Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center

5 February 1999

In this issue:

(1) CHINA SAYS UIGHUR RINGLEADERS EXECUTED
BBC World Service, Feb. 5, 1999

(2) XINJIANG SEPARATISTS EXECUTED FOR KILLER SPREE
REUTERS, Feb. 5, 1999

(3) TROOPS MOVED TO RIOT CITY
OLIVER CHOU and Agencies, Feb. 5, 1999

(4) AMNESTY SAYS CHINA TORTURES MINORITY UIGHURS
Reuters, Feb. 4, 1999

(5) CHINA DENIES TORTURE OF MINORITY UIGHURS
Reuters, Feb. 4, 1999

(6) 9,000 ARMED POLICE SENT TO XINJIANG
Agence France Presse, Feb. 4, 1999

(7) MUSLIMS REPORTED TORTURED, DETAINED OVER SEPARATIST BID
Chicago Tribune, Feb. 4, 1999

(8) CHINA CRITICIZES AMNESTY REPORT
The Associated Press, Feb.4, 1999

(9) CHINA EXECUTES 17 MORE AHEAD OF HOLIDAYS
Reuters, Feb. 3, 1999

(10) AMNESTY: CHINA TORTURES SEPARATISTS
The Associated Press, Feb. 3, 1999

(11) POLICE ARREST 80 FOR XINJIANG BOMB ATTACKS
Reuters, Feb. 2, 1999

(12) HUNDREDS OF MUSLIM ACTIVISTS ARRESTED
AGENCIES, Feb. 2, 1999

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(1) CHINA SAYS UIGHUR RINGLEADERS EXECUTED

BBC World Service, Feb. 5, 1999

An official newspaper in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang has reported the execution of two men accused of masterminding an ethnic uprising exactly two years ago.

The paper said the two men were involved in the 1997 separatist riots in Yining, which saw thousands of local Moslems protesting violently against Chinese rule.

Official Chinese media have revealed that nine-hundred extra paramilitary police were sent to Yining last month to prevent further outbreaks of unrest.

The Chinese authorities are carrying out a tough security campaign in Xinjiang, where there's been an escalation of separatist activities by  ethnic Uighurs opposed to Chinese rule.

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(2) XINJIANG SEPARATISTS EXECUTED FOR KILLER SPREE

REUTERS, Feb. 5, 1999

REUTERS in Beijing Updated at 9.29pm: China has executed two Muslim separatists for masterminding a spate of killings and riots that rocked the restive border province of Xinjiang in 1997, local officials said on Friday. Yibulayin Simayi and Abudureyimu Aisha were executed on January 28 after a public sentencing by the Yili Prefecture Intermediate People's Court, a Yili official said.

Both were members of the ethnic Uygur minority and had a history of  violent struggle against authorities in northwestern Xinjiang. irport] The Yili Evening News said Simayi was one of the mainland's most-wanted criminals. He was put to death for helping to plan anti-Chinese riots in February 1997 that killed nine people and injured more than 200.

He was also involved in an attack later that year that killed four civilians and one police officer, the paper said.

Xinjiang has been rocked by rioting, bombings and assassinations since the mid-1990s.

Turkish-speaking Uygur militants have agitated for an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former soviet Central Asian Republics.

Simayi, 42, was a stalwart in the battle to free Xinjiang from Chinese rule. He joined a ''reactionary organisation'' in 1991 and honed his skills during a series of protests and ''illegal religious activities'' in 1995, the paper said.

Aisha, 29, was Simayi's bomb expert, according to the official.

He took part in the killings of at least seven Yili officials during an attack on prefecture offices in June 1997 and helped steal nearly 70 kilograms of dynamite and 113 blasting caps earlier that year.

Aisha was arrested in July 1997 after one of his partners attracted police suspicion by buying a large number of alarm clocks intended for use in timebombs, the paper said.

Two other members of Simayi's guerilla cell were sentenced to death with a two-year stay of execution and six more were handed jail terms, the official added.

Last month Beijing stepped up its military presence in strife-ridden Yili, posting 1,000 paramilitary police in the prefectural capital of Yining.

Over the past year, police have also intensified their war on crime in the province, arresting hundreds of suspected guerillas, religious extremists and ethnic separatists.

''The security situation here is much better since the crackdown on crimes harming national security,'' the Yili official said.

''The economy is growing faster and there is unity among the ethnic minorities.''

But the security sweep has drawn fire from international human rights groups, which charge Beijing with torture and arbitrary detention.

