US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations: International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee: Hearing on Human Rights in China and Tibet

March 2, 2000

STATEMENT OF REYILA ABUDUREYIM, DAUGHTER OF REBIYA KADEER, UIGHUR MUSLIM DETAINEE IN CHINA

Ms. ABUDUREYIM. I’m testifying because my mother, Rebiya Kadeer, and my brother, Ablikim, got arrested last year in China.

First of all, we thank you all for arranging this meeting for us. We thank the senators and the Congressmen in Congress.

In February 5, 1997, the Uighurs who want freedom and independence demonstrated in Ely City in Xingguo. But all the Chinese cracked down. In February 15, 1997, my father arranged a demonstration with 100 Uighur people against the crackdown of the Chinese in front of the White House and Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. The Chinese government was informed about the demonstration my father arranged. So, on March 27, 1997, the Chinese government confiscated my mother’s passport while she was going to Tashkan. The Chinese government told my mother that her husband had arranged a demonstration of war against them and, for that reason, she was not allowed to leave the country again.

After losing her passport, she could not finish her business in central Asia and lost $600,000 at one time. There is a, just for an example, my dad was there also. My mom imported 15,000 tons of iron and steel from Kazakstan. At that time, it should be $45 million yen in the market. My mom earned $7 million instead.

From that day, my mom was under political stress. The electric company tortured her by cutting off the electricity. The fire department tortured her by fining her. The Tax Office tortured her by doubling her taxes. Unlimited power of government makes people think that it’s appropriate for the government to put stress on my mother.

In December 12, 1997, my mother gathered 400 businesswomen in Rebiya Kadeer Market and built the Thousand Mothers Movement to help women to rise. The Chinese government first passed out a legal permit to do it. In order to break up the Thousand Mothers Movement, in December 25, 1997, the Chinese government kept $2 million yuan from the Thousand Mothers Movement in the bank.

My mother was a member of Uighur Autonomous Region’s political consultation since 1993. In September 18, 1997, immigrant Wang Loquan, the secretary of the Uighur Autonomous Region, declared that my mom was kicked out of the Chinese national political consultation.

The beginning of August 1999, Miss Carry, from the Library of Congress asked my dad for my mother’s phone number because she was going to Urumqi and wanted to meet with my mother. My dad gave it to her. When Miss Carry arrived in Urumqi, she called my mom and invited her to hotel where she stayed. In August 11, 1999, my mom and her friend with two other people were arrested in front of Yendu Hotel by Chinese police and security officers on her way to meet Carry.

On the same night, two of my brothers, Ablikim, 25, Alim, 23, and my mom’s secretary Kahrimam, were arrested. My youngest brother got released after 24 hours. The other brother and my mom’s secretary were sentenced for 2 and 3 years. They are in the Olanbay Labor Camp in Urumqi.

On August 16, 50 Uighur business people went to the government to ask them to release my mother. The government arrested those people and held them for 1 day. After the government courts organs had my mother’s case, they returned her case to the procuratorate twice. On November 20, last year, they declared that there was not enough evidence to put my mother on trial. She was accused of stealing state secrets and giving information to the outside, as were my brothers. But she doesn’t know anything about the state secrets. She simply is a businesswoman.

After my mom’s arrest, her newly done 12-storey building was stopped. Some of her business was stopped. We’re waiting for the Chinese government to release my mother, my brother, and Kahriman. Thank you. God bless you all.

Testimony by Mr. Abdughuphur Kadirhaji

US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations: International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee October 6, 1999

Testimony by Mr. Abdughuphur Kadirhaji

At a Hearing on "The First Annual State Department Report on International Religious Freedom"

Dear Mr. Chairman, Members of Congress, Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Abdughuphur Kadirhaji. I am a Uyghur Muslim from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify before you on the religious persecution of the Uyghur people in China.

The Chinese government perceives religion as the number one threat to its existence in China, especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Chinese Communist Party sees religion as opium used to drug the people.

I came to United States in this March. I have seen the religious persecution and discrimination against Uyghurs in China. As a devout Muslim myself and also a state employee, I had never been able to publicly worship and express my religious beliefs. I was always afraid of losing my job.

