Repression and Surveillance of Uighurs Still a Concern on Second Anniversary of Urumqi Crackdown
Freedom Hause, 5 July 2011
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mary McGuire 202-747-7035
On the second anniversary of the brutal crackdown on peaceful Uighur demonstrators by Chinese security forces, Freedom House remains deeply concerned about the ongoing repression and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China.
On July 5, 2009, Chinese security forces violently suppressed peaceful demonstrators in Urumqi seeking justice for Uighur factory workers who were killed during a brawl with ethnic Han in June of that year. The police action sparked clashes between Uighurs and Han residents and state-run media reported that 197 people were killed, though state censorship and intimidation of witnesses have made it difficult to verify the number dead. The crackdown that followed the clashes included sweeping “disappearances,” imprisonment, and executions of Uighurs.
“Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities have suffered greatly at the hands of the Chinese government for years,” said Sue Gunawardena Vaughn, Freedom House’s senior program manager for international religious freedom. “Freedom House calls on Chinese authorities to take concrete measures to address the root causes of the July 5th protest and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang, starting with the immediate release of those who remain in custody without charge. At a minimum, those who have been charged should be afforded due process, tried in an open and fair court, given access to legal representation of their choice and not subjected to torture and ill treatment.”
In the two years since the crackdown, arbitrary detentions and intensified repression of freedom of expression in the region have continued. Internet and telephone services have been blocked and Uighur webmasters, bloggers, and journalists have been detained and sentenced to extremely long prison terms following questionable trials. In June 2011, the government of Kazakhstan extradited Uighur schoolteacher, Ershidin Israil, who was classified by the U.N. as a refugee.
In the run-up to the two-year anniversary, the Chinese authorities have stepped up police surveillance in Xinjiang. Citizens in Gulja, near the border with Kazakhstan, reported that armored vehicles were patrolling the streets. More generally, political indoctrination programs in the region limit the practice of the Muslim religion, local government policies marginalize the use of Uighur language in education, and government efforts to alter the regions demographic have intensified in recent years.
China is ranked Not Free in Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom House’s survey of political rights and civil liberties, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2011.
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