Chinese Police Attempt to Take into Custody Son of Uighur Activist Rebiya Kadeer

January 9, 2006

Chinese authorities have begun what Human Rights Watch reports may be a politically motivated attack on the family and friends of Rebiya Kadeer, the recently released Uighur political prisoner now living in Washington, DC.

Chinese authorities have begun what Human Rights Watch reports may be a politically motivated attack on the family and friends of Rebiya Kadeer, the recently released Uighur political prisoner now living in Washington, DC. Chinese authorities warned Kadeer before her release in March that her businesses and children would suffer the consequences if she revealed "sensitive" information overseas about the Muslim Uighurs. Chinese government control over the Uighurs has become increasingly repressive over the last decade, and Kadeer has pledged to bring the plight of "my children, the entire Uighur people" to the attention of the international community.

Eyewitnesses on May 11 saw police drag away two employees of the Kadeer Trade Center, Kadeer's multi-million dollar trading company, which is run by her son Ablikim Abdiriyim in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. More than 100 security personnel surrounded the Center the next day, confiscating "every piece of paper they could get their hands on," and searching for Kadeer's son, according to a witness. Witnesses report that Abdiriyim escaped into a crowd that blocked the police chasing him. Police beat Ahmatchan Mamteli, a friend, confiscating a videotape he had made of the raid.

The raid may be related to a loan the Bank of China recently made to the Kadeer Trading Company, according to the HRW report. Kadeer's family insists that it received the loan in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.