More details emerge on the Uyghur asylum seekers deported to China by Cambodia.
RFATop row: Three of the four Uyghurs sentenced to life imprisonment, from left, Mutellip Mamut, Nurahmet Kudret and Islam Urayim. Bottom row: Ilyar Hamut (jailed for 20 years), Musa Muhamad (17 years), Helil Abdugheni (16 years) and Abduqadir Abdugheni (16 years).
Chinese authorities have sent another two Uyghurs to life imprisonment after Cambodia deported them to China, family members and lawyers said Friday, as more details emerged regarding 21 Uyghur asylum seekers who were forcibly sent home.
News of the sentence came a day after it was reported that two Uyghurs from the same group had been ordered to spend the rest of their life in prison in punishments meted out in secret and described as severe by rights groups.
The four and 12 others, who were ordered jail up to 20 months, faced charges of splittism, terrorism and illegal travel.
The Uyghurs from China’s volatile Xinjiang region had fled to Cambodia more than two years ago and sought asylum in the Southeast Asian state following ethnic riots involving the minority Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese in the region's capital Urumqi in July 2009.
Some rights groups say the Uyghurs were fleeing persecution because they had witnessed Chinese security forces arresting and using lethal force against Uyghur demonstrators during the riots.
Families and lawyers of the deported Uyghurs who spoke to RFA could only identify three of the four who were sentenced to life imprisonment—Mutellip Mamut, Nurahmet Kudret and Islam Urayim.
Among the others in the group—four were sent to 20 years in jail, four received 17 years imprisonment, and another four received 16-year sentences.
The sentences took effect on September 2011 after swift verdicts handed out in a trial conducted on Dec. 24, 2010 and then confirmed by China's top court, legal sources said.
The fate of two more Uyghurs who were detained after deportation to China was not known amid concerns by rights groups over their whereabouts as at least one of them has serious health problems.
Three others from the deported group—a woman and two children—were released.
Interviews
Details on the fate of the 21 surfaced only this week when RFA began interviewing families and lawyers in Xinjiang even though the Uyghurs were deported on Dec. 19, 2009.
Lawyers hired by some of the Uyghurs indicated that the trials were conducted without the presence of their immediate families or relatives and that the accused were brought in and taken out of the court with their faces covered.
The lawyers themselves were prevented from fully defending their clients.
Lawyer Tunisa Hesen, whose client Memettursun Omer was given a 20-year sentence, said that she could not divulge what was discussed in the trial.
Hesen, 55, who works for a local government department dealing in legal issues, said that her department drafted her court remarks one day before the trial, implying that she was not allowed to represent her client effectively.
"We are not allowed to say,'He is not guilty' in such state security cases," said another lawyer Nasirjan, 32, a lecturer at the Kashgar Pedagogical University and whose client Helil Abdugheni got a 16-year jail sentence.
Families of the clients expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the two lawyers, saying they were were paid handsome fees but did not provide them with any key information.
Unlike Hesen and Nasirjan, who were hired by their clients, the Uyghurs who received life sentences had lawyers appointed by the court, according to legal sources.
Families of the Uyghurs said more than 10 families went to the court to attend the trial but were not allowed to witness the proceedings.
"The courtyard was blocked and they stayed on outside and waited until the proceedings ended," one family member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. "They were not able to see their loved ones."
Persecution
Uyghurs, who form a distinct, Turkic-speaking minority in Xinjiang, say they are subjected to political control and persecution for opposing Chinese rule in their homeland. Beijing says some Uyghurs belonged to militant groups allied with Al-Qaeda and operating in Xinjiang.
Uyghur exile groups criticized the Chinese authorities for consistently refusing to provide information on the whereabouts and legal status of the jailed Uyghurs.
They said that Beijing had assured the international community that the deported Uyghurs would be dealt with transparently upon their return.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern Friday over the sentences that were imposed on the deported Uyghurs.
We're seeking to confirm these reports with the Chinese," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Washington "has repeatedly called on the Chinese government to provide information on the whereabouts of all 20 of the Uyghur asylum seekers," Nuland said.
It has also asked Beijing "to allow access to them by international agencies and to treat them in accordance with international human rights obligations and commitments," Nuland said.
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) said that Uyghurs forcibly returned to China "are in extreme risk of torture, detention and enforced disappearance."
The Uyghurs had fled to Cambodia in small groups between May and October 2009 and had applied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugee status in Phnom Penh.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
Brothers Look To Sue Ministry
News of the sentence came a day after it was reported that two Uyghurs from the same group had been ordered to spend the rest of their life in prison in punishments meted out in secret and described as severe by rights groups.
The four and 12 others, who were ordered jail up to 20 months, faced charges of splittism, terrorism and illegal travel.