The most degrading and humiliating thing for the Uyghur people is, the Chinese government often receives the Uyghurs back from pilgrimage and offer them alcohol to drink so as to desecrate their holy pilgrimage. Many people, for fear of losing their jobs and positions, have to drink without choice. Not only in times of pilgrimage does the Chinese government humiliate the Uyghur people but also in times of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting in Islam. During the month of Ramadan, the Chinese government often intentionally offers free food and alcohol in the form of banquets and feasts to the Uyghurs who fast for the sake of God. The government also offers bread and drinks to the Uyghur students in high schools, colleges and universities to make sure they are not fasting in the name of God. In December 1994 after I came back from my pilgrimage to Mecca, Chinese officials poured wine on me when I refused to drink alcohol because of my religious belief. In 1995, in the holy month of Ramadan, the Chinese officials in my company constantly offered me, alcohol, cigarette and food so as to break my devotion to God and my religion. I had to comply in many cases by asking God's forgiveness. Since 1994, the religious restrictions and persecutions have been so severe in Xinjiang that an ordinary Uyghur couldn't possibly pray five times a day and carry out his daily religious duties.

Now I want to use some examples of religious persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang to give you a clear account:

1. According to my wife, who worked in the Foreign Relations Office for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional government, in 1996, the Chinese Social Science Academy and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Social Science Academy conducted a joint-research project and published a book on the religious history of Xinjiang from 1949 to 1996. This research project was directly supported and funded by the Chinese central government. This book clearly explains that Islam and religious ideas are dangerous to the unity of nationalities in Xinjiang and to the unification of China, and the government should do whatever necessary to root out this religious

Testimony by Mr. Abdughuphur Kadirhaji (continued)

threat. The book was distributed to high-level Chinese government officials. The name of this book is "Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism in Xinjiang".

2. Religious education is not allowed in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Communist party members, teachers, students, workers and any Uyghur who works for a state-owned enterprise are not allowed to go to mosques and religious schools. Those who disobey this rule will be fired from their jobs and will lose all the social benefits. Many Uyghur students have been expelled from schools for going to mosques. Nevertheless, some Uyghur parents still send their children to Muslim countries to study Islam. But the Chinese government always put diplomatic pressure on these Muslim countries' governments to return the Uyghur students. In one case, a group of Uyghur students were returned from Pakistan to China. When they got to the Chinese border, the Chinese police immediately detained them. Some of the older Uyghur students protested but they were arrested and imprisoned. The others though were released but denied many social benefits, like public education and health care.

3. In April 1998, Abdusalam, a young devout Uyghur Muslim in my hometown, went to a mosque. The government-trained communist imam was saying in his service that Allah says that if someone oppresses you, you should be patient and not fight back and that you should be obedient to your government and shouldn't complain about your sufferings. Abdusalam, having profoundly studied Islam, challenged this and said that Allah said if someone hurts you, you have the right to defend yourself according to the Quran. He pointed out what the communist imam was saying was false. Abdusalam was soon arrested and put in jail. He was tortured in prison by the Chinese guards. He was later sent to a hospital with serious injuries. However, after some time he was reported dead. The Chinese police claimed that Abdusalam committed suicide by throwing himself out of a third floor window. But people of Ghulja don't believe that he committed suicide because he was a very pious Muslim. In Islam, committing suicide is a great sin. A Muslim always has to be hopeful even in the worst situation. Abdusalam's parents obtained the body. His body was so mangled and so deformed that they found it hard to recognize their own son. The people Ghulja believed that he was tortured to death by the Chinese police. Abdusalam had never been politically active. He had never participated in a demonstration. All he did was point out that the communist Chinese government propaganda that the imam was spreading to the Uyghurs in the mosque was wrong.

4. My sister's husband, Abdushukur Kamberi, went to Pakistan 1986. There he studied Islam with several renowned Islamic scholars. Therefore, he earned a reputation as a very knowledgeable man in Islamic theology. The Chinese government felt threatened by him and tried to corrupt him by giving him a religious title. He was appointed as the head of religious affairs in Ghulja City. By appointing him, the Chinese government attempted to involve him in spreading the Chinese communist propaganda instead of the Islamic truth. He defied them and visited all of the mosques in the city and told the imams that the mosque was not the place for the Chinese communist propaganda-only Quran and the traditions of the prophet Muhammad. After several months, he went to Urumqi to bring his mother's and other relatives' passports for visas to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Xinjiang Regional Public Security used this as an opportunity and arrested him in July 1997. The Chinese police claimed that he was trying to escape China. But, he wasn't even bringing his own passport. The Chinese police arrested him and put him in jail for nothing. They checked and he didn't have his own passport. Then, he was severely tortured by the Chinese prison guards. For fear of his death, the Chinese jailer took him to a military hospital. His whole body was swollen

Testimony by Mr. Abdughuphur Kadirhaji (continued)

and bruised. He was then taken to a main hospital in Beijing because he was in a critical condition. Currently, he is under house arrest.

