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Amnesty International Reports:Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous RegionEastern Turkestan |
The Uighurs are the majority ethnic population of the XUAR, where the local population is predominently Muslim. Following ethnic unrest in February 1997 in the city of Gulja (Yining),(footnote: See People Republic of China: Summary of Amnesty International Concerns, February 1998, AI Index: ASA 17/06/98, page 3.http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1998/ASA/31700698.htm) in the west of the XUAR, the authorities have tightened controls over the local population and repressed any activity suspected of lending support to Uighur nationalism - officially termed "separatism" - including peaceful religious activities. Such measures are believed to have exacerbated ethnic tensions and contributed to the escalation of violence in the region. A growing number of violent incidents, including clashes between small groups of Uighur nationalists and the security forces, have been reported since then.
The cases cited in this document are those of people who are reported to have been arbitrarily detained for their suspected views, associations or peaceful activities, in violation of international human rights standards. Some have also been arbitrarily detained merely because they are 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. (footnote: Under the revised Criminal Procedure Law of the PRC, in force since January 1997, detainees should either be formally arrested (charged) within 14 days after being taken into police custody or released. They have the right to engage a lawyer soon after being taken into custody. Furthermore, the police should in principle inform the family of the detention or arrest of a relative and of the place where he or she may be detained within 24 hours after arrest or detention, unless the police deems that this would hinder the investigation . Even in such cases, the law does not provide for detention to continue if the detainee has not been charged within 14 days of being taken into police custody.) Amnesty International is calling on the Chinese authorities to release without delay all those held for the peaceful exercise of fundamental human rights and to take effective measures to ensure that Uighur and other ethnic detainees and prisoners are not subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.