On Monday night, May 29, three of Kadeer’s children were detained in Urumchi, the capital of the Xinjiang province in north western the People´s Republic of China, also known as East Turkestan. Speculations are that they were detained before the arrival of a delegation from the US Congress on Tuesday the 30th. The two sons Ablikim and Alim Abdiryim, and the daughter Rushangul have not been allowed to contact their families or their lawyers. (31-May-2006)

Source: Uyghur Human Rights Project: www.uhrp.org

“I demand the release of my children, and an immediate stop to Chinese harassment of my family and relatives in East Turkestan”, the 2004 Rafto Laureate said yesterday. Her children had been warned against any attempt to contact the US delegation. But the arrests on Monday seem to be a Chinese precaution; now they have forestalled any chance of contact between the Kadeer’s children and the visitors.

False allegations
The latest event is only one of several threats, allegations and fabricated charges against Rebyia Kadeer’s remaining family in the People´s Republic of China. Her son Alim Abdiryim has been detained several times. He is in charge of his mothers business in the People´s Republic of China, and the authorities have advised him to hire a lawyer. This might indicate that a formal charge of embezzlement and tax-fraud is on its way. Through these allegations, Chinese authorities are trying to frame and discredit Rebyia Kadeer. After his mothers release in 2004, Alim was told to sign a statement confirming the allegations of tax fraud against his mother. When he refused, he was told that; “you will sign in prison after we have broken all your ribs!”

Upon her release, Kadeer herself received a clear warning from the authorities; if she spoke up for her people, her children and business in the People´s Republic of China would be “finished”.

It is possible that the three children will be released when the US Congressional team leaves the Xinjiang province on June 4th, but it is far from certain. The detention of Kadeer’s children has some resemblance with the arrest of Rebiya Kadeer in 1999; she tried to get in touch with a visiting US delegation. This led to a sentence of eight years imprisonment.

On May 29th, Rebyia Kadeer was elected President of the Uyghur American Association at a bi-annual conference in Washington DC.

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 the Rafto Secretariat (0047) 55 21 09 50.