Friday, 11 December 2009

UNPO is deeply concerned that an additional 94 individuals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the Urumqi unrest earlier this year, due to reservations about the fairness of the trials that have already taken place.

UNPO has been closely following developments regarding the treatment of Uyghurs in the aftermath of the unrest in Urumqi this summer in which hundreds of people were killed. Hundreds if not thousands of Uyghurs are said to have been arrested in the days that immediately followed the riots in July 2009.The recent arrests of 94 people coincide with the Chinese government’s intensification of their “Strike Hard” policy launched in November this year [2009].

Over the past few months, news has surfaced of death sentences being imposed by Chinese authorities on at least 20 of the Uyghurs in custody,9 of whom were executed in November. The trials have been shrouded in secrecy and have been carried out in a hasty fashion with no independent observers permitted.

UNPO is concerned for the well being of the 94 people who join others detained in connection with the Urumqi unrest. UNPO calls on China to ensure trials are conducted in a fair and transparent manner. China must uphold the basic human rights of all of its peoples, regardless of their ethnicity.

Below is an article published by BBC News on these recent developments:

Ninety-four people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in ethnic violence in China’s Xinjiang region earlier this year, officials say.

Those detained are said to have fled following last July’s unrest, between ethnic Uighurs and members of China’s Han majority.

Nearly 200 people were killed and another 1,700 injured.

The fugitives were detained as part of a large scale crackdown by the authorities on crime in Xinjiang.

The operation follows last week’s sentencing of a further eight people to the death penalty.

Nine people were executed in November in connection with the ethnic unrest.

The Xinhua news agency quoted Xinjiang police as saying the crackdown was aimed at “consolidating stability and eliminating security risks.” It gave no information on the ethnicity of those arrested.

Violence erupted in the streets of the Xinjiang capital Urumqi on 5 July, when a crowd of Uighurs – a Muslim minority which has long complained of repression under Chinese rule – attacked members of China’s Han ethnic majority.

Most of those killed were Han, according to officials, and Urumqi’s Han population demanded swift justice.

Tensions between the Uighurs and Han have been growing in recent years.

Millions of Han have moved to the region in recent decades, and while the majority of residents used to be Muslim Uighurs, Han now outnumber them in some areas, including Urumqi.

Many Uighurs want more autonomy and rights for their culture and religion – Islam – than is allowed by Beijing’s strict rule.

http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10473/81/