Article Link,28 April 2010

 Rights groups in London are stepping up their campaign on behalf of the jailed Chinese Christian Alimujiang Yimiti following the rejection in March of his appeal against a 15-year prison sentence.

The US group ChinaAid is organizing a worldwide petition which it hopes will attract a million signatures to put pressure on the Chinese government for the release of Alimujiang, a Uyghur from Xinjiang province who converted to Christianity in 1995.

He was detained in January 2008 and sentenced late last year for allegedly providing state secrets to overseas organizations. His lawyer, Li Dunyong, denies the charge and says his “offence” was talking to Christians from the US. His wife has not been allowed to visit him in prison and he has reportedly been beaten.

According to the Brussels-based religious rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), those close to Alimujiang say he is a man of immense integrity and, as an agricultural worker, could not have had access to state secrets to pass on. CSW also claims that reports suggest Alimujiang’s trial did not follow due process under Chinese law.

In 2008, a United Nations working group ruled that his detention was “arbitrary” and that he was being held solely for his faith and religious activities. He is pastor of a house church in Xinjiang with his wife, Gulinuer, and two sons.

Since the rejection of his appeal, CSW has increased its advocacy on his behalf. He featured as a “prisoner of conscience” in the British Catholic newspaper Catholic Times on April 25. CSW also arranged for Li and Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, to visit European Union officials in Brussels and British officials in Westminster to increase international attention.

CSW’s London office said in a statement: “It was an honor to be able to host Chinese human rights defenders. Officials in London and Brussels were able to learn from the experiences of the delegation and hear first-hand information about individual cases.”

Li and Fu also raised with officials the case of the disappeared lawyer Gao Zhisheng. He reappeared at a Buddhist retreat centre soon after the European meetings.

http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2010/04/28/activists-campaign-for-jailed-chinese-christian/