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An electronic newsletter

Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center

No: 101

12 February 1999


In this issue:

(1) THREE UYGHUR POLITICAL ASYLUM SEEKERS DEPORTED FROM KAZAKSTAN TO CHINA
East Turkistan Information Center, Feb. 12, 199

(2) EAST TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER REPORTS
February 2, 1999.

(3) ELEVEN UYGHUR CHILDREN KILLED IN URUMCHI FOR ORGANS
East Turkistan Information Center, Feb. 12, 1999

(4) MAINLAND "AMERICA'S GREATEST FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGE"
South China Morning Post, by SIMON BECK, Feb. 12, 1999

(5) MUSLIM SEPARATIST EXECUTED FOR 'VIOLENT TERRORISM'
Reuters, Feb. 10, 1999

(6) ANOTHER EXECUTION IN XINJIANG REPORTED
BBC World Service, Feb. 10, 1999

(7) HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS URGE EU PROTEST VS. DISSIDENT CRACKDOWN
Reuters, Feb. 09, 1999

(8) MUSLIM SEPARATIST AND 10 OTHERS EXECUTED IN REMOTE XINJIANG
Agence France Presse, Feb. 9, 1999

(9) XINJIANG MAN SENT TO LABOUR CAMP FOR POLITICAL CRIMES
BBC World Service, Feb. 8, 1999

(10) CHINA PROMISES BETTER ENVIRONMENT
The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 1999

(11) BEIJING MAYOR URGES VIGILANCE VS. FOREIGN DISRUPTION ATTEMPTS
Agence France Presse, Feb. 05, 1999

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(1) THREE UYGHUR POLITICAL ASYLUM SEEKERS DEPORTED FROM KAZAKSTAN TO CHINA

East Turkistan Information Center, Feb. 12, 199

[ETIC, 02/12/99] Channel 31 of the Kazakstan's TV reported on February11 that Kazakstan's Ministry of National Security deported Khamit Memet, Qasim Mekhpir, and Ilyas Zordun to China. All three are Uyghurs who had been seeking political asylum in Kazakstan after the Chinese government's crackdown on the participants of the demonstration in
Ghulja on February 5, 1997.

The social security department of the city of Ghulja (Yining) issued warrants for their arrests and posted an appeal to the residents of Ghulja to assist in detaining the "national separatist lements".

Until the deportation, these Uyghurs were under the investigation of the Ministry of National Security of Kazakstan, and were kept in the ministry's cells for preliminary detention. [Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek]

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(2) EAST TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER REPORTS

February 2, 1999, by Abdullah Pamir, ETIC reporter in Istanbul. Translated to English by Turdi Huji.

* On the new years night, unknown people set fire to a compound housing in the Atomic Bomb Unit 3824 of People's Liberation Army. The compound is located 10 km away form the city of Korla near the road to the Lopnor county. Many houses and other property, including 18 army trucks, were burned to ashes; 21 soldiers died, and 6 soldiers were injured. Even though the government tried to keep it as a secret, it could not hide it from the Uyghurs living near that area.

* Two Uyghur men, Ahmat Imin and Eysa Tursun, were fired from their jobs at the Urumchi State Security Bureau for praying. Three months later, they were arrested on charges of exposing state secrets and sent to the Dachang prison in the city of Lanzhou, Gansu province. After another three months, their dead bodies were returned to their families. The authorities informed the relatives that Ahmat and Eysa were shot when they tried to escape from the prison.

* On Jan. 7, 1999, 320 Uyghur political prisoners were relocated from the 14th prison in Urumchi to prisons in the Sichuan province. According to another report, 28 Uyghur political prisoners were starved to death in the 1st, 2nd, Bajenhu and Liudavan prisons in Urumchi. The authorities claimed they were shot to death on attempts to escape.

* A bomb blast at the police department of Nantong, a city near Shanghai, killed 18 people. Recently, Chinese who are fed up with the joblessness and the corruption in the governmental structures are increasingly resorting to violence.

* On Jan. 12, 199, a bomb explosion killed 13 people at the police department in the city of Guilin. The bomb was placed by a Chinese person who resents the government's policies. Because of the increasing bombing incidents all over China, many Uyghur businessmen and traders in China proper had been detained by the police. During this campaign in the city of Shijiazhuang, 24 Uyghur men and 7 Uyghur women who sell raisins on the street were thrown into jails, and their raisins was confiscated.