''Some Uygurs have been detained merely for being relatives or friends of political prisoners or fugitives, or simply for being Uygurs,'' Amnesty International said on Thursday.

''Many have been held without charge for several months in violation of Chinese law. Their relatives have received no news of them.''

Beijing has denied the charges.

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(3) TROOPS MOVED TO RIOT CITY

OLIVER CHOU and Agencies, Feb. 5, 1999

Nearly 9,000 armed police have been sent to Yining in Xinjiang, scene of previous anti-Beijing rioting, official media reported yesterday.

"The Central Committee of the Communist Party is paying special attention to social stability in Xinjiang, and particularly in Yili county, and has taken an important decision to station troops in Yining city," the Xinjiang Legal Daily reported.

The 8660 unit of the Armed Police Corps was posted to Yining permanently on January 16 from a nearby camp, the paper said.

Military analysts believe the unit is a former PLA infantry division of the Lanzhou Military Region, transferred to the armed police force in 1996.

The city was the scene of rioting in February 1997 after a demonstration calling for the release of prisoners and the
establishment of an independent Islamic state.

The issue of ethnic unity was placed high on the agenda during President Jiang Zemin's recent inspection of PLA troops in Inner Mongolia.

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(4) AMNESTY SAYS CHINA TORTURES MINORITY UIGHURS

Reuters, Feb. 4, 1999

BEIJING - Amnesty International said on Thursday China had arbitrarily detained and tortured members of the Uighur minority ethnic group in its restive northwestern region of Xinjiang over the past few months.

"Some Uighurs have been detained merely for being relatives or friends of political prisoners or fugitives, or simply for being Uighurs," the London-based human rights group said in a statement.

"Many have been held without charge for several months in violation of Chinese law. Their relatives have received no news of them," the group said.

Xinjiang, home to Turkish-speaking Uighurs, has been rocked by rioting, bombings and assassinations since the mid-1990s.

Moslem Uighur militants have agitated for an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former soviet Central Asian Republics.

An official with the Xinjiang provincial Department of Justice defended China saying: "Some Uighurs were detained because they violated the state's criminal laws." He declined further comment.

A provincial official in charge of ethnic minority groups said he had not heard of reports of arbitrary detention or torture.

Amnesty said a crackdown on separatism and religious activities in Xinjiang following rioting and bombings in February 1997 "is believed to have exacerbated ethnic tensions and contributed to the escalation of violence in the region."

It called on Chinese authorities to immediately release all prisoners held simply for peacefully exercising their fundamental human rights. Amnesty urged Chinese authorities to ensure that Uighur and other ethnic detainees and prisoners are not tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In one case, a doctor in Yining city had reportedly been detained by the People's Liberation Army since July 1998 for giving medical treatment to alleged separatists, Amnesty said.

Scores of Uighurs had apparently been detained in villages near Yining in April 1998 after security forces reportedly shot dead six local Uighur youths, the group said.

Four men were taken into custody in September 1998 after they were forcibly returned from neighbouring Kazakhstan, it said, adding they might have been tortured to extract information about their escape.

The Xinjiang Legal Daily reported last month that police in in Kashgar's Yicheng county arrested more than 80 people last year for involvement in 15 bomb attacks over a five-month period.

Police raided a "terrorist training cell" in the region and rounded up an additional 60 people, the newspaper said.

Authorities also shut down an illegal arms pipeline and recovered hundreds of vehicles stolen by an armed gang in 1998, officials told the newspaper.

Stability has been the watchword for Beijing as China enters a year full of politically sensitive anniversaries.

The dates include the 40th anniversary of an abortive uprising in Tibet, the 10th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and the 50th founding anniversary of the Communist state.

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(5) CHINA DENIES TORTURE OF MINORITY UIGHURS

Reuters, Feb. 4, 1999

BEIJING - Amnesty International accused China Thursday of arbitrarily detaining and torturing members of a minority ethnic group in the country's restive northwest over the past few months.

China quickly denounced the accusation as groundless.

The London-based human rights groups said in a statement that Beijing stepped up the persecution of Uighurs in the Xinjiang region after a spate of ethnic unrest in early 1997.

``Some Uighurs have been detained merely for being relatives or friends of political prisoners or fugitives, or simply for being Uighurs,'' Amnesty said.

``Many have been held without charge for several months in violation of Chinese law. Their relatives have received no news of them,'' the group  said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue denied the charges.

