According to an official Chinese newspaper report, nearly 1,300 people were arrested in East Turkestan on state security crimes in 2008, marking a steep increase over previous years. The Procuratorial Daily reported on January 4 that the arrests were a
result of a drive to maintain social stability in 2008, the year that Beijing hosted the Olympic Games. Of the nearly 1,300 arrests made, 1,154 were formally charged and faced trials or administrative
punishment.
According to the PRC´s own national statistics bureau, only 742 people were arrested on state security crimes throughout the entire PRC in 2007, and 619 of these were indicted. Based on other government documents, it is likely that about half of these numbers were from East Turkestan. In addition, the 2007 figures themselves were twice as high as those in the two previous years, and were at their highest level in eight years. Under Chinese law, individuals can be prosecuted for “endangering state security” if they are believed to have engaged in subversion, “splittism”, and “illegally providing state
secrets to overseas entities,” all charges that are of a highly subjective nature in the PRC.
“The fact that the Chinese government itself is revealing an alarming rise in state security-related arrests in East Turkestan only underlines what we know to have been a massive campaign of repression against Uyghurs in 2008,” said democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer. “In its campaign to intimidate Uyghurs, the Chinese government acted with an indiscriminate hand, stamping out even the most peaceful expressions of dissent. Unfortunately, due to a lack of transparency in the Chinese legal system, we are left to wonder how many arrests have taken place that have never been publicly reported.”
Information obtained by UHRP indicates that security measures carried out in 2008 targeted large numbers of Uyghur civilians, including many not suspected of involvement in any crime, in
contravention of Chinese law and international law. Particularly in the period leading up to and during the Olympics, UHRP noted a widespread clampdown among Uyghurs and a corresponding rise in arrests and detentions. These included the arrests of more than 1,000 individuals in security sweeps in the cities of Kucha and Kashgar, following a series of violent attacks in the area, and the arrest of 160 Uyghur children, aged 8 to 14 years old, for participating in “illegal religious activities”. Authorities also used the tactic of detaining family members and associates of alleged attackers in an attempt to bring in suspects.
