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China Releases Rabiye
Kadir's Son Before His Term
From:
Information <info@mail.uyghurinfo.com>
Washington, Feb. 13, (UIA) -- China on Monday released
famous Uyghur
dissident Rabiye Kadir's son for some unspecified reasons nearly a year before
he completed his full term in a Chinese labor camp. A
letter of release issued by Urumchi Administrative Bureau of Labor Camps said,
"Abulikemu Reyimu [Ablikim Reyim], 27, resided at Urumchi Jie Fang Bei Lu
#173, sentenced to labor camp on November 19, 1999, is released early for
reasons of [none]." The release of Ablikim
Reyim coincided with the release of Amnesty International report condemning
China's torture of Uyghur and Tibetan political prisoners as
well as
Falungong sect members.
The Chinese authorities arrested Ablikim Reyim after
arresting his mother Rabiye Kadir on charges of
"leaking state secrets and
providing information to foreign organizations" in Urumchi on August 11, 1999
while she was on her way to meet a member of a US Congressional
delegation. The Chinese authorities also arrested Alim,
Ablikim's younger brother, along with Kahriman Abdukerim, Rabiye's secretary, on
the same day. Alim was released one day later but Ablikim, accused of
supporting "separatism", was sent without trial to a labor camp
near
Urumchi for two years. Kahriman was sentenced to three years in a labor
camp. The early release of Ablikim
Reyim sheds some light on the possible release of Rabiye's secretary
Kahriman
Abdukerim, and even Rabiye Kadir herself. The unexpected
release without clear reasons may be the indication that China is yielding
to international
pressure, especially at a time when Beijing was hoping
to host 2008 Olympic Games. China
sentenced Rabiye Kadir to eight years in March
2000. A Chinese court in
Urumchi, presenting local newspaper clips for evidence of her crime,
formally charged her with "passing classified information to foreign
organizations." However, most Uyghurs including the Kadir family believe that
China threw her, her son and secretary in jail in order to retaliate her
husband Sidik Rouzi's "separatist" activities in U.S. At
present, the situation of Rabiye Kadir and her secretary Kahriman
Abdukerim is unknown. Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch
consistently demanded the Chinese government to release Rabiye
Kadir,
Ablikim Reyim and Kahriman Abdukerim.
China's Major Political Dilemma:
Rabiye Kadir
From: Information info@mail.uyghurinfo.com
/Wednesday/January 31, 2001
Rabiye Kadir is now China's major political dilemma. In November 2000, Rabiye Kadir, a prominent Uyghur businesswoman from China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region who was convicted of "leaking state secrets and providing information to foreign organizations," was awarded the highest human rights award by Human Rights Watch. She was one of only five recipients in the world in the year 2000. Rebiye Kadir’s conviction stems from her sending publicly available newspapers to her dissident activist husband in the United States. Two weeks after receiving the human rights award, the High People’s Court of Xinjiang rejected Rabiye Kadir’s appeal and she now faces an eight-year prison sentence.
BACKGROUND:
Rabiye Kadir (Rebiya Kadeer) is a 54 year-old mother of eleven, a laundress
turned millionaire, who was once hailed by China’s state media as proof of
the success of its ethnic policies in Xinjiang. To feed her children, Rabiye
Kadir washed clothes and sold
sunflower seeds. After China relaxed its ethnic
policies toward the Uyghur people in early 1980s, she earned her
fortune through the trading company she established and purchased her own
department store in downtown Urumchi. She conducted business within
Xinjiang and China Proper, extending into Central Asia and even as far away as
Turkey and Iran. In September 1994, Rabiye Kadir was named as one of
the ten richest tycoons in China by Forbes magazine (US). She also
represented the Chinese government at the UN Conference
on Women, held
in Beijing in 1995.
Although the Chinese government appointed Rabiye Kadir as
a Uyghur representative to the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative
Conference, such work was cut short after her husband, Sidik Rouzi, a
former political prisoner and professor at the Xinjiang Pedagogy
Institute, sought political asylum in the
United States in early 1996. The
government offered Rabiye Kadir a deal to exchange a divorce from her
husband
for a high government position. When she refused, the Chinese government revoked
her passport
and the CCP stripped Rabiye Kadir’s membership in the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference.
