China in a womans grip
Saad Al-Ghamdi | Al-Watan,
Millions of Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province have been the victims of persecution and exile or execution simply because they demand a dignified recognition of their religious, cultural and ethnic rights and identity. In their unwavering resistance to government suppression, the Uighurs are only armed with their faith in their religion and heritage. They tenaciously cling to their Turkic ethnicity and use the Arabic script to write their language.
Exiled Rebiya Kadeer, a 60-year-old mother of 11, is in the forefront of the struggle of the downtrodden Uighurs. While admitting her Chinese nationality, Kadeer is not willing to give up her ethnic and religious identity for the dominant Han culture in China.
According to a statement by an official of Amnesty International last year, "Few people around the world would know what's happening to the Uighurs if it weren't for a 59-year-old mother of 11 children who served as a representative in the National People's Congress, Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer."
This former member of the Political Consultative Congress and China's delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women has become a big embarrassment to the Chinese government. She has exposed to the world the large-scale human rights violations practiced by the Chinese provincial and central governments.
Since the age of 14, despite poverty and poor health, she has been worried about the humiliating existence of the Uighurs and has worked to regain their lost freedom and dignity. She had to work as a laundress in order to feed her family as her husband's work did not suffice for the family.
Although her first marriage eventually broke up, with hard work and determination she became a successful businesswoman and once she was even ranked as the seventh wealthiest business personality in China. She has also spent a lot of time doing charitable work in order to aid her people.
She hoped to work within the Chinese system and improve the downtrodden Uighurs. It was while looking for an ally in her service to the people that a likeminded Uighur activist, Saddiq Razi, was released from jail after nine years of punishment. She visited him and offered to marry him with a proposal to struggle jointly for the cause of Uighurs. Surprised by the wealthy woman's proposal, he asked her why she wanted to marry an ex-convict like him, her reply was, "For the sake of Uighurs. I want us to be together in the struggle for Uighurs."
Razi married her though his colleagues initially suspected her of being a government's agent.
Impressed by Kadeer's philanthropic efforts, the provincial and central governments nominated her to the Political Consultative Congress in 1992, and appointed her a member of China's delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Such positions never distracted her from demanding a dignified life for her people.
Using her influence in Beijing, Kadeer tried to persuade high ranking Chinese officials to change their repressive policies against Uighurs. Her insistence on real autonomous authority for the people and especially her harsh criticism of the government's human right violations during a National People's Political Consultative Conference session in 1997 prompted the government to turn against her.
She was arrested in 1999 and then sentenced to eight years in jail.
Kadeer's case became an international embarrassment for the Chinese government after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch publicized her case and worked for her freedom. After her release on medical grounds, she toured the world, actively campaigning for the rights of the Uighur people.
Lately, the Chinese government has reportedly been extorting confessions from the people in Urumqi and other places that Kadeer incited them to riot and rebel against the government so that she could be arrested again on fabricated charges which might even warrant her execution. Even before the July riots in Urumqi, the Chinese authorities had tortured her sons and other relatives for forced confessions against her. Despite the government's intimidating pressures and the torture of her own children, that fragile woman from the remote Uighur region remains unwavering in her stand.
Saad Al-Ghamdi | Al-Watan,
Millions of Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province have been the victims of persecution and exile or execution simply because they demand a dignified recognition of their religious, cultural and ethnic rights and identity. In their unwavering resistance to government suppression, the Uighurs are only armed with their faith in their religion and heritage. They tenaciously cling to their Turkic ethnicity and use the Arabic script to write their language.
Exiled Rebiya Kadeer, a 60-year-old mother of 11, is in the forefront of the struggle of the downtrodden Uighurs. While admitting her Chinese nationality, Kadeer is not willing to give up her ethnic and religious identity for the dominant Han culture in China.
According to a statement by an official of Amnesty International last year, "Few people around the world would know what's happening to the Uighurs if it weren't for a 59-year-old mother of 11 children who served as a representative in the National People's Congress, Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer."
This former member of the Political Consultative Congress and China's delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women has become a big embarrassment to the Chinese government. She has exposed to the world the large-scale human rights violations practiced by the Chinese provincial and central governments.
Since the age of 14, despite poverty and poor health, she has been worried about the humiliating existence of the Uighurs and has worked to regain their lost freedom and dignity. She had to work as a laundress in order to feed her family as her husband's work did not suffice for the family.
Although her first marriage eventually broke up, with hard work and determination she became a successful businesswoman and once she was even ranked as the seventh wealthiest business personality in China. She has also spent a lot of time doing charitable work in order to aid her people.
She hoped to work within the Chinese system and improve the downtrodden Uighurs. It was while looking for an ally in her service to the people that a likeminded Uighur activist, Saddiq Razi, was released from jail after nine years of punishment. She visited him and offered to marry him with a proposal to struggle jointly for the cause of Uighurs. Surprised by the wealthy woman's proposal, he asked her why she wanted to marry an ex-convict like him, her reply was, "For the sake of Uighurs. I want us to be together in the struggle for Uighurs."
Razi married her though his colleagues initially suspected her of being a government's agent.
Impressed by Kadeer's philanthropic efforts, the provincial and central governments nominated her to the Political Consultative Congress in 1992, and appointed her a member of China's delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Such positions never distracted her from demanding a dignified life for her people.
Using her influence in Beijing, Kadeer tried to persuade high ranking Chinese officials to change their repressive policies against Uighurs. Her insistence on real autonomous authority for the people and especially her harsh criticism of the government's human right violations during a National People's Political Consultative Conference session in 1997 prompted the government to turn against her.
She was arrested in 1999 and then sentenced to eight years in jail.
Kadeer's case became an international embarrassment for the Chinese government after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch publicized her case and worked for her freedom. After her release on medical grounds, she toured the world, actively campaigning for the rights of the Uighur people.
Lately, the Chinese government has reportedly been extorting confessions from the people in Urumqi and other places that Kadeer incited them to riot and rebel against the government so that she could be arrested again on fabricated charges which might even warrant her execution. Even before the July riots in Urumqi, the Chinese authorities had tortured her sons and other relatives for forced confessions against her. Despite the government's intimidating pressures and the torture of her own children, that fragile woman from the remote Uighur region remains unwavering in her stand.
