China frees 1,200 after Tibet unrest, holds 700 over Xinjiang

China frees 1,200 after Tibet unrest, holds 700 over Xinjiang

Kyrgyzstan arrests Uighur leaders following protest
Police in Kyrgyzstan on Monday arrested two leading Uighur activists, after an unauthorised protest against what their group said were Chinese attempts to "exterminate" its Uighur minority. Uighur community leader Dilmurat Akbarov and his deputy Zhamaldin Nasiyrov were detained in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek for holding an unsanctioned meeting, the ex-Soviet state's human rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akun told AFP. "In Bishkek after the carrying out of an unsanctioned demonstration in support of Uighurs in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (of China) the heads of the Uighur diaspora community... were detained," he said. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian state bordering China, is home to a sizeable population of Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic group accused by China of fomenting separatism and terrorism in the region. Xinjiang, the remote northwest corner of China and homeland of the Uighurs, came to international attention when riots broke out in its capital Urumqi on July 5 leaving 197 dead, according to an official toll. The incident sparked unprecedented protests among Uighurs in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and Monday's action seems to indicate the anger has not yet abated. More than 1,000 people - waving banners with slogans such as "Free Uighurstan" - turned out for the protest in the center of Bishkek before police dispersed the crowd, an AFP reporter saw.
by Staff Writers
Geneva (AFP) Aug 10, 2009
China said Monday that it has released more than 1,200 detainees held over unrest in Tibet last year while more than 700 people are still being held following last month's riots in Xinjiang.

"After the 1,231 suspects were punished, made to submit statements of repentance and educated by judicial authorities in Tibet, they were freed," Beijing said in a written reply to a UN hearing in Geneva on China's record on eliminating racial discrimination.

Some 77 others have been charged with serious offences such as burglary, arson and obstruction of justice, while seven others were charged with espionage.

Duan Jielong, who headed a 30-strong Chinese delegation at the UN hearing, confirmed Chinese media reports that police are still holding 718 people in connection with last month's violence in the northwest region of Xinjiang.

Duan told the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that there is "evidence of criminal acts" for all of these suspects, while others who "committed minor offences have been dealt with leniently and released."

Another 83 people are facing charges of serious crimes, such as murder, arson and robbery.

In early July, the authorities said ethnic violence in Xinjiang left 197 people dead, most of them Han Chinese killed by angry mobs from China's Uighur minority.

Of those killed, 156 were "innocent people," said Duan. They included 134 who were of Han ethnic origin, 11 from the Hui minority, 10 Uighurs and one Manchurian.

The others were "rioters killed while committing criminal violence" or those whose identities have not yet been established, Duan said.

Non-governmental groups expressed doubts about the Chinese figures.

World Uighur Congress representative Omer Kanat described the death and injury toll given for the Xinjiang unrest as "not convincing."

"According to our information, (the) numbers of people who have been arrested are much higher than what Chinese authorities are claiming," Kanat told reporters in Geneva.

China said on the first day of the hearing on Friday that last year's unrest in Tibet and July's violence in Xinjiang were instigated by separatists abroad.

"Facts have fully shown that the two incidents were premeditated and organised crimes of violence, directed and instigated by separatists abroad and carried out by separatists inside China," Duan told the meeting on Friday.

http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/China_frees_1200_after_Tibet_unrest_holds_700_over_Xinjiang_999.html




Provost

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States 1924-1929