When Radio Free Asia and Voice of
America began to broadcast her husband’s commentaries critical of
China’s
treatment of the Uyghurs, the CCP publicly castigated her for failing to condemn
her husband’s broadcasts.
The Chinese authorities arrested Rabiye Kadir
on charges of "leaking state secrets and providing information to foreign
organizations" in Urumchi on
August 11, 1999 while she was on her way to meet
a member of a US Congressional delegation. Chinese police arrested
her two sons, Ablikim and Alim, and her secretary Kahriman Abdukerim. Alim
was released but Ablikim, accused of supporting "separatism", was sent
without trial to a labor camp for two years. Kahriman
Abdukerim was sentenced
to three years in a labor camp. A Chinese court in Urumchi, sentenced Rebiye
Kadir to
eight years for "illegally passing information outside of
China". During the trial it was clear that China’s definition of "state secrets"
is so broad that it covers almost any information not specifically
approved by the government for publication.
IMPLICATIONS:
The arrest of Rabiye Kadir on August 11, 1999 brought
immediate international condemnation. Amnesty
International and
Human Rights Watch condemned her arrest and called upon the Chinese government
to immediately and unconditionally release her. The United States also called on
China to immediately release Rabiye Kadir. The US House and Senate
separately passed
non-binding resolutions demanding the immediate
release of Rabiye Kadir, her son Ablikim, and her secretary Kahriman
Abdukerim and offered them to come to the United States if they so wished.
The British government raised the case of Rabiye Kadir during Chinese
President Jiang Zemin’s visit in October 1999 and again during Chinese
vice foreign minister Yang Jiechi’s visit in March 2000. Mary
Robinson, the UN high commissioner for human rights, raised the case
during her meeting with Chinese
President Jiang Zemin on November 21 when she
urged the Chinese government review the Rebiye Kadir case. Uyghur
communities around the world continue to stage protests
in front of China’s
diplomatic missions demanding her release. Rabiye Kadir’s family in the United
States has played a key role in publicizing her arrest and
campaigning for
her release. Rabiye Kadir has become a headline story in almost all the major
newspapers
throughout the Western world. At the same time, she has
become an icon of Uyghur human rights movement and a
heroine of her people on
par with Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi. The case of Rabiye Kadir has
placed the Chinese
government in a difficult position. China is not
sure exactly what to do with her. If Chinese government officials continue
to keep her in jail despite international condemnation or release her on medical
parole to save face, China will probably lose a great
deal. According to her
family, Rabiye Kadir’s health is failing due to apparent ill treatment and the
difficult conditions in prison. She is suffering from heart
problems. Should
Rabiye Kadir die in prison, China could face grave unrest throughout the
Xinjiang region, the consequences of which might severely damage relations
between the Han and Uyghur populations. It might also suspend and
damage the economic developments underway in China’s "Go West" Campaign.
CONCLUSIONS:
The rise and fall of Rebiye Kadir provides important
insights into the complexities of the Chinese government’s attempts to
manipulate Uyghurs leaders and further China’s control of Xinjiang. According
to
Amnesty International report in April 1999, China has systematically
executed, tortured and detained Uyghurs convicted of engaging in
"separatism" or "illegal religious activities". In fact, Xinjiang is the
only
region in China where political and religious prisoners have been
executed in recent years, the report said. Although it appears that it was not
China’s intention to stir up the international community with
her arrest, Rabiye Kadir’s case and the publicity and attention she
has received from the West has startled the
Chinese
leadership. Rabiye Kadir is China's major political
dilemma. At present, China can neither lock Rabiye Kadir up for the entire eight
years nor silence her due to her international publicity. As long as she
is in jail, Rabiye Kadir’s popularity will rise and the
international pressure on China will mount. The political situation of the
Uyghur people in Xinjiang could become even more polarized, bringing
further international condemnation. Regardless of what the
Chinese government finally decides, Rabiye Kadir will remain an
outspoken Uyghur female role model of courage, strength, and
intelligence who was forced to challenge the Chinese government out
of loyalty to her
husband, family and people. Copyright 2001 The
Analyst
http://www.uyghurinfo.com/
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