Rebiya Kadeer's Children Held in Custody, Beaten

June 22, 2006

Authorities in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), held in custody Alim Abdurehim, Ablikim Abdurehim, and Roshengul Abdurehim, who are grown children of Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, on May 30, according to a June 1 press release from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP).

Authorities in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), held in custody Alim Abdurehim, Ablikim Abdurehim, and Roshengul Abdurehim, who are grown children of Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, on May 30, according to a June 1 press release from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). Officials held the three in custody to prevent them from meeting with a U.S. Congressional staff delegation visiting the XUAR, UHRP reported. The following day, authorities placed the three under house arrest, according to a June 1 report from Radio Free Asia (RFA). On June 1, police officers beat Alim and Ablikim Abdurehim, resulting in Ablikim's hospitalization, according to the reports. Other members of Kadeer's family also have been placed under surveillance, the articles reported. The events follow a pattern of harassment against Kadeer's family in the XUAR since her release from prison in 2005 and subsequent relocation to the United States.

An official from the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau claimed no knowledge of the situation in a May 31 Agence-France Presse report (via Yahoo), but on June 1, Tianshan Net, an official Chinese media Web site in the XUAR, posted a report on Kadeer's children. According to the report, public security officials questioned the three on May 31, and when Alim Abdurehim's attitude became "overbearing," authorities were "no longer able to carry out normal questioning." The article then reported that authorities held under criminal detention Alim and Ablikim Abdurehim "in accordance with the law" on June 1, and placed Roshengul Abdurehim under house arrest. The Tianshan account tied the initial police questioning to economic crimes that XUAR authorities claim Kadeer and her family committed while operating the Akida Trading Company.

For more information, see related CECC analyses about other cases of harassment against Kadeer's family members and employees, and about Chinese government accusations against Kadeer. See also the sections on Rights Violations in Xinjiang and Religious Freedom for China's Muslims in the 2005 CECC Annual Report.