5. Under Chinese constitution, people have the right to religious freedom but China is not ruled by law. The Chinese government's religious policies are totally different from what is written in the law. The communist imams are government-trained and only serve the brutal, repressive communist regime. They worship the Chinese Communist Party instead of God. They put the Party above God. In their sermons, they only preach about obeying the Chinese government, having a good relationship with the Communist Chinese, unifying all nationalities and implementing the one-child policy. There are informants and spies disguised as pious Muslims inside many mosques to monitor what the Uyghur religious leaders and people do and say.

The Chinese government claims that it sends thousands of religious students abroad each year to study, but almost all the Uyghurs religious students from abroad have been arrested. The Chinese government claims that it supports Uyghurs going for pilgrimage to Mecca. But the Chinese government only supports and funds the informants and spies in the pilgrimage group to monitor the Uyghurs words and deeds throughout the entire journey.

In many cases, the Chinese government never approves those Uyghurs who want to conduct pilgrimage on their own. Early of this February, while I was in Beijing, more than 400 Uyghurs, who had legal passports, visas and round-trip tickets to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, were deported back to Xinjiang because they were not part of the state-approved pilgrimage delegation. Each year, the Chinese government only approves a very small number of chosen and well-checked loyal Uyghurs to go for the pilgrimage and excludes anyone it perceives as not loyal to the communist party. The Chinese government always associates Islam with the so-called separatist activities and readily arrests devout Uyghur Muslims in the name of unification.

Religious freedom, guaranteed in the Chinese constitution, is a sheer lie. It is aimed at deceiving the world that China respects the right to religious freedom, especially the right of minorities to choose and worship their own religion. On the contrary, the Chinese government often denies the legitimate rights of Uyghur people to worship and study Islam and force them to obey the government through communist Chinese propaganda. In China, religious freedom is only on the paper but not in practice. There is not religious freedom for the Uyghur people in China under the atheistic communist Chinese government.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Personal Testimony by A. M.

Dear honorable congressmen and congresswomen,

Today I thank you very much for giving me this precious opportunity to testify before you. My name is A. M. I am a Uyghur from G. in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of P.R. China. I want to testify on the brutal torture methods of the Chinese government through my personal accounts of suffering in the Chinese prison. In February 1995, some young Uyghur businessmen and I organized The Ili Youth Meshrap, a traditional Uyghur cultural event, in order to improve morality, say no to drugs, strengthen our religious faith and build local economy. This traditional event had a very strong social impact on the Uyghurs in G. and was welcomed everywhere. However, the social impact of Mashrap shocked and worried the Chinese authorities. Thus, it became the very reason for the Chinese government to suppress the Mashrap and its participants.

First of all, the Chinese government labeled Mashrap as illegal and then started arresting the Uyghur youth that organized and participated this event. The G. municipal police arrested me on June 7, 1996 and detained me in Y. H. prison. In jail, I constantly and repeatedly faced physical and mental torture from the Chinese prison guards.

Two days after my arrest at 12:30 am, the Chinese prison guards dragged me into a basement interrogation cell and started interrogating and torturing me. Since then, the Chinese guards started a habit of torturing me every night. All of these Chinese guards spoke very good Uyghur language. These Chinese guards put me on the electric chair for seven times. For five times, they put a high voltage electric shocker on my head that caused extreme convulsion all over my body. My heart irregularly pounded and my eyes blackened. I fainted several times during the tortures.

Exactly on the seventh day of my arrest, again the Chinese guards dragged me to the basement for confession in the middle of the night and inserted a wire with horsehair on top into my genital. The more the guard inserted the more he wound it. This caused severe damage to my urinary system. As a result, my genital swelled up and I urinated blood for more than a month. During the torture, one of the Chinese guards pointed his finger at me and said, "We will castrate the inferior masculinity of your turban-heads and prostitute your girls. What can you turban-heads do to us great Chinese nation? With our spit, you will all drown." Then, they used electric club and knocked me down again and again.