* Since 1985, hotels in large coastal cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing have been refusing services to Uyghur customers using various excuses. From the beginning of this year, the Chinese authorities in those cities allowed the hotel administrations to refuse service to "customers from Xinjiang".

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(3) ELEVEN UYGHUR CHILDREN KILLED IN URUMCHI FOR ORGANS

East Turkistan Information Center, Feb. 12, 1999
Translated to English by Turdi Huji.

[ETIC, 02/02/99] Eleven dead bodies of Uyghur children, 7 boys and 4 girls, ages from 7 to 11, were recently found in the Yangmoshan mountain in the city of Urumchi. The children were dead for 2-8 days when discovered. A cold weather prevented the bodies from decomposing. The children's kidneys were removed from the bodies, and some boys were missing their testicles.

Yangmoshan is a mountain behind the August First Agricultural University. It is home for tens of thousands of Chinese vagrants called mangliu in Chinese.

Abdullah Sadir, a worker of the 3rd working group of the Urumchi Railroad Department, found two bodies which, apparently, were pulled out from the burial place by hungry dogs. He immediately reported to the Urumchi railroad police who, then, reported to the police department of the city of Urumchi.

A group of Uyghur policeman searched the Yangmoshan mountain area and arrested 5 Chinese men who possessed surgical knifes and children's teeth. Later, these Chinese men were ransferred to a prison in China proper instead of being sent to a prison in Urumchi.

Shortly after the incident, Abdullah Sadir was fired from his job for being irresponsible for his job duties. This act outraged the Uyghur workers at the railroad department. A young worker named Ekrem rushed into the department's office and killed 3 Chinese officials, Laoli Heng, Wen Chen, and Zhang Guoming. He was arrested on the spot.[Abdullah Pamir, Istanbul]

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(4) MAINLAND "AMERICA'S GREATEST FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGE"

South China Morning Post, by SIMON BECK, Feb. 12, 1999

New York. China is likely to be America's toughest foreign policy problem in the near future, says a senior US official. Pointing to human rights abuses, military modernisation and the trade imbalance, Assistant of Secretary of State Stanley Roth told a congressional hearing Sino-US relations would continue to be a sensitive subject. China and the rest of Asia faced a difficult economic and political year, he said.

"Many experts consider China the greatest foreign policy challenge facing the US today, and with good reason," said Mr Roth at a hearing of the House of Representatives' East Asia subcommittee. "China's remarkable economic achievements, increasing diplomatic prominence and growing military strength over the past decade have made the utility of constructing a co-operative relationship with China all the more pressing."

Mr Roth warned of potential social unrest stemming from China's restructuring and the knock-on effects of the region's economic crisis. But he said the United States' policy of engagement was designed to encourage a China "that adheres to international rules of conduct, has an open and vibrant economy and works to protect the environment".

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman James Rubin confirmed the Pentagon was about to release a report on potential military threats in Asia. But he declined to confirm a report in Britain's Financial Times that it would detail a missile build-up by Beijing in the Taiwan Strait.

Mr Rubin said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was expected to discuss tensions with Taiwan during her forthcoming trip to Beijing.

"On the report by the Pentagon, all I can say is we carefully monitor the military balance in the Taiwan Strait on an ongoing basis," Mr Rubin said.

"With respect to suggestions this justifies providing Taiwan with theatre missile defence, the Taiwan authorities are addressing their own capabilities and needs.

"Their interest at this point appears primarily informational. We remain committed to fulfilling the Taiwan Relations Act and we will continue to assist Taiwan in meeting its legitimate defence needs, in accordance with this law and the 1982 Joint Communique with China."

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(5) MUSLIM SEPARATIST EXECUTED FOR 'VIOLENT TERRORISM'

Reuters, Feb. 10, 1999

BEIJING. China executed a Muslim separatist in restive Xinjiang province last month, just two days after stepping up a drive against crime and religious violence in the border region, officials and state media said on Wednesday.

Rouzi Keyoumu was put to death on Jan. 27 after the Yili Intermediate People's Court found him guilty of "violent terrorist activities," Yili officials said.

The 45-year-old entrepreneur was a member of the ethnic Uighur minority and was said to have had a history of violent struggle against authorities in the northwestern region.

Among his crimes was a March 1997 bombing of a shopping center and police station that wounded three shoppers, one official said.

Keyoumu was sentenced at a public hearing, along with 17 other members of what the officials said were "terrorist gangs."

According to the Yili Evening News, one of the convicts was given a suspended death sentence, two were sentenced to life in prison and three more were found guilty by the court but exempted from punishment.

