Uyghur political prisoner Ismail Semed was executed on the morning of February 8 in Urumchi, the provincial capital of East Turkistan (also known as Xinjiang Province) in northwest the People´s Republic of China. Semed, who was 37 years old at the time of his execution, was sentenced to death in October 2005 on charges of “attempting to split the motherland” and other charges relating to the alleged possession of firearms and explosives.

Based on Radio Free Asia reporting and World Uyghur Congress press release about the execution, this article has been prepared for republication by Gunta Venge, the Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen. 

“I am really concerned with Semed´s execution because the Chinese authorities did not present credible evidence to convict him. His trial, like most Uyghur political prisoners´ trials, was not fair,” said Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).

According to Amnesty International (AI), Ismail Semed was convicted by the Urumqi Intermediate People´s Court on October 31, 2005 for “attempting to split the motherland” and other charges related to possession of firearms and explosives. AI says, the possession of firearms charges against Ismail Semed appear to have been based on old testimonies taken from other Uyghurs, some of whom were reportedly executed in 1999. It is possible that their testimonies may have been extracted through torture.

AI states that the charge of “splittism” was based on second-hand testimony, which stated that Ismail Semed was a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and attended one ETIM meeting in 1997 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It continues to say that his alleged membership of ETIM and attendance at that meeting have reportedly been disputed by people who were present at the meeting. The Chinese authorities claimed ETIM was a terrorist organization, and was able to lobby U.S. in 2002 to put it on its list.

Sources close to WUC say, the Chinese authorities allowed Ismail Semed´s wife Buhajar and two children to see him one day before the execution. During the brief meeting, Semed told his wife that he was tortured to confess and all the charges brought against him were false. Semed reportedly told his wife that he was studying law in Pakistan when he was arrested by the Pakistani police and later extradited to the People´s Republic of China in 2003.

Ismail Semed fled the People´s Republic of China for Pakistan following a demonstration in February 1997 in Ghulja. During and after this demonstration, the Chinese security forces killed hundreds of Uyghurs and arrested thousands. According to AI, more than 200 Uyghurs were executed by the Chinese government from February 1997 until it issued a special report on the gross human rights violations of the Uyghur people in April 1999, in addition to those Uyghurs killed in the demonstration. 
  

Kadeer_market_200.jpgUyghurs
Uyghurs constitute a distinct, Turkic-speaking, Muslim minority in northwestern the People´s Republic of China and Central Asia. They declared a short-lived East Turkestan Republic in Xinjiang in the late 1930s and 40s but have remained under Beijing’s control since 1949. Beijing has launched a massive development initiative in the poorer western regions of the country in recent years, while at the same time actively encouraging the migration of Han Chinese to the troubled region. Left: Rebiya Kadeer at the market.

China´s Ministry of Public Security in 2003 named four groups campaigning for self-rule in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which Uyghur activists refer to as East Turkestan, as terrorists. “They have planned, organized, and carried out a series of violent terrorist activities such as bombings, assassinations, arsons, poisonings, and attacks,” a senior Chinese official said, calling on the international community to ban the groups, stop them from getting support or asylum, freeze their accounts, and prosecute wanted individuals and extradite them to the People´s Republic of China.

One of the organizations was the East Turkestan Information Center (ETIC), which runs a prominent news Web site on Uyghur affairs. The other three were named as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), East Turkestan Liberation Organization (ETLO), and World Uyghur Youth Congress (WUYC).

Sources:
World Uyghur Congress:
http://www.uyghurcongress.org/En/pressrelease.asp?ItemID=-985212606

Radio Free Asia:
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/breaking_news/2007/02/08/uyghur_execute/

Contact:
World Uyghur Congress
Tel: (1) 202 321-2388 (Washington)
Tel: (49) 89-54321999 (Munich)
Fax: (49) 89 54349789
contact@uyghurcongress.org  

For further information on the Uyghur people, their history and culture, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_people