Several of the recently released Uighur spokeswoman Rebiya Kadeer´s employees were brutally arrested by Chinese police yesterday. Her son is in hiding. The Rafto Foundation asks the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action. (13-MAY-05)

Yesterday two of Rebiya Kadeer´s employees were arrested in the People´s Republic of China. Ruzi Mamat who works for Kadeer´s company as a secretary and Aysham Kerim, the company director, were arrested in their offices. Aysham Karim, who is nursing her 7 month old baby, was pulled from the hair and dragged from the office where she was working. All of Kadeer´s family members who still live in the People´s Republic of China were present.

Akida Rouzi, Rebiya Kadeer´s daughter currently living in Washington, has also been informed that another two people have been arrested. The two, Karima and Shu Shao Chan works for the Bank of the People´s Republic of China and were involved with Kadeer´s family in relation to a loan the family got from the bank. Akida Rouzi thinks the Chinese authorities in this manner are trying to attack the family financially and destroy the family´s financial security.

Kadeer´s son in hiding
Rafto Prize laureate Rebiya Kadeer´s son, Ablikim, is now in hiding after having been chased by the police. The Rafto Foundation today was informed that the police have been searching through Rebiya Kadeer´s company in Xinjiang, the People´s Republic of China. The police brought along with them the two employees they arrested the previous day.

 According to Kadeer´s son Alim, the police have confiscated “every paper they can get their hands on” from his mother´s company. Kadeer´s family reports that close to a hundred police officers is outside the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center, and the police have gathered more than 15 bags of paper that they have taken from the offices.

Kadeer´s other son Ablikim was chased by twenty police officers but managed to get away by hiding in a crowd of Uighurs who blocked the police´s way until he
vanished in the crowd. Nobody except his family knows where Ablikim is currently hiding.

Ahmatchan Mamteli, a friend of Ablikim, were stopped and asked if he knew where Ablikim is hiding and upon replying that he did not know, he was continually beaten by the police, dragged into a car and taken away.

– We are extremely worried about the family members and the secretaries,
especially my brother Ablikim who is in hiding as we speak. I highly doubt
the Chinese are bluffing, unless we take some action soon, harm will come
to my family. Once again I ask for your help, for we need it more than
ever, Akida Rouzi states in an e-mail sent to the Rafto Foundation. 

Alim´s statement
Akida Rouzi has sent the following call for help
from her brother Alim.

1. We, the five children of Rebiya Kadeer, have been paying all the required taxes on time to the Government.

2. We went through the legal system to get a loan from the the People´s Republic of China Bank, since then we have been making payment towards it on time as the contract stated.

3. We have been obeying the Environmental Protection Policy.

4. We have been obeying every fire dept law that was issued.

5. We have been obeying everysingle law and regulation like we were supposed to.

6. If any one of us is arrested and have been charged with what ever false crime, we strongly ask that the American Government does not believe these false accusations.

7. If we are arrested, we have children that will be left behind, our biggest
wish is that the American Government will take these children into their
arms and give them a home.

8. We ask the world especially America to look at our nation, suffering under oppression. Please show your concern for our rights for our freedom, recognize our struggle for peace.

May 13th, 2005. Thank you for your time, Alim Abuderim

The Rafto Foundation calls on the Chinese government to immediately end the harassment of Kadeer´s family members and employees. The government must also ensure the independent investigation of the police assault, unlawful arrest and
detention and bring to justice those responsible.

Asks Norway to interfer
The Rafto Foundation expects the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the Chinese authorities and get an explanation for the arrests, the search of Kadeer´s company and harassment of her family. the People´s Republic of China needs to be reminded that the outside world is following the situation in Xinjiang closely and are
updated on Kadeer´s family and associates´ wellbeing.

Background
Rebiya Kadeer was awarded with the Rafto Prize in 2004. She has distinguished
herself in the struggle for the rights of the Uighurs and against social and economic marginalization. In 1997 she founded the “Thousand Mothers Movement” to promote job training and employment for Uighur women and also established evening schools for Uighurs who did not have the opportunity to go to ordinary school. She was arrested in 1999 in a trial where neither she nor her lawyer had the opportunity to argue her case. In March 2005 she was released from prison supposedly because of her medical condition. She now lives with her husband in Washington, USA.

For more information, please contact Arne L. Lynngård (0047) 55 59 91 13 / (0047) 95 15 22 90 Or the Rafto Secretariat (0047) 55 21 09 50