The others were sentenced to unspecified jail terms.

Yili was rocked by a series of deadly anti-Chinese riots and bombings in 1997 that killed dozens and injured hundreds.

Xinjiang is home to Turkish-speaking Uighur militants who have been struggling for decades to establish an independent East Turkestan in the province, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former soviet Central Asian Republics.

Keyoumu's sentencing came two days after Xinjiang government chairman Abulahat Abdurixit called for increased security in his annual work report to members of the region's parliament.

"Opposing ethnic separatism, protecting the unity of the nation as well as social and political stability are our sacred duties," Abdurixit was quoted as saying by the Xinjiang Daily.

He called on government workers to understand the "long and complex nature" of the province's war on separatism and urged stronger measures to combat crime and religious violence.

Xinjiang would this year "strengthen management of religious affairs, crack down on illegal religious activities and attack ethnic splittism which uses religion as a pretext," he added.

Keyoumu was the third separatist executed following the report.

On Jan. 28, Yibulayin Simayi and Abudureyimu Aisha were executed for masterminding February 1997 riots in Yili that killed nine and injured more than 200.

China stepped up its military presence in strife-ridden Yili last month, 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 guerrillas, religious extremists and ethnic separatists.

The security sweep has drawn fire from international human rights groups, which charge Beijing with torture and arbitrary detention. China has denied the charges. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)

China is reportedly pointing more missiles at Taiwan. Learn more about the bigger issues with Inside China Today's special section: Crossing the Strait.

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(6) ANOTHER EXECUTION IN XINJIANG REPORTED

BBC World Service, Feb. 10, 1999

Reports from the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang say a court handed out a death sentence and long prison terms last month after convicting eighteen people on terrorism charges. An official newspaper said one man was sentenced to death, another was given a suspended death sentence, and two were sentenced to life in prison. The others received unspecified jail terms and three were released without punishment. Correspondents say the Chinese authorities have recently stepped up a security campaign in Xinjiang, where members of the ethnic Uighur population have been campaigning for independence.

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(7) HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS URGE EU PROTEST VS. DISSIDENT CRACKDOWN

Reuters, Feb. 09, 1999

BEIJING. Human rights groups have urged the European Union (EU) to protest China's intensified crackdown on dissent during this week's EU-China human rights talks, rights group reports said on Tuesday.

Amnesty International Secretary General Pierre Sane said a sweep against pro-democracy activists and curbs on Tibetans, Muslims and Christians constituted "one of the most disturbing crackdowns in China in the past decade."

In a letter to EU member states, which began a human rights dialogue with China on Monday in Bonn, Sane highlighted China's "contempt for international opinion" and called the crackdown a serious setback for the talks, an Amnesty report said.

"These developments strike at the heart of the EU and other human rights dialogues and call into question China's sincerity in signing key human rights conventions," Sane wrote.

China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in October and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, Cultural Rights in 1997. It has not ratified the treaties yet.

Amnesty called on the EU to pressure China at this year's session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission and questioned the sincerity of China's signing two key human rights conventions.

Last week China sentenced Spanish-based dissident Wang Ce to four years in prison. He was the fifth pro-democracy activist to be jailed since mid-December as authorities clamp down on dissent ahead of several sensitive anniversaries this year.

Amnesty last week criticized China for using heavy-handed tactics including torture and arbitrary detention to suppress a separatist movement by Muslim Uighurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. China dismissed the accusations.

The Free Tibet Campaign called for the EU to suspend its talks with China in response to its crackdown in the restive Himalayan region of Tibet and in other parts of the country, a campaign report said.

Authorities launched a fresh "atheist propaganda" drive in Tibet last month to stamp out separatism among those who support the Dalai Lama (pictured), the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet.

The human rights situation in Tibet has continued to deteriorate over the last three years, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in its annual survey last month.

China has brushed aside international criticism of its human rights policies and invited critics to visit the country and see for themselves the freedoms enjoyed by the average Chinese after 20 years of capitalist-style economic reforms.

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(8) MUSLIM SEPARATIST AND 10 OTHERS EXECUTED IN REMOTE XINJIANG

Agence France Presse, Feb. 9, 1999

BEIJING. Eleven people including a Muslim separatist have been executed in China's remote northwest Xinjiang region charged with various crimes, press reports said.

The 11 accused were executed last Wednesday after their sentences were upheld by the High Court of Xinjiang and China's Supreme Court, the Xinjiang Metropolis News daily received in Bejining on Tuesday said.

