Press Release – For immediate release
20 June 2013
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) strongly condemns the sentencing of 18 Uyghurs in Aksu, Urumqi, Maralbeshi and Kashgar for prison terms ranging from 15 days to 6 years and some receiving fines for purportedly engaging in illegal religious activities. The WUC is deeply concerned by information it received from eyewitness accounts of the sentencing, which reveal that the trials were undertaken in what appear to have been ‘kangaroo court’ conditions, with a lack of rule of law and due process.

According to Legal Daily (法制日报), Ahtem Helil along with 8 other unnamed people were sentenced to up to 6 years imprison by the Aksu Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court having yesterday for purportedly having looked at, browsed and downloaded illegal content from the internet – such as e-books and video files – which “whipped up religious fervour and preached ‘holy war'”, “whipped up ethnic enmity” and “migration” in November 2011 and uploading the content onto the website docin.com (豆丁 ) in October 2012, without going into detail as to what this actually means or contains. The lengthiest sentence was handed down to Mr Helil, who was given 6 years as well as, along with another person, 3 years of political rights deprivation.

The Legal Daily also reported that Memtimin Tursun and another 7 were sentenced between 2 and 5 years by the People’s Court of Kargilik county of Kashgar region for engaging in illegal religious activities at ten households in Kargilik on 16 February 2013, where they reportedly “smashed 17 television devices.” Another Han Chinese person was sentenced in Urumqi to 5 days detention for spreading a rumour of a bomb plot on the QQ social media.

This is in addition to another individual who was investigated by the Public Security Authority in Maralbeshi (Bachu) county who reportedly published audio material during April 2013 with violent terrorism content made by oversea terrorist organisation in his own online blog, receiving 15 days detention and 500 RBM fine. The fact that this occurred around the time of the Maralbeshi incident reveals more about the purpose of the detention than the evidence that was stacked against the individual.

The Chinese authorities routinely repress peaceful dissent in East Turkestan, where Uyghurs face great difficulties in front of the courts on a regular basis as the authorities use kangaroo court style trials to achieve this end. As recently as 23 April 2013, 21 people were killed and 19 arrested following a violent, illegal search by the Chinese authorities at a Maralbeshi household, in which serious doubts were cast by independent and reputable media.

WUC President Ms Rebiya Kadeer said, “as with many sentences handed down to Uyghurs by the Chinese authorities, these trials once again show that Uyghurs are unable to be tried with full due process and in front of an independent judiciary empowered with an apolitical agenda to implement the rule of law and internationally accepted standards.” According to eyewitness reports, the victims of these sentences were not permitted to deliver a statement during their trials, nor chose their own lawyer, who made little to no effort to actually defend their client.

There are frequent issues for Uyghurs who use telecommunications (i.e., the internet, SMS, etc.) to obtain information on the human rights violations to which Uyghurs are subjected. Due to the severe curtailment of access to Uyghur linguistic, cultural and human rights materials via repression of communications, Uyghurs attempt to obtain information by using proxies, which puts them at great risk of reprisals by the Chinese authorities. The worst period in modern memory whereby the internet, for example, had been censored was in the aftermath of the Urumqi unrest on and after 5 July 2009, in which all telecommunications were cut off for a ten month period. 

Ms Kadeer continued that, “as we approach the Fourth Anniversary of 5 July 2009 Urumqi unrest and the start of Ramadan (9 July 2013), the international community must keep a watchful eye on the increased repression of religion that has been felt in years gone by.” During the past week, reports have already started to emerge of crackdowns being implemented by the Chinese authorities on religious activities and customs. The WUC released a short report last year on the repression of Ramadan from 2012. In view of these latest sentencings,

In view of these recent developments, the WUC calls on the People’s Republic of China to release the detained and to address the long standing grievances of the Uyghur people, especially the complete lack of freedom of religion. The WUC also calls on the international community to ensure that it follows these developments as we approach the two sensitive dates of fourth anniversary of the 5 July Urumqi unrest and the onset of Ramadan observance.