Released

Sentenced to 7 years in prison for “tax evasion”.

According to Xinhua, the Tianshan District People’s Court imposed a seven-year prison sentence and fine of RMB 500,000 (USD 62,500) on Alim Abdureyim, a son of Rebiya Kadeer, and imposed a fine on her son Kahar Abdureyim on 27 November 2006 for tax evasion.

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) reported the court tried the pair on 27 October 2006. According to UHRP, authorities formally arrested Alim, Kahar, and their brother Ablikim on 14 June 2006, and formally indicted Ablikim on 14 July 2006 for subverting state power, and Alim and Kahar for tax evasion. Chinese media reported that authorities first placed Alim and Ablikim in criminal detention on 1 June 2006. Authorities first took Kahar into custody on 13 June 2006.

Their mother is Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uyghur activist, whose family has been targeted by the authorities since she was detained as a prisoner of conscience in 1999. This intensified after she was released on medical parole on 17 March 2005 and left China for the USA.
On 27 November 2006, the day after Rebiya Kadeer was elected president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a court sentenced her sons, which is considered an unacceptable persecution against Rebiya Kadeer’s family and a punishment for her human rights activism.

According to Dui Hua information based on official Chinese sources, Alim is currently serving his sentence in the Xinjiang Number 3 prison.

Sources:

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Alim Abdureyim” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2006-00071), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5872

Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Rebiya Kadeer’s son sentenced to seven years; another fined; another feared tortured, 27 November 2007, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/680/1/Rebiya-Kadeers-son-sentenced-to-seven-years-another-fined-another-feared-tortured/rabiye.html

Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Dissidents Sons Detained, Beaten in Front of Own Children, 1 June 2006, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur_kadeer-20060601.html

[Last updated: September 2011]