For three times, the Chinese guards allowed the Chinese inmates to brutalize me. For many times, the Chinese inmates kept me standing awake for several days. I fainted almost every time when they did this to me. They forced me to squat and put my hands back to kiss the wall from a meter apart. The Chinese inmates kicked me, hit me and punched me whenever I failed to kiss it. I bumped into the wall and my nose started bleeding. The Chinese prison guards seriously tortured, brutalized and severely injured me for more than one and a half-month. In the end, I collapsed because of fever, coughing with blood, sweating, frailty, lung problems and genital pain. I could stand and go to the restroom only with the help of others. I was bedridden for many days in the cell. On July 20, the Chinese prison doctor came to see me. He was shocked to know my physical problems.

Then, for fear of my death in jail, he ordered the jail to send me to the municipal military hospital on July 25th.

I stayed for only a week in the hospital. And then I escaped the hospital on August 3rd. Later, I successfully escaped to Kazakhstan via K. border on August 5th.

While I was in Chinese prison, the Chinese police put six of my Uyghur friends and me into the same jail. Like me, all of them faced serious tortures from the Chinese prison guards to confess. We were all forced and tortured to confess that Mashrap was organized to carry out anti-Chinese government activities and separating Xinjiang from China. However, in the face of extremely painful tortures, all of us denied these charges.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Personal Testimony by A. M. (continued)

On July 5th, the Chinese guards dragged all of us into the basement interrogation cell and forced us to confess our crimes. We told the guards that we had nothing to confess since we didn't break any law. The angry Chinese guards stripped Y. naked and forced him to confess. Since he denied all the criminal charges and said Marshap was a traditional and cultural Uyghur event aimed at improving moral and social values. The Chinese guards couldn't find a way for him to confess, and also hoping to teach all of us a lesson, brought in two German shepherds in the cell and started using the dogs to bite naked Y. One of the dogs viciously attacked him and bit his genital. He fell and crawled on the floor holding his private area. But the ruthless Chinese guards continued to molest him with the dogs hoping to annihilate our will of resistance. Y. and I were put into the same cell at that time. Today he is still serving prison terms in the Chinese prison. To get his confession, the Chinese guards tortured my friend A. K. on a high voltage electric chair. Then he was stripped naked and forced into an extremely low degree freezer. Later, the Chinese guards nailed metal sticks into his fingers and pulled out his nails one by one. In the end, they hit the back of his head with an electric bar and permanently damaged his brain. Since then, he became mentally insane and released from the jail. A. was from the Watergate neighborhood in G.

My friend M. M. faced the most brutal torture in jail. One day he was forced to confess his crimes by the Chinese guards. He denied every single charge. To punish him, the guards put a wine bottle into his anus and kicked the bottle every time he denied one charge. Immediately he internally bled and fainted. Then, he was taken into the cell. We saw what the Chinese guards did to him and all of us cried. Since then, M. couldn't sit or sleep on his back and walk straight.

The most shocking and heinous crime the Chinese prison guards committed in jail is that they allowed the Chinese inmates to rape the Uyghur girls by taking turns on 21st of June 1996, the Chinese prison guards brought P., a 21-year old pious Uyghur Muslim girl, from the ladies cell into the men's jail. The Chinese guards stripped her naked and told her to ask her God to save her. Later, they put her naked into a cell with six Chinese inmates. These six Chinese criminals took turn and raped her one by one. We heard P.'s painful cries coming out of the Chinese cell. We yelled, cried, kicked the metal bars and the wall. Instead of punishing the Chinese inmates, the guards furiously rushed into our cell and beat us up with electric bars. Then, they held P. out of the Chinese cell since she was already fainted. P. was from the K. neighborhood in Ghulja City. When I escaped to Kazakhstan, a friend of mine who was put in this jail told me the following account. One day in January 1997, the Chinese prison guards stripped R., a 23-year old Uyghur girl, naked and put her into Chinese cell. Like P., R. was group-raped by the Chinese inmates. R. was from K. village at the J. County.