They were convicted by a court in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, on various charges of theft, rape, drug trafficking, gun running and organized crime.

The executions in Urumqi come amid tensions in the far northwest region between the majority Uighur Muslim population and the minority Han Chinese.

China accuses many Uighurs of working to separate the region from the mainland. One man, identified by the paper as Rehemutulah Aibibulah, was sentenced to 12 years for organizing so-called separatist activities, two years on charges of theft and harboring of weapons, and handed the death sentence for theft.

Two other convicts, Ainiwa'er Niyazi and Rehemutulah Ku'erban, were executed for remeditated murder, according to the report.

Xinjiang authorities on Friday announced the executions of two Muslim separatists in the Yili prefecture, located along the Kazakhstan border region.

Xinjiang has some 17 million people and Uighurs make up 48 percent of the population, but the proportion has continued to fall in the face of waves of new Han Chinese immigrants who now comprise 38 percent of the population.

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(9) XINJIANG MAN SENT TO LABOUR CAMP FOR POLITICAL CRIMES

BBC World Service, Feb. 8, 1999

The authorities in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang have sentenced a hospital director to three years in a labour camp for political offences.

An official newspaper said the man, named as Abulatudi, had organised a subversive group and carried out anti-government activities.

He was among thirteen senior communist party officials whose punishments, mostly for crimes involving corruption, were announced by the Xinjiang communist party last week.

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

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(10) CHINA PROMISES BETTER ENVIRONMENT

The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 1999

BEIJING (AP) - Beijing will fight smog by scrapping old cars and tearing down ramshackle housing mainly rented to migrant workers, top city officials said today.

Vice Mayor Wang Taoguang said the Chinese capital, one of the world's smoggiest cities, does not plan to limit the number of cars on ist roads. But authorities will strictly enforce laws requiring cars that do not meet new emissions standards to be scrapped.

Levels of some types of air pollution have begun to drop as a result of environmental regulations adopted by the city last fall, Wang said without providing details.

``We believe in the end our measures will succeed,'' he told reporters at a briefing during the annual session of the city's legislature.

The city also plans to demolish nearly 27 million square feet of illegally constructed buildings this year, said another vice mayor, Liu Jingmin. The buildings are mostly rentals used by migrants who flock to the city from the countryside looking for work, he said.

``Beijing depends on the help of workers from outside the city,'' but the illegal housing causes traffic and pollution problems, Liu said without elaborating.

Residents of the city's dwindling neighborhoods of densely packed brick one-story houses tend to burn coal for cooking, emitting thick black smoke into the air.

The city recently bulldozed an entire neighborhood of buildings that had for years been home to one of the city's largest communities of Uighurs, a Muslim minority from northwestern Xinjiang province.

The demolition, said to be for the sake of a road expansion, also reflects concern about potential for terrorist activity among Uighurs and other Muslims chafing under Chinese rule.

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(11) BEIJING MAYOR URGES VIGILANCE VS. FOREIGN DISRUPTION ATTEMPTS

Agence France Presse, Feb. 05, 1999

BEIJING. Beijing Mayor Jia Qinglin urged top-level vigilance in the capital Friday, warning unfriendly overseas forces were trying to stir up trouble in the capital.

"People must be on alert for subversive and splittist activities by overseas hostile forces," Jia said in a speech outlining the preparations for the nation's 50th anniversary celebrations in October.

"To ensure that every program is carried out smoothly, we will also take steps to crack down heavily on crimes of violence, gang crimes, drug smuggling and thievery," he added.

References to separatists in China usually point to activists in Xinjiang and Tibet who oppose Chinese rule.

A series of bombings on buses and at busy intersections in Beijing during March 1997 was widely blamed on Xinjiang activists, although the perpetrators were never found.

Those who challenge the ruling Communist Party or attempt to mark the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre are usually labeled subversives by the government.

As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the massacre, the government is being particularly cautious, and has already extended renovation work on the square for a further two months so that the area will be closed when June 4 passes.

Beijing will hold a major military parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the 50th anniversary of communist rule on Oct. 1.

Stretching along the Avenue of Eternal Peace, which runs across the top of Tiananmen Square, the parade will include missile launchers and armored vehicles.

It will be followed by a parade of 500,000 citizens and fireworks in the evening.

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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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EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER
Director: Abduljelil Karkash
Lindwurmstr 99, 80337 Munich, Germany
http://www.uygur.com E-mail: etic@uygur.com
Fax: 49-89-54 45 63 30 Phone: 49-89-54 40 47 72