The Uyghurs from China’s volatile Xinjiang region had fled to Cambodia more than two years ago and sought asylum in the Southeast Asian state following ethnic riots involving the minority Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese in the region's capital Urumqi in July 2009.
Some rights groups say the Uyghurs were fleeing persecution because they had witnessed Chinese security forces arresting and using lethal force against Uyghur demonstrators during the riots.
Families and lawyers of the deported Uyghurs who spoke to RFA could only identify three of the four who were sentenced to life imprisonment—Mutellip Mamut, Nurahmet Kudret and Islam Urayim.
Among the others in the group—four were sent to 20 years in jail, four received 17 years imprisonment, and another four received 16-year sentences.
The sentences took effect on September 2011 after swift verdicts handed out in a trial conducted on Dec. 24, 2010 and then confirmed by China's top court, legal sources said.
The fate of two more Uyghurs who were detained after deportation to China was not known amid concerns by rights groups over their whereabouts as at least one of them has serious health problems.
Three others from the deported group—a woman and two children—were released.
Interviews
Details on the fate of the 21 surfaced only this week when RFA began interviewing families and lawyers in Xinjiang even though the Uyghurs were deported on Dec. 19, 2009.
Lawyers hired by some of the Uyghurs indicated that the trials were conducted without the presence of their immediate families or relatives and that the accused were brought in and taken out of the court with their faces covered.
The lawyers themselves were prevented from fully defending their clients.
Lawyer Tunisa Hesen, whose client Memettursun Omer was given a 20-year sentence, said that she could not divulge what was discussed in the trial.
Hesen, 55, who works for a local government department dealing in legal issues, said that her department drafted her court remarks one day before the trial, implying that she was not allowed to represent her client effectively.
"We are not allowed to say,'He is not guilty' in such state security cases," said another lawyer Nasirjan, 32, a lecturer at the Kashgar Pedagogical University and whose client Helil Abdugheni got a 16-year jail sentence.
Families of the clients expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the two lawyers, saying they were were paid handsome fees but did not provide them with any key information.
Unlike Hesen and Nasirjan, who were hired by their clients, the Uyghurs who received life sentences had lawyers appointed by the court, according to legal sources.
Families of the Uyghurs said more than 10 families went to the court to attend the trial but were not allowed to witness the proceedings.
"The courtyard was blocked and they stayed on outside and waited until the proceedings ended," one family member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. "They were not able to see their loved ones."
Persecution
Uyghurs, who form a distinct, Turkic-speaking minority in Xinjiang, say they are subjected to political control and persecution for opposing Chinese rule in their homeland. Beijing says some Uyghurs belonged to militant groups allied with Al-Qaeda and operating in Xinjiang.
Uyghur exile groups criticized the Chinese authorities for consistently refusing to provide information on the whereabouts and legal status of the jailed Uyghurs.
They said that Beijing had assured the international community that the deported Uyghurs would be dealt with transparently upon their return.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern Friday over the sentences that were imposed on the deported Uyghurs.
We're seeking to confirm these reports with the Chinese," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Washington "has repeatedly called on the Chinese government to provide information on the whereabouts of all 20 of the Uyghur asylum seekers," Nuland said.
It has also asked Beijing "to allow access to them by international agencies and to treat them in accordance with international human rights obligations and commitments," Nuland said.
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) said that Uyghurs forcibly returned to China "are in extreme risk of torture, detention and enforced disappearance."
The Uyghurs had fled to Cambodia in small groups between May and October 2009 and had applied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugee status in Phnom Penh.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
Brothers Look To Sue Ministry
Two Uyghur men in Pakistan say they were wrongfully placed on a No-Fly list.
RFA
Omer Khan speaks to a group of Uyghurs in Rawalpindi, Feb. 5, 2009.
Two ethnic Uyghur co-founders of a Pakistan-based rights group plan to sue the country's Ministry of Interior for placing them under a travel ban last year, which they say was the result of pressure from Chinese authorities.
Brothers Omer and Akbar Khan, who launched the Omer Uyghur Trust four years ago in the northern Pakistan city of Rawalpindi, said they had applied to Pakistan's Supreme Court and are awaiting a ruling on whether the lawsuit can proceed.
The Ministry of Interior responded with a statement to the court that the men had been involved in "anti-state" activities and had planned to "flee to the U.S.," demanding that the case be thrown out and the petitioners punished.
Omer Khan denied the accusations in an interview with RFA on Thursday.
"It is very clear to the Ministry that we have not done anything against our country. If we had done so, we would not have been available to speak with you today," he said.
"There is no doubt that China is behind all of these statements and the actions of the Ministry regarding us."