``The allegations are baseless and irresponsible,'' Zhang said. She did not elaborate.

Xinjiang, home to Turkish-speaking Uighurs, has been rocked by rioting, bombings and assassinations since the mid-1990s.

Muslim Uighur militants have agitated for an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former soviet Central Asian Republics.

An official with the Xinjiang provincial Department of Justice defended China, saying: ``Some Uighurs were detained because they violated the state's criminal laws.'' He declined further comment.

A provincial official in charge of ethnic minority groups said he had not heard of reports of arbitrary detention or torture.

Amnesty said a crackdown on separatism and religious activities in Xinjiang after rioting and bombings in February 1997 ``is believed to have exacerbated ethnic tensions and contributed to the escalation of violence in the region.''

It called on Chinese authorities to immediately release all prisoners held simply for peacefully exercising their fundamental human rights.

Amnesty urged Chinese authorities to ensure that Uighur and other ethnic detainees and prisoners were not tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In one case, a doctor in Yining city had reportedly been detained by the People's Liberation Army since July 1998 for giving medical treatment to alleged separatists, Amnesty said.

Scores of Uighurs had apparently been detained in villages near Yining in April 1998 after security forces reportedly shot dead six local Uighur youths, the group said.

Four men were taken into custody in September 1998 after they were forcibly returned from neighboring Kazakhstan, it said, adding they might have been tortured to extract information about their escape.

The Xinjiang Legal Daily reported last month that police in Kashgar's Yicheng county arrested more than 80 people last year for involvement in 15 bomb attacks over a five-month period.

Police raided a ``terrorist training cell'' in the region and rounded up an additional 60 people, the newspaper said.

Authorities also shut down an illegal arms pipeline and recovered hundreds of vehicles stolen by an armed gang in 1998, officials told the newspaper.

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(6) 9,000 ARMED POLICE SENT TO XINJIANG

Agence France Presse, Feb. 4, 1999

BEIJING, Feb. 04, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) China has sent almost 9,000-armed police to Yining city in its northwest Muslim region of Xinjiang, the scene of previous anti-Beijing rioting, official Chinese media reported Thursday.

"The Central Committee of the Communist Party is paying special attention to social stability in Xinjiang and particularly in Yili county, and has taken an important decision to station troops in Yinin city," the Xinjiang Legal Daily said in an edition seen here Thursday.

It said 8,660-armed police had been posted permanently on Jan. 16 to Yining from a location some 150 kilometers (90 miles) away. Yining has a population of 300,000, of whom less than 50 percent are ethnic Uighur Muslims, the majority ethnic group in Xinjiang.

The city was the scene of rioting on Feb. 5 and 6, 1997 after a demonstration calling for the release of prisoners and the  establishment of an Islamic state independent of Beijing turned violent.

According to official reports, 10 people died during the riots and 132 were injured during the course of "aggression, looting and pillage" on the part of separatists who were "attempting to overthrow the state." (Pictured, an ethnic Uighur man sits near his home in Beijing, where a row of Uighur homes and restaurants will be demolished as part of
Beijing's facelift. The demolition has created an outcry recently among the ethnic Uighur community.)

Overseas Uighur organizations said at least 100 people died in the incident.

The situation has remained tense in Yining, where hundreds of people have been arrested and sentenced for "separatism" in recent months. Around a dozen people have been handed death sentences.

The most recent reports of death sentences came in a report by human rights group Amnesty International, which said at least 18 people had been detained without charge in and around Yining in recent months.

"It is feared that the prisoners may have been tortured to force them to give information about others or to sign 'confessions', and that they may still be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment," Amnesty's report on the detentions said.

China reacted angrily to Amnesty's report.

"The allegations of Amnesty International are baseless and irresponsible," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news briefing.

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(7) MUSLIMS REPORTED TORTURED, DETAINED OVER SEPARATIST BID

Chicago Tribune, Feb. 4, 1999

BEIJING, CHINA -- Chinese authorities have detained scores

of people and tortured suspects in a crackdown on separatism in China's Muslim far west, according to Amnesty International.

Two religious teachers and scores of farmers rounded up after security forces killed six youths, as well as a doctor accused of giving medical treatment to separatists, are among those detained in recent months in the Xinjiang region, the London-based group said in a report Thursday. There was no immediate comment from Chinese authorities.

Separatists fighting to free the region from Chinese control have assassinated officials, fought gun battles with police and are blamed for bombings and other violence that have made Xinjiang one of China's most tightly policed regions.