Now I want to give a list of names of my Uyghur friends and acquaintances that suffered and continually suffering in the Chinese prisons. Some of their whereabouts are still unknown or missing today:

1. T. T., 27, religious student, arrested on February 5, 1997 as a "separatist". He was sentenced to 5-year in jail. Currently, T. is serving his prison terms in I. Prefecture Jail. He was from G. tannery.

2. I., 29, teacher, arrested after February 1997 as a "separatist". He was sentenced to 15-year in jail. Currently, I. is serving his prison term in I. Prefecture Jail. He was from G. tannery.

3. Y. E., 29, private businessman, arrested in January 1997. He was missing for one year. Later found by his father in Q. jail. Y. was sentenced to 5-year in jail. Currently, he is serving his term at G. municipal prison.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Personal Testimony by A. M. (continued)

4. S.Y., 24, religious student, arrested in April 1998 as a "separatist". He was from E. Street in G. He is still missing.

5. A., 26, religious student, arrested in April 1998 as a "separatist". He was from M. Street in G. He is still missing.

6. T., 26, religious student, arrested in April 1998 as a "separatist". He was : from T. neighborhood in G. He is still missing.

7. K., 26, religious student, arrested in May 1998 as a "separatist". He was from T neighborhood in G. He is still missing.

8. A.M., 24, religious student, arrested in April 1998 as a "separatist". He was from D. neighborhood in G. He is still missing.

9. M., 25, religious student, arrested in April 1998 as a "separatist". He was from the W. neighborhood. He is still missing.

10. Z M, 26, religious student, arrested in March 1998 as a "separatist". He was from A. neighborhood in G. He is still missing.

11. I, 26, religious student, arrested in May 1998 as a "separatist". He was from U. N. neighborhood. He is still missing.

12. D., 28, religious student, arrested in May 1998 as a "separatist". He was from A. village at J. County in G. He is still missing.

13. A. K., 53, a religious mullah, arrested in December 1996 as a "separatist". He was sentenced for 20 years. He was from K. village at J. County in G. Due to severe torture, he was taken out with a handcart to meet his wife and kids when they came to visit him in prison.

14. M. K., 29, religious teacher, arrested in June 1997 as a "separatist". He was from T. neighborhood in G. He is still missing.

15. Sultan Tursun, 25, religious student, arrested in February 1997 as a "separatist". He was from D. neighborhood in G.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, all of these people are my good friends. The Chinese government has imprisoned a person from almost every Uyghur family in Ghulja City since 1996. At present, the Chinese government is still arresting hundreds of Uyghurs and mercilessly torturing them in the prisons.

The Chinese human rights violation of the Uyghur people is nowhere to be found in the world. It is my sincere hope from my the bottom of my heart that the United States, the United Nations, and the international community take necessary measures to guarantee the fundamental human right of the Uyghur people and help free all the Uyghur political prisoners in the Chinese prisons.

Thank you, A. M.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of S.R.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Members' Briefing:

Human Rights Violations in Western China:

The Brutal Prosecution of Uyghurs Continues

Thursday, July 15th, 1999

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Caucus: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify on the human rights violations in my homeland East Turkistan.

My name is S.R., I was a professor at the Xinjiang Pedagogue College until I came to United States in 1996. My wive R.K. is a well-known multi-millionaire business woman. She was a member of the Central government political advisory committee from 93 through Sept 1997. She was and still is one of the top ten richest women entrepreneurs in China. Many western media including Wall Street Journal carried articles on her.

Today, I want to share some stories about my self and my family. Through this story, I would like to shed some light on the general situation in East Turkistan.

I was in college when the cultural revolution started in 1966. In 1967, I and other 8 Uyghur students from the 3 major universities and colleges in Urumchi established a student union. We called it Three-United Students union. In a short period of time, the membership of the organization grew to 2500 people. We published newspapers and criticized China1s ethnic policy. We asked for ethnic equality and democracy. We also exposed the reason of Bay famine in which twenty thousand Uyghurs starved to death in Bay county of East Turkistan in 1962. We criticized the government for failing to implement the self-governing policy.

