Kadeer, one of the exiled leaders of the Uighurs, speak to protesters.By IINAJanuary 28, 2012Posted in: Islamophobia
BEIJING, 5 Rabi al-Awwal/28 Jan (IINA)-Rights groups have condemned China life sentences against two Uighur Muslims for unknown crimes after being deported from Cambodia where they had requested asylum, Reuters reported recently.
“The imprisonment of these men, who were forcefully deported from a place of refuge, should serve as a wake-up call to the world about the brutal treatment awaiting Uighur asylum seekers who are sent back to China,” Uighur American Association president Alim Seytoff said in a statement posted on the advocacy group’s website.
Back in December 2009, 18 Muslim Uighurs, seeking asylum in Cambodia, were deported upon request from China after the Cambodian government ignored objections from the United States and international rights groups.
Following trials ‘shrouded in secrecy’, a court in the far western region of Xinjiang sentenced Nurahmet Kudret, 35, and Islam Urayim, 32, to life in prison, relatives of the men told the Uighur American Association and US-based Radio Free Asia.
The men were serving their sentences at separate prisons in the regional capital, Urumqi, after they were convicted of unknown crimes, the broadcaster said.
The third man, Musa Muhamad, 25, was sentenced to 17 years in October by a court in Xinjiang’s Kashgar city, it said.
The three men were among a group of about 20 who had sought asylum in Cambodia following ethic riots between Uighurs and majority Han Chinese in Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi in July 2009.
Citing rights groups, Radio Free Asia said the asylum-seekers had fled persecution because they had witnessed Chinese security forces arresting and using lethal force against Uighur demonstrators during July 2009 riots.
Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, was the scene of deadly violence in July 2009 when the mainly Muslim Uighur minority vented resentment over Chinese restrictions in the region.
In the following days, mobs of angry Han took to the streets looking for revenge in the worst ethnic violence that China had seen in decades.
The unrest left nearly 200 dead and 1,700 injured, according to government figures. But Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, say the toll was much higher and mainly from their community.
China’s authorities have convicted about 200 people, mostly Uighurs, over the riots and sentenced 26 of them to death.
The life imprisonment sentences revived human rights groups rebuke for China for its long arm punishment for Uighur asylum seekers.
“The Uighurs in Cambodia were sent back to the very repression they were attempting to flee,” said Alim Seytoff, the president of the Uighur American Association.
“We cannot allow the long arm of Chinese pressure to govern the treatment of Uighur asylum seekers in other countries,” Seytoff said.
The Munich-based exile World Uyghur Congress said that China has refused to confirm the whereabouts of members of the group, referring to media reports that said four were sentenced to death after their return, while another 14 were jailed for life.
“Uighurs forcibly returned to China are in extreme risk of torture, detention and enforced disappearance,” Rebiya Kadeer, president of the, said in a statement emailed to Agence France Presse (AFP).
“We call once again on international governments to pressure the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of all the extradited Uighurs and to provide the charges, if any, that have been made against them.”
China and Cambodia have long kept close relations, with China giving large amounts of aid to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.
Two days after Cambodia deported the Muslim Uighurs in December 2009, Chinese Vice President Xi visited Phnom Penh and signed 14 trade deals worth $850 million.
The Cambodian government denied that the deportation was linked to China’s later announcement of a loan of 1.2 billion dollars.
The Munich-based World Uighur Congress last year said Asian nations had repatriated at least 180 Uighurs to China since 2001.
Xinjiang and its Uighur Muslims, a Turkish-speaking minority of more than eight million, continue to be the subject of massive security crackdowns.
Muslims accuses the government of settling millions of ethnic Han in their territory with the ultimate goal of obliterating its identity and culture.
Beijing views the vast region as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves.