Khan said that the brothers had been contacted by state security police who had offered to remove their names from Pakistan's Exit Control List if they were willing to go to the Chinese embassy to "apologize for their actions against China."
The brothers have said that Beijing has pushed Pakistani authorities to step up pressure on Uyghur exiles in the country, many of whom are vocal campaigners for independence for China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the country's largest population of Uyghurs.
"We truly regret seeing our country positioned as a vassal state [to China]. We hope and believe the Supreme Court will come to a fair conclusion at long last on our case," Omer Khan said.
Banned from travel
According to the Ministry of Interior statement, the Khan Brothers have been on the Exit Control List since Feb. 19, 2011.
"At the time our names we! re added to the list, we were preparing to visit the U.S. to attend a hearing with the World Uyghur Congress held at the Capitol in Washington," Khan said.
"The Chinese embassy was extremely angry and threatened us by sending messages via the Pakistani state security forces not to travel to the U.S."
Omer Khan said that he and his brother had no knowledge of being added to the list at the time because their visa applications were turned down and they were unable to go.
"We only realized we were on the list when we tried to leave Pakistan for Turkey to attend a conference" on Xinjiang, he said, referring to the region as "East Turkestan."
On June 17 last year, the two men were blocked from boarding a flight to Istanbul, despite having obtained visas, received their boarding passes, and even checked their luggage.
The weeklong conference they planned to attend took the name "East Turkestan" from a short-lived Uyghur government that existed in a region taken over by communist China and renamed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the west of the country.
Later, Pakistani authorities asked the men to first gain clearance from the Chinese embassy in Islamabad before they could be allowed to travel out of the country, a move criticized by Uyghur groups.
On June 21, according to the brothers, they visited Pakistan's Ministry of Interior to ask why they had been banned from international travel and were told that it was the result of a demand from the Chinese counsel at the Chinese embassy.
The brothers said that officials from the Ministry of Interior also accused them of constantly communicating with exiled U.S.-based Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer.
The officials also allegedly accused the brothers of creating "trouble" for them before acknowledging that they had acceded to the Chinese demand.
Relations with China
The flight ban marked the second time Pakistani authorities have been accused of intervening in the ! activiti es of the brothers and their organization on behalf of Beijing.
In April 2010, a Uyghur language school that the Khans had established in Rawalpindi only a year earlier was forced to shut down after Chinese embassy officials spoke with the Pakistani government and the school's landlord.
The embassy staff accused school officials of maintaining ties with Rebiya Kadeer's Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, an organization that Beijing says promotes Uyghur independence from China. The school has since remained closed.
Within the past 10 years Pakistan has deported at least 200 Uyghurs who fled persecution in China, Uyghur exile organizations say, while Uyghur activists with Pakistani citizenship have been banned from participating in any social or cultural events and more than 10 Uyghur activists in the country have "disappeared."
According to Omer Khan, more than 3,000 Uyghur families live in Pakistan, predominantly in the cities of Rawalpindi, Karachi, Gilgit, and Islamabad.
Uyghur analyst Ilshat Hesen called Pakistan's recent relationship with China "far beyond that of any other two countries, to the point where Pakistan seems to have lost its independence."
"It's better to call it the 'Pakistan Urdu Autonomous Region of China' than the 'People's Republic of Pakistan.'"
China is looking to boost its presence in Southwest Asia, as the slaying of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has prompted a faster departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and could lead to waning U.S. assistance to Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani traveled to China in May last year where he met with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to discuss enhanced economic and military cooperation between the two nations.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Joshua Lipes from Radio Free Asia
Brothers Omer and Akbar Khan, who launched the Omer Uyghur Trust four years ago in the northern Pakistan city of Rawalpindi, said they had applied to Pakistan's Supreme Court and are awaiting a ruling on whether the lawsuit can proceed.
The Ministry of Interior responded with a statement to the court that the men had been involved in "anti-state" activities and had planned to "flee to the U.S.," demanding that the case be thrown out and the petitioners punished.
Omer Khan denied the accusations in an interview with RFA on Thursday.
"It is very clear to the Ministry that we have not done anything against our country. If we had done so, we would not have been available to speak with you today," he said.
"There is no doubt that China is behind all of these statements and the actions of the Ministry regarding us."
Khan said that the brothers had been contacted by state security police who had offered to remove their names from Pakistan's Exit Control List if they were willing to go to the Chinese embassy to "apologize for their actions against China."
The brothers have said that Beijing has pushed Pakistani authorities to step up pressure on Uyghur exiles in the country, many of whom are vocal campaigners for independence for China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the country's largest population of Uyghurs.
"We truly regret seeing our country positioned as a vassal state [to China]. We hope and believe the Supreme Court will come to a fair conclusion at long last on our case," Omer Khan said.
