Uyghur American Association urges U.S. delegation at the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue to raise key Uyghur concerns

For immediate release
April 26, 2011, 4:45 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 478 1920

A delegation headed by Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner will begin human rights discussions with the Chinese government in Beijing on April 27-28. According to the U.S. Department of State’s website, the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue “will focus on human rights developments, including the recent negative trend of forced disappearances, extralegal detentions, and arrests and convictions, as well as rule of law, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, labor rights, minority rights and other human rights issues of concern.”

The Uyghur American Association recommends that United States interagency officials participating in the imminent U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue:

  • condemn harsh prison sentences handed down to Uyghur journalists and webmasters on charges related to the July 2009 unrest in Urumchi, and ask for immediate release of those imprisoned if the Chinese government cannot address concerns over legal procedures that contravene Chinese domestic and international law.
  • urge the Chinese authorities to stop politically-motivated trials and executions of Uyghurs in relations to the unrest of July 5, 2009, and request that the Chinese government disclose the total number of Uyghur disappeared, detained, arrested, charged, secretly tortured to death and publicly executed. (see World Uyghur Congress Deeply Concerned About New Death Sentences in East Turkestan (http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=7456).
  • seek a response to accusations of torture of Alim Abdureyim and Ablikim Abdureyim, imprisoned sons of Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer, and secure a visit with these two individuals by U.S. Embassy officials (see: A Family Held Hostage to Human Rights: UHRP Documents The Persecution Of Rebiya Kadeer’s Family: http://tinyurl.com/3oa6h4a).
  • ask Chinese officials to reveal the whereabouts and current conditions of 20 Uyghur asylum seekers deported from Cambodia in December 2009 (see Twenty Uyghurs deported from Cambodia still missing after one year: http://tinyurl.com/2akyocm);

The upcoming U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue is a critical forum in which to seek answers from the Chinese government on egregious human rights abuses against the Uyghur people. Until the time comes when the Uyghur people are able to speak out without fear of censure, it is important for the international community to bring the Chinese government in line with international human rights standards on such occasions,” said Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer.

UAA also urges the U.S. delegation to remind the Chinese government of Secretary Clinton’s February 15, 2011 remarks on Internet freedom. In a policy address at George Washington University in Washington, DC, Secretary Clinton stated that “[t]he demand for access to platforms of expression cannot be satisfied when using them lands you in prison. We believe that governments who have erected barriers to internet freedom, whether they’re technical filters or censorship regimes or attacks on those who exercise their rights to expression and assembly online, will eventually find themselves boxed in.”

In 2010, Chinese authorities moved to punish Uyghur webmasters and journalists for their alleged involvement in the July 2009 unrest through a series of harsh sentences. Memetjan Abdulla, a former editor at China National Radio and a manager for the website Salkin, is one of two Uyghur journalists reportedly sentenced to life in prison in 2010. The other journalist, 32-year-old Gulmire Imin, was reportedly sentenced at the same time. Imin was invited to become an administrator for Salkin after having published a number of poems on various Uyghur websites.

Uyghur journalist Gheyret Niyaz was sentenced to 10 years in prison in July 2010 for “endangering state security” by speaking to foreign journalists. Three Uyghur webmasters were also convicted on charges of “endangering state security” in July 2010. Dilshat Perhat, the 28-year-old webmaster and owner of the website Diyarim, was sentenced to five years in prison after a closed trial; Nureli, the webmaster of the website Salkin, and Nijat Azat, the webmaster of the website Shabnam, were tried in closed trials on or around the same day and sentenced to three and ten years respectively.