In 1968, around 15,000 people most of whom were university and high school students held a demonstration in Urumchi requesting freedom for our country. Our union played a leadership role during the demonstration. I was arrested on January 17, 1969, and threw in a jail managed by Bintuan in B. The guards constantly tortured me in the jail using cruel means, they set mad dogs upon me. Later I was moved to Lodavan jail in Urumchi. I was confined to a small room with no lights, no bed or restroom. I was forced to put on a heavy chain 24 hours a day. They gave me a little bucket to use as a toilet and an old blanket to use as a bed. I slept on the hard floor for 6 months. They give food twice a day, the food was not enough. If we get sick, they do not give medical treatment. I saw people left to die and thrown out into trash yards. They constantly torture prisoners using various kinds of cruel means. I lived with chains on even when I was sleeping from January 1969 through October 1971. It was not removed a single time during the two years.

I was sentenced to death along with other 61 Uyghurs in 1970. But the government abandoned the death penalty after the president Nixon visited China in 1972. The influence of United States saved those 62 people1s lives.

I was released from prison in July 1977. After 9.5 years in jail, I saw the sunlight again. After China and United States established Diplomatic relationship in January 1979, Chinese government released all other Uyghur political prisoners.

After I was released from Jail, I made a living as a merchant for 5 years.

Then, in July 1982, I was hired by Xinjiang Pedagogue Institute as a lecturer. In November 1994, I published two articles on Xinxing Evening News. In the first article, I challenged the government opinion on Uyghur history. In second one, I criticized Wang Luobin, a famous Chinese song writer who claimed Uyghur folk songs as his won creation. In the same year, I translated the book "Chinese-Soviet Relations" into Uyghur from Chinese, the book was written by an American name John W. Garver. The authorities who constantly keep an eye on the old political prisoners noticed my articles and book, they wanted to arrest me on charges of stirring up Uyghur nationalism.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of S.R.

I escaped in time and came to United States. I got asylum here in 1996. On February 5, 1997, Chinese authorities brutally suppressed a peaceful Uyghur demonstration in Ghulja city, killing more than 100 people and arresting around 5000 according unofficial sources. After we learned the news, we, the Uyghur community in US held a demonstration in Washington D.C. The Chinese authorities learned that I was one of the organizers of the demonstration. They took their anger at my wife. They confiscated my wife R.K.1s passport. She is not allowed to leave China. So she could not come to visit me here, and I could not get back to see her.

In April 1997, the States Security agents interrogated my wife in their headquarter for one month. They used strong radiating light to intimidate her mentally and physically. In September 1997, she was expelled from the Central Government Political Advisory Committee.

On March 12, 1999, four people from the United Nations went to Urumchi to examine the situation there. Chinese authorities did not want my wife to meet them, they sent 4 policemen to keep her in house arrest for two days during UN delegation1s visit. The phone line to our house was cut off. So, she could not communicate with anybody.

The authorities cut off the electric supply and water to her company. The tax agencies harrassed her with unreasonable requests unfound allegations. When she became successful through her own effort, the authorities invited her to join the Central Government Political Advisory Committe to serve their own purpose. They wanted to show to Uyghurs that the respected Uyghur entrepreneur was part of the establishment. They also used her as showcase to show to the outside world that minorities are propsperous and happy under the Chinese rule. But now they are punishing her for my actions. China has business rules which my wife strictly abides by, but those rules can be totally ignored when the political issues are involved. It is something for the business community to think about when they consider investing in China.

Within a month after the Amnesty Internation Report came out in last April, Chinese government executed nineteen more Uyghurs as if they are trying to show their defiance and contempt for the Human Rights organizations. Seven Uyghur young men were executed in Urumchi on May 12th, just five days after the Embassy bombing in Belgrade. A week later, twelve more Uyghurs were shot to death on May 17.

The Kosovo war ringed an alarm bell for China. But instead of cleaning up its Human Rights record, Chinese government intensified its effort to assimilate Uyghurs. The authorities increased the immigration of Chinese settlers into East Turkistan. They stepped up the arrest and execution of Uyghur political prisoners.

The existance of Uyghurs as a people is threatened by the brutal colonial rule of the Chinese communists. America is the only country who can prevent or at least slow down the disappearance of our people. We Request the United Stated government to use its influence to push China to stop immigration of Chinese into East Turkistan, and stop persecuting Uyghurs for political and religious believes.

We ask the US government to form a Uyghur committee in congress to monitor and investigate the situation in East Turkistan.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of X.A..