Banned from travel
According to the Ministry of Interior statement, the Khan Brothers have been on the Exit Control List since Feb. 19, 2011.
"At the time our names we! re added to the list, we were preparing to visit the U.S. to attend a hearing with the World Uyghur Congress held at the Capitol in Washington," Khan said.
"The Chinese embassy was extremely angry and threatened us by sending messages via the Pakistani state security forces not to travel to the U.S."
Omer Khan said that he and his brother had no knowledge of being added to the list at the time because their visa applications were turned down and they were unable to go.
"We only realized we were on the list when we tried to leave Pakistan for Turkey to attend a conference" on Xinjiang, he said, referring to the region as "East Turkestan."
On June 17 last year, the two men were blocked from boarding a flight to Istanbul, despite having obtained visas, received their boarding passes, and even checked their luggage.
The weeklong conference they planned to attend took the name "East Turkestan" from a short-lived Uyghur government that existed in a region taken over by communist China and renamed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the west of the country.
Later, Pakistani authorities asked the men to first gain clearance from the Chinese embassy in Islamabad before they could be allowed to travel out of the country, a move criticized by Uyghur groups.
On June 21, according to the brothers, they visited Pakistan's Ministry of Interior to ask why they had been banned from international travel and were told that it was the result of a demand from the Chinese counsel at the Chinese embassy.
The brothers said that officials from the Ministry of Interior also accused them of constantly communicating with exiled U.S.-based Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer.
The officials also allegedly accused the brothers of creating "trouble" for them before acknowledging that they had acceded to the Chinese demand.
Relations with China
The flight ban marked the second time Pakistani authorities have been accused of intervening in the ! activiti es of the brothers and their organization on behalf of Beijing.
In April 2010, a Uyghur language school that the Khans had established in Rawalpindi only a year earlier was forced to shut down after Chinese embassy officials spoke with the Pakistani government and the school's landlord.
The embassy staff accused school officials of maintaining ties with Rebiya Kadeer's Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, an organization that Beijing says promotes Uyghur independence from China. The school has since remained closed.
Within the past 10 years Pakistan has deported at least 200 Uyghurs who fled persecution in China, Uyghur exile organizations say, while Uyghur activists with Pakistani citizenship have been banned from participating in any social or cultural events and more than 10 Uyghur activists in the country have "disappeared."
According to Omer Khan, more than 3,000 Uyghur families live in Pakistan, predominantly in the cities of Rawalpindi, Karachi, Gilgit, and Islamabad.
Uyghur analyst Ilshat Hesen called Pakistan's recent relationship with China "far beyond that of any other two countries, to the point where Pakistan seems to have lost its independence."
"It's better to call it the 'Pakistan Urdu Autonomous Region of China' than the 'People's Republic of Pakistan.'"
China is looking to boost its presence in Southwest Asia, as the slaying of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has prompted a faster departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and could lead to waning U.S. assistance to Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani traveled to China in May last year where he met with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to discuss enhanced economic and military cooperation between the two nations.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Joshua Lipes from Radio Free Asia
Read More @ Source US concerned about fate of Uighurs in China
The US State Department said Friday it is trying to confirm with Beijing reports it has sentenced to death some of the 20 Uighurs who were deported from Cambodia in 2009.
"We are concerned that China has reportedly sentenced two of them to life in prison. We're seeking to confirm these reports with the Chinese," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Some media reports have said four were sentenced to death.
Washington "has repeatedly called on the Chinese government to provide information on the whereabouts of all 20 of the Uighur asylum seekers," Nuland added.
It has also asked Beijing "to allow access to them by international agencies and to treat them in accordance with international human rights obligations and commitments," Nuland said.
The deportees, members of the mainly Muslim minority Uighur group who have long complained of oppression in Xinjiang, fled China after ethnic rioting in the remote, northwestern region in 2009.
They applied for UN refugee status in Cambodia, but were forcibly repatriated to China in December 2009, in a move that triggered strong international condemnation.
Cambodia's decision to deport the Uighurs was quickly followed by a 1.2-billion-dollar aid and loan package from Beijing. China has rejected accusations of a link between the two.
According to the World Uyghur Congress, China has refused to confirm the whereabouts of members of the group despite media reports that four were sentenced to death after their return, while another 14 were jailed for life.
"Uighurs forcibly returned to China are in extreme risk of torture, detention and enforced disappearance," Rebiya Kadeer, president of the Munich-based exile group, said in a statement emailed to AFP.
"We call once again on international governments to pressure the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of all the extradited Uighurs and to provide the charges, if any, that have been made against them."
China has said the Uighurs were wanted in connection with rioting that erupted in July 2009 in the regional capital of Urumqi between Uighurs and China's majority Han ethnic group which left nearly 200 people dead.
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