The Uighurs, Xinjiang's largest ethnic group, briefly ran an independent state before communist forces retook the region in 1949.

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(8) CHINA CRITICIZES AMNESTY REPORT

The Associated Press, Feb.4, 1999

BEIJING (AP) - An Amnesty International report accusing China of arbitrarily detaining and torturing people in its Muslim far west is ``baseless and irresponsible,'' the Foreign Ministry said today.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue made no further comment about the report that provided names and case details of people Amnesty said were rounded up in recent months in a crackdown on separatism in the restive Xinjiang region.

All of the detainees were Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, the London-based human rights group said.

Some were detained merely for being relatives or friends of political prisoners or fugitives, ``or simply because they are Uighurs,'' Amnesty said.

``Their relatives have received no news of them and they have been held without charge for several months, in violation of Chinese law,'' the group said.

In one case, four children were detained for 18 days, Amnesty said. Other detainees were severely tortured, it said.

``The allegations of Amnesty International are baseless and irresponsible,'' Zhang, the Chinese spokeswoman, said at a regular
briefing for reporters.

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(9) CHINA EXECUTES 17 MORE AHEAD OF HOLIDAYS

Reuters, Feb. 3, 1999

BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have executed another 17 convicted murderers, grave robbers, rapists and smugglers in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holidays, state media said on Wednesday.

Media reports over the last week show at least 55 people have been executed in a crackdown aimed at ensuring the holiday season, which starts on February 16, is not marred by crime.

The Morning Post said eight people were executed in Beijing on Monday for murder, rape and robbery.

In southeastern Fujian province, five were executed by firing squad last month for smuggling, burglary and stealing cars, the People's Court News said.

Two peasants were put to death in Jingzhou city in Hubei province last month for robbing 2,000-year-old graves, the China Relics News said. China is cracking down on smuggling of relics.

The Shanghai Railway Court executed one and jailed 12 others last month for trafficking drugs, the People's Court News said. Railway police seized 7.67 kg (17 lb) of heroin.

In the northwestern region of Xinjiang, a man was executed last month for stabbing a Communist Party cadre to death and wounding the official's wife, daughter and mother-in-law, the newspaper said.

The convict had blamed the cadre for his two-year imprisonment for hooliganism, it said.

Each year China executes more prisoners than the rest of the world combined.

China carried out 1,876 death sentences in 1997, according to London-based human rights group Amnesty International.

The tally is based on Chinese media reports and may vastly underestimate the actual number of executions, which China considers a state secret.

Most executions are carried out with a bullet to the back of the head, but lethal injection has been used in some provinces.

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(10) AMNESTY: CHINA TORTURES SEPARATISTS

The Associated Press, Feb. 3, 1999

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese authorities have arbitrarily detained scores of people and tortured suspects in a crackdown on separatism in China's Muslim far west, according to Amnesty International.

Two religious teachers, scores of farmers rounded up after security forces killed six youths, and a doctor accused of giving medical treatment to separatists are among those detained in recent months in the western Xinjiang region, the London-based group said in a report Thursday.

Chinese government officials were not available for comment late Wednesday.

Separatists fighting to free the region from Chinese control have assassinated officials, fought gunbattles with police and are blamed for bombings and other violence that have made Xinjiang one of China's most restive and tightly policed regions.

Uighurs, Xinjiang's largest ethnic group, briefly ran an independent state before communist forces retook the region in 1949. Tensions between them and Chinese migrants sent to the region remain high.

Amnesty said some people were detained for being relatives or friends of political prisoners or fugitives, ``or simply because they are Uighurs.''

``Their relatives have received no news of them, and they have been held without charge for several months, in violation of Chinese law,'' the group said.

Amnesty also expressed concern that Uighur political detainees are frequently tortured and ``that some have been left physically and mentally scarred as a result.''

In April, security forces shot six Uighur youths in one village outside the city of Yining and detained scores of others, mainly relatives, friends and neighbors of those killed, Amnesty said. They were tortured in detention, and while some were released after a few weeks, others remain in detention without charge, it said.

In another case, four men and four children were detained in September after being extradited from neighboring Kazakstan, Amnesty said.

The children were released after 18 days, but the men remain in detention in the city of Kashgar, in Xinjiang's southwest, it said. They include two religious teachers who, fearing arrest in a crackdown on religion, fled China in July for Kazakstan only to be sent back, Amnesty said.