Dear honorable chairman,

My name is X.A. I am a Uyghur from the Eastern Turkistan.

I thank the U.S. Congress for giving me this precious opportunity to testify. Today, I have also brought the greetings of more than 10 million suffering Uyghur people who live under Communist Chinese dictatorship and persecution.

I would like to testify my personal account of suffering in the Chinese prison as well as some of my friends.

First of all, I want to give a little bit background information. In 1968, I graduated Xinjiang Light Industry Institute. After graduation, I was assigned to work at K. Textile Mill in early 1969. However, in late 1969 during the "Anti-Three and Assail One" movement, the Chinese government put me under detention with charges of "anti-communism and the Chinese government". I was detained for more than two years until 1971.

From 1971 to 1975, the Chinese red guards confined me at the textile mill with the charge of "counter-revolutionary". I was under strictest restriction to act on my own discretion. I wasn't allowed to go home at any time or go out of the mill without the permission of the communist red guards.

On July 25 1975, the Chinese police came and arrested me under the charges of "anti-socialism, anticommunist ideology, engaging in separatist activities and organizing political organization". On April 26 1976, the K. Prefecture court sentenced me to a 10-year prison term. A month later, I was taken to a concentration labor camp near the Taklamakan desert.

This concentration camp had around 3,000 prisoners, and 95% is Uyghur. In this camp, all the hard works were assigned to the Uyghur prisoners and the easier ones to the Chinese. Most of the Uyghur in the camp were arrested for political reasons while the Chinese were arrested for committing murder, rape robbery and theft. Inside this camp, the treatment of the Chinese inmates was much better. Just like the outside world, the discrimination against the Uyghurs by the Chinese inmates was equally bad in prison.

In the camp, to get my confession, the Chinese guards kept me awake for many days. They constantly interrogated me by projecting hi-watt lights on my face. Beating, kicking and hitting by fist, feet and club was daily routine in the camp.

Every day, the camp required every one of us to work in the agricultural plantation for 16-18 hours. Each person was required to pick corns at a two-third of a hectare filed. The Chinese guards tortured those Uyghur prisoners who couldn't fulfill the daily work all night long until they fainted. The next day, the tortured Uyghurs were still required to go to the plantation and pick corns. If the Uyghur didn't show up, he would be tortured again and put into a damp-cell.

One day in November 1976, M.Y. was dragged from the camp to the cornfield on his back on the ground. The previous day, M. failed to pick his assigned cornfield. The distance from the camp to the cornfield was almost 1.5 mile long. The Chinese guards dragged him back at sundown. His clothes were ripped, his back torn, blood dripping and the dirt stuck into his skin. Since then, he was never able to get up.

Besides all night tortures, the Chinese guards hung Uyghur prisoners on a pole for smallest mistakes or some arguments that took place in the camp. Once the guards hung S. T. and A. on the pole for 24 hours just for yelling back to the guard.

For three times, the Chinese guards put me into a damp-cell for arguing and failing to pick enough corn at the field. In June 1978, I had an argument with a Chinese guard. And more than 10 Chinese guards came and beat me up. Later, they put me into the damp-cell for more than 40 days. The guards took me out of the cell only after I was about to die. In October 1980 and June 1981, twice I was put into the camp-cell for more than 30 days. Again, they took me out for fear of my death.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of X.A..

In the labor camp, the words of the Chinese guards were the law. In August 1983, one of the Uyghur prisoners yelled back to Mo Ganshi, a Chinese guard in the camp. This Chinese guard hit him on the head with a club. Out of pain and frustration, this 24-year old Uyghur young man grabbed the club and attempted to take it. But Mo Ganshi pulled out his gun and shot him dead right there. All of us were shocked and enraged. We appealed to the authorities for justice but the Chinese government put the blame on the Uyghur boy instead.

Brutal torture and slave labor in the camp forced many Uyghur to escape. But whenever their attempts failed, the Chinese guards tortured them the worst.

As a result, some of them died of torture or starvation. Then, the Chinese guards buried them into the prison cemetery, which was only two kilometers away. Since 1955, thousands of Uyghur political prisoners who died in this camp were buried there.

I was finally released on March 25, 1985 after tremendous physical and mental torture in the camp. Then, to make a living, I started doing private business. On February 26, 1992, I fled to Uzbekistