On 17 April 2007 the People’s Court of Urumchi sentenced Rebiya Kadeer’s son Ablikim Abdureyim (left) to nine years imprisonment for “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities”. According to the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Project (UNPO) Ablikim was tried in a secret trial. (23-APR-07)

Text: HRH/Bergen, by Gunta Venge, based on the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Project (UNPO) press releases.

They also believe he was denied access to legal representation. Local activists claim the trial date and location were kept secret and that friends and family were denied the opportunity to visit and monitor the conditions of his detention.

There are strong indications that Ablikim has been subjected to serious maltreatment. Uyghur activists are frequently subjected to extreme duress, often torture to make them sign “confessions” which are later used as proof during trial. Rebiya Kadeer was herself imprisoned following a similarly secretive trial in March of 2000, and sentenced to seven years in prison on the basis of a forced confession. Forcibly extracted statements of this nature have no part to play in a transparent evaluation of serious charges.

The conviction of Ablikim Abdureyim fits into a pattern of persecution of members of Rebiya Kadeer’s family who remain under Chinese authority in East-Turkestan. Earlier this month Chinese Officials announced fines of US$ 2.8 million against the Kadeer family businesses, and posted notices of its liquidation. In November 2006 Alim Abdureyim, another of Ms. Kadeer’s sons, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for tax-evasion. Kadeer’s eldest son Kahar Abdureyim, and her daughter Rushangul Abdureyim, have also at various points been arrested, charged, and harassed by local security services.

The Rafto Foundation follows UHRP and UNPO in strongly condemning this apparent campaign to punish Rebiya Kadeer’s family for her efforts to advocate human rights and democracy for the people of East-Turkestan. The most recent imprisonment of Ablikim Abdureyim is a violation of his fundamental right to a free and fair trial. It also shows the distance the People´s Republic of China has yet to travel before it becomes a state where there exists genuine freedom, democracy, and human rights.

For more, see:
http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=6593

http://uhrp.org/articles/465/1/Son-of-Rebiya-Kadeer-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-prison-on-charges-of-quotsecessionismquot/index.html
 
http://uhrp.org/articles/464/1/China-Sentences-Activists-Son/index.html