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(11) POLICE ARREST 80 FOR XINJIANG BOMB ATTACKS

Reuters, Feb. 2, 1999

BEIJING. Police in northwestern China's Xinjiang province stepped up their war on crime last year, arresting more than 80 for involvement in at least 15 bomb attacks, state media said in reports seen on Tuesday.

Public security officials in the restive Muslim region also raided a "terrorist training cell," shut down an illegal arms pipeline and recovered hundreds of vehicles stolen by an armed gang in 1998, officials told the Xinjiang Legal Daily.

"We are striking hard every day, each season, all year, leaving ethnic separatists and terrorists no room to breathe," said Chen Zhuangwei, chief of police in the province's Kashgar region.

Xinjiang, home to Turkic-speaking ethnic Uighurs, has been rocked by rioting, bombings and assassinations since the mid-1990s.

Uighur militants have agitated for an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former Soviet Central Asian Republics.

Speaking after a Jan. 17 provincial conference on security affairs, Chen said police recognize quashing ethnic dissent is a "long-term target" and the government is taking a "strategic attitude" toward the fight.

Chen said police in Kashgar arrested 80 people for their involvement in 15 bomb attacks over a five-month period last year.

An additional 60 were arrested in a raid on a terrorist training camp in the second half of 1998, he said.

"Because we struck accurately, harshly and on time, we greatly reduced hidden threats to security in Kashgar," he said.

In the nearby Yili region, rocked by a series of deadly riots in 1997, police described their battle against crime as a "difficult and intense war on the enemy."

Nine people died and more than 200 were injured in the anti-Chinese riots. Three weeks later, nine others were killed and dozens wounded when a series of home-made bombs exploded in the provincial capital of Urumqi.

Last month, a court jailed 29 people, some for their role in the riots, after convicting them of subversion, assault and inciting people to take to the streets.

Yili region police chief Wang Mingshan said his troops "actively attacked" any signs of discontent and "frustrated all types of enemy plots" over the past year.

Stability has been the watchword for Beijing as China enters a year full of politically sensitive anniversaries.

The dates include the 40th anniversary of an abortive uprising in Tibet, the 10th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and the 50th anniversary of the Communist state.

China's Public Security Ministry Jia Chunwang has ordered police to step up vigilance against terrorism and crack down on crimes involving weapons, drugs and robbery. ( (c) 1998 Reuters)

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(12) HUNDREDS OF MUSLIM ACTIVISTS ARRESTED

AGENCIES, Feb. 2, 1999

Several hundred Muslim activists were arrested in a Xinjiang prefecture last year, with at least eight clashes between police and separatists, it was reported.

Riots happened in Yili prefecture close to the border with Kazakhstan, the Xinjiang Legal Daily said.

The incidents took place before August and preceded "the arrest of several hundred terrorists", prefectural police chief Wang Mingshan was quoted as saying.

Among those arrested were people trained by groups abroad, who had infiltrated back into Xinjiang to "commit violent terrorist acts", a local official said.

Recruitment was done on the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, said the official. Western and Chinese academics say Uygur gangs are believed to be smuggling drugs and using the proceeds to buy arms in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Other violent clashes in past months have led to crackdowns which have resulted in death sentences being passed. In the southern part of the autonomous region, 140 "terrorists" were arrested last year in Yecheng district, the paper said. Sixty arrests were made during the smashing of "a terrorist training camp".

The paper said 15 explosions took place in the district and a policeman was killed in anti-separatist operations.

In Shayibake, near the regional capital Urumqi, 154 suspects were detained and 11 "terrorist groups" smashed, the paper said. Weapons, time-bombs and detonators were recovered.

Yili's Yining city was the scene of riots that led to between 10 and 100 deaths in February 1997.

Ethnic nationalism, resurgent Islam and a trade in heroin and weapons have pierced the porous borders of China's strategic buffer area with Central Asia, and have fuelled separatist violence.

With resentment over Chinese migration and perceived income disparities sharpening, the simmering conflict has become the most violent internal threat China faces and there are fears it could ignite ethnic turmoil in other parts.

Border patrols and passport restrictions have been stepped up. People who live near the border with Kazakhstan complain of stricter controls on their movements. Party officials even plan, by the end of next year, to find permanent housing for the last of the nomads of the border steppes.

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Editors: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu
Alim Seytoff aseytoff@southern.edu.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
For the back issues of the WUNN newsletter visit the WUNN web site at
http://www.uygur.com/en/wunn/
For more information on East Turkistan visit
http://www.uygur.com

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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.

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