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China jails 3 Uighurs for sites deemed sensitive

Originally published by The Associated Press,30 July 2010
By TINI TRAN

BEIJING — China has jailed three minority Uighurs who ran websites with content considered politically sensitive by the government, according to a media report and an advocacy group.

 Their sentencing last week is the latest move by the Chinese government to rein in dissent following last year’s deadly ethnic violence in the far western Xinjiang region that erupted between the minority Uighur population and the majority Han Chinese.

 Long-standing tensions between the Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group, and the Han flared into open violence in the regional capital of Urumqi in July 2009. The government said 197 people were killed. Hundreds of people were arrested, about two dozen were sentenced to death and many Uighurs remain unaccounted for and are believed to be in custody.

 Last week, the three men, identified as Dilshat Perhat, webmaster of Diyarim; Nureli, webmaster of Salkin; and Nijat Azat, webmaster of Shabnam, were sentenced to five years, three years and 10 years respectively, said Radio Free Asia and the Uyghur American Association, citing a brother of one of the men.

 The Diyarim, Salkin and Shabnam websites were among the most popular Uighur-language sites, which were all blocked in China following the deadly unrest. The men were convicted of “endangering state security” during the one-day trial that took place sometime at the end of last week, according to Perhat’s brother, Dilmurat Perhat, who lives in London.

 Officials with the court in Urumqi declined on Friday to confirm news about the trials or sentencing.

 Last Friday, a court in Urumqi sentenced journalist Halaite Niyaze to 15 years in jail for critical writings and comments he made to foreign media following last July’s riots, which left nearly 200 dead and 1,700 injured. Niyaze and the three webmasters were all convicted under the same vaguely worded charge that China’s authoritarian government often uses to silence political critics.

 Niyaze’s 15-year sentence was among the harshest handed down for someone who committed no violence during last year’s riots or for a Uighur airing dissenting opinions in recent years.

 The Uyghur American Association strongly condemned the men’s sentencing, saying that Uighurs live in constant fear.

 “The Chinese government is suffocating Uyghur voices. Chinese authorities are committing an egregious violation of human rights and the freedom of expression by imprisoning these three men, who have done nothing more than work for websites and voice their opinions,” activist Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the U.S., said in the statement.

 China accuses Kadeer, a champion for Uighur rights, and other overseas Uighur groups of fomenting last year’s violence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073000482.html