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China:
Harassment and detention of Rebiya Kadeer’s family
and associates
Amnesty
International is deeply concerned about reports of
repeated harassment and detention of Rebiya Kadeer’s
family and associates in the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region (XUAR), northwest China, since her
release from prison on 17 March 2005.
Prior to her release Rebiya, mother of eleven, says
she was warned that if she engaged with Uighurs or
spoke publicly about “sensitive issues” after her
release her “businesses and children [five of whom
remain in the XUAR] will be finished”.
According to reliable reports, on 5 September 2005,
Chinese State Security officials asked Alim Abdiriyim,
one of Rebiya Kadeer’s sons and the managing
director of her company, the Akida Trading Co. in
Urumqi, the capital of XUAR, to sign a document that
would confirm that Rebiya Kadeer has evaded taxes,
committed fraud and accumulated huge debts. They
reportedly told him that if he did not agree to sign
it immediately he would “sign it in prison after
we’ve broken each one of your ribs”. The Akida
Trading Co. office has also reportedly been surrounded
by armed police.
These allegations of coercion and threats of torture
fit with broader patterns of abuse that Amnesty
International continues to monitor in the XUAR and
elsewhere in China. They cast serious doubt on the
credibility of any police investigation into the
business activities of Rebiya Kadeer’s family.
Last week, two of Rebiya Kadeer’s relatives were
reportedly briefly detained and asked to hand in their
passports. In May this year, two of her former
employees, whose current status and whereabouts remain
unknown, were detained. At the same time two other
associates were also detained but are now believed to
be released.
On 30 August 2005, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported the
establishment of a special police unit that will be
solely devoted to investigating and policing the
relatives and businesses of Rebiya Kadeer. According
to the report, the unit is known as “the number 305
office, [or] Rebiya Kadeer investigation office”.
The establishment of the unit was reportedly confirmed
by a police officer who wanted to remain unnamed. Alim
Abdiriyim reportedly said that the police from the
special unit require members of Rebiya Kadeer’s
family to give them advance notice if they wish to
leave Urumqi. “This is the most devastating pressure.
They will not harass us openly. We have not done
anything wrong or illegal for them to openly harass
us” he continued.
In a Beijing press conference last month, the
Communist Party Secretary of the XUAR, Wang Lequan
accused Rebiya Kadeer of engaging in “terrorist and
secessionist” activities since her release. These
serious accusations have not been backed up with any
evidence and appear a further attempt to discredit
Rebiya Kadeer and those connected with her, as part of
a broader political crackdown in the region.
Background
Rebiya Kadeer was released on medical parole after
having spent close to six years in prison in the XUAR
on charges of “providing state secrets outside the
country”. She was sent directly to the United States.
The verdict of her trial described the “state
secrets” as copies of publicly available regional
newspapers that she sent to her husband in the US.
Amnesty International considered her to be a prisoner
of conscience and campaigned for her release for many
years.
Since her release, Rebiya Kadeer has made a number of
public appearances and talked openly about her
imprisonment and views about long-standing human
rights abuses against the Uighur community in the XUAR.
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the
USA, the Chinese authorities have used the
international “war on terror” as a pretext to
justify their political crackdown in the region. Over
the last four years, Uighur nationalists who would
formerly have been branded as "separatists" have
increasingly been labelled "terrorists".
Other exiled Uighur nationalists have also been
branded publicly as ‘terrorists’ by the Chinese
authorities who have not provided any credible
evidence to substantiate these allegations. They
include Dolkun Isa and Abdujelil Karakash, both
working with Uighur non-governmental organizations in
Germany, who were named on an list of eleven ‘terrorists’
issued by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in
December 2003.
In May 2005, the Chinese authorities publicly
renewed their “Strike Hard” campaign in the region
which continues to be aimed at the so-called ‘three
evil forces” of “separatists, terrorists and
religious extremists”. Amnesty International remains
deeply concerned that the broad and vague wording of
‘crimes of endangering state security’ in the
Criminal Law enable the authorities to detain, charge
and imprison those engaged in the peaceful exercise of
their human rights.
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