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WUC Condemns the House Arrest of a Forcibly Disappeared Uyghur’s Mother

Press Release – For immediate release
7 September 2012
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or
[email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress strongly condemns the placing under house arrest of Patigul Ghulam by the Chinese authorities in violation of both international and domestic laws. Against the backdrop of the high-profile 2nd Annual Eurasia-Expo currently being held in Urumqi, she was placed under house arrest without charges or a warrant to prevent her from drawing attention to the enforced disappearance of her son, Imammemet Ali, on whom she has been seeking information. The WUC calls on Chinese government to remove the conditions of house arrest on Patigul and to undertake a full, comprehensive and independent investigation into the disappearance of Imammemet and other Uyghurs since July 5 Unrest of 2009.

According to Radio Free Asia, Patigul discovered that she was being placed under house arrest as she attempted to leave her house only to be prevented from doing so by several Chinese policemen and local Communist Party officials, including local secretary Li Jianming. She was informed that she could not leave her residence until after the Eurasia-Expo is finished on 8 September 2012 so as to avoid “negative publicity”, and, when she tried to leave, she was subjected to intimidation and physical abuse.

The very fact that Patigul has not been formally charged for a crime but is under house arrest represents a flagrant abuse of international human rights law under which China is obliged to adhere. It is stipulated under Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that everyone has the right to liberty, to not be subjected to arbitrary detention, to be informed of the charges and to be entitled to take proceedings before a court, all of which have been denied. These are the internationally accepted standard procedures codified under international law for arresting and detaining an individual. Although China has not ratified the ICCPR, it has signed the treaty and is thus obliged to refrain from undertaking measures contrary to the purpose and objective of it.

In addition, China’s current Criminal Procedure Laws, changes of which are due to enter into force in January 2013, also clearly state that public security organs must produce a warrant for detention. As she is under house arrest without a warrant, she is being detained outside of the law and any protections that could be afforded to her, a severe violation of international law and China’s own laws.

Since she began seeking for her disappeared son, Patigul has often been intimidated to end her search for her son, on whom she last received word from a former inmate who confirmed that Imammemet has been subjected to torture to the point of not being able to stand. In response to her efforts to seek information, she has been detained, received arbitrary reductions in her salary and kept under guard outside her home in order to dissuade her from her efforts.

The WUC recently released a report on enforced disappearances since 5 July 2009, in which Imammemet’s case was highlighted along with 22 others. Patigul has been seeking information on the whereabouts, condition and fate of Imammemet since he disappeared on 14 July 2009 in the aftermath of the 5 July crackdown on a peaceful protest by the Chinese authorities in which many Uyghurs were killed and thousands disappeared. Most of those who have been forcibly disappeared were reported by Human Rights Watch to be young Uyghur men in their 20s, though there was evidence of boys as young as 12 also disappeared.