The Uyghur American Association (UAA) asks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to raise Uyghur human rights issues with Chinese counterparts at the July 9-10 U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.<\/p>\n
For immediate release The Uyghur American Association (UAA) asks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to raise Uyghur human rights issues with Chinese counterparts at the July 9-10<\/span> U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. UAA urges Secretary Kerry:<\/p>\n Seek an end to an unprecedented one-year anti-terror campaign<\/a> in East Turkestan until China can substantively prove to the international community that Uyghur human rights have been met.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Ask for an explanation regarding credible reports of extrajudicial killings of Uyghur protestors in Hanerik<\/a> in 2013 and Alaqagha<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Protest the detention of Uyghur academic, Ilham Tohti<\/a> and charges of separatism leveled against him.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Request information on Uyghurs forcibly disappeared<\/a> during the security crackdown after the July 5, 2009 unrest.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Propose an international and independent investigation into Chinese government allegations of Uyghur terrorism.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Call for an end to restrictions on fasting during Ramadan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n \u201cThe U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue is an opportunity for U.S. officials to seek responses from Chinese officials to human rights concerns. There is a trail of Chinese government human rights violations against the Uyghur people for which those responsible should be held to account,\u201d said Alim Seytoff in a statement from Washington, DC.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Uyghur people have no voice with which to express their concerns, especially since the onset of the one-year anti-terror campaign in May. Moderate dissenters are harshly imprisoned, the Internet is heavily censored and freedom of expression is routinely abused. It is under these conditions that those with the available forum can make a difference in the lives of millions of Uyghurs.\u201d<\/p>\n UAA is concerned that a May 23, 2014 announcement of a one-year anti-terror campaign in East Turkestan has resulted in a systemic human rights violations in East Turkestan.<\/p>\n Since May 23<\/span>, Chinese authorities have followed through on the crackdown and Chinese and overseas media have reported on a series of region wide \u201cCultural Revolution-style\u201d mass trials, death sentences, and executions:<\/p>\n Chinese government announces on May 25<\/span> the detention of over 200 suspects and the breaking up of \u201c23 terror and religious extremism groups\u201d during May in Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures (Xinhua<\/a>, The Guardian<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n On May 27<\/span>, BBC<\/a> reports the detention of five suspects in Hotan alleged to be members of a \u201cterror group\u201d (Xinhua<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Amnesty International<\/a> calls the public sentencing in Ghulja of 55 people a \u201c[s]hameful stadium \u2018show trial\u2019\u201d in a May 29<\/span> press release. In front of 7,000 people, of the 55, three people were handed death sentences (BBC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n China Central Television broadcasts the sentencing of eighty-one people on June 5<\/span>. Nine were given death sentences and three others death sentences with two-year reprieves. The trials were held in six cities across the region (The New York Times<\/a>, BBC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n On June 5<\/span>, Xinjiang Net reports the detention of 29 suspects in Urumchi for \u201cinciting separatism and other crimes\u201d (The New York Times<\/a>, BBC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The New York Times<\/a> reports that three Uyghurs are sentenced to death for their role in an alleged \u201cterror\u201d attack on October 28, 2013 in Beijing. Five others were given sentences ranging from five years to life.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n On June 16, state media outlet, China Daily<\/a> details how since May 23<\/span> Chinese public security forces have detained 60 suspects, who allegedly \u201cbelonged to nine terrorist-related gangs plus one religious extremist group.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A June 23 report in The New York Times<\/a> cites a Legal Daily<\/a> article describing the breaking up of \u201c32 terrorist groups and the sentencing of 315 people to prison terms, death row or other punishment\u2026The sentences were handed out in 120 separate court cases.\u201d These measures were all taken since the announcement of the one-year crackdown. The New York Times report adds the information \u201ccould not be independently confirmed, and official versions of violent events in Xinjiang are often murky.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Reuters<\/a> details the public sentencing of nine people \u201cfor up to 14 years\u201d at a public sentencing in front of 3,000 people. In the same article, Reuters describes how Chinese authorities in Chapchal issued arrest warrants for 25 people and announced the detention of 14 other suspects.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Citing Chinese state media, a June 30 report in Al Jazeera<\/a> details how 113 people were sentenced from between 14 years to life for \u201cinciting ethnic hatred and belonging to a \u2018terrorist organization.\u2019\u201d The sentences were handed down in the Kashgar region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Four people are charged with \u201cmurder and terrorism\u201d for their alleged roles in a March 1<\/span> attack on Kunming train station (BBC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Legal Daily announces that 40 \u201cviolent terror gangs\u201d and 400 people have been \u201ctaken down\u201d since the May 23, 2014 announcement of a one-year crackdown on terror (Reuters<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n All of the above measures were undertaken in just over six weeks and indicate a widespread and possibly arbitrary crackdown is underway in East Turkestan. While UAA is unequivocally opposed to all forms of violence, UAA is concerned that due process of law has not been observed in these cases, given the speed and atmosphere of retribution in the region. Furthermore, China\u2019s lack of transparency<\/a> in so called terrorism cases and conflation between peaceful dissent and violence<\/a> is call for concern over the legitimacy of the current crackdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Uyghur American Association (UAA) asks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to raise Uyghur human rights issues with Chinese counterparts at the July 9-10 U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
July 8, 2014, 5:45 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 478 1920<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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