judged to have "actively participated" in the February clashes between Han Chinese settlers and protesters which officially killed 10 people, unofficially, around 100. (4) PLEA FOR HELP IN CRUSHING REBELS
Facing increased violence from Muslim separatists, President Jiang Zemin has appealed to Central Asian neighbors for help in fighting the rebels, a report said yesterday. Mr. Jiang made the request in separate meetings on Thursday in Moscow with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Xinhua (the New China News Agency) said. The leaders, along with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, signed an agreement on troop reduction along their borders. Exiles from Xinjiang's dominant ethnic group, the Uygurs, living in Kazakhstan, claim to be funneling money and weapons to separatists in China. Mr. Jiang asked Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to stop anti-Chinese "splittism" activities and secure the social stability and economic development of the two countries, Xinhua (the New China News Agency) reported. Mr. Jiang made similar pleas to the presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Askar Akayev and Emomali Rakhmonov. He also offered co-operation in combating the separatists and international terrorism. Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said all three Central Asian leaders agreed separatism must be stopped, the China Daily reported. Mr. Qian said the Kazakh and Kyrgyz presidents pledged not to allow such activities in their countries. Meanwhile, the Legal Daily reported that two men had been executed for robbing train passengers in Xinjiang. The two were among six people the Rail Transport Intermediate Court sentenced before a public rally at the train station in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, the newspaper reported. It said Huang Junqi and Gao Dewen were taken to an execution ground and shot. The other four received prison sentences. (5) CHINA EXECUTES 3 FOR INCITING RIOTS 27 OTHERS SENTENCED TO JAIL
BEIJING (CNN) -- Three men were sentenced to death and executed the same day for their roles in bloody riots that rocked northern China earlier this year, Chinese authorities said Saturday. Twenty-seven others were sentenced to penalties ranging from seven years in prison to life imprisonment. More than 5,000 people packed a sports stadium in the Yili district of Xinjiang, the troubled Muslim region near the border with Kazakstan, to see the group sentenced at a Thursday rally. All of the convicted men were members of the ethnic Uighur minority, Xinjiang's largest Muslim group, who have grown increasingly resentful in recent years of Chinese rule and settlers. The three men executed were sentenced to death for wounding, hooliganism, arson and beatings. Death penalties in China are often carried out shortly after sentencing with a bullet to the head. At least 10 people were killed and 140 others injured when crowds of young Muslims beat people during a pro-independence rally in Yining on February 5 and 6. It was among the worst violence to rattle Xinjiang since the 1949 Communist takeover. News reports said the Yili District Intermediate People's Court and the court for Yining city in Yili, which held the public rally, sentenced one person to life imprisonment for hooliganism. Twenty-six others reportedly drew sentences ranging from 7 to 18 years in prison. The Xinjiang Daily said they were first batch of rioters sentenced, suggesting there will be more. Xinjiang, a vast region that is home to many Turkic-speaking peoples such as the Uighurs, has a long history of ethnic unrest and has recently been rocked by Muslim separatist violence. (6) UIGHURS EXECUTED
BY GIL BUTLER, BEIJING Chinese authorities have executed three ethnic Uighurs in connection with bloody riots that erupted in Yining, in Xinjiang Autonomous region last February. 27 others were give long prison sentences at a public rally in the region. VOA's Gil Butler has details from Beijing. Text: the riots last February in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of china's far northwest brought to public attention the ethnic tensions building in the mainly Muslim region. Xinjiang is home to mainly Turkic speaking Muslims but an Increasing number of Han Chinese have been settled there. On February fifth and sixth, Muslim youths rioted in the town of Yining, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and houses. By official Chinese accounts 10 people were killed and 140 injured. Later, three buses were bombed in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, killing nine people. At a huge public rally in Xinjiang last Thursday, 30 people were convicted of crimes connected with their roles in the rioting. Three were sentenced to death and, police say, the sentences were immediately carried out. The Xinjiang daily newspaper, in a separate report, says one suspect has been arrested in connection with the bus bombings. Other reports say up to ten people have been arrested for the bus attacks. Chinese authorities have vowed to deal sternly with the ethnic unrest and thousands of police and soldiers have reportedly been sent to the restive northwest region. Uighur separatists, many of them based in central Asian countries bordering Xinjiang or in turkey, want to re-establish a separate Uigher state that existed briefly in the 1940's. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) WUNN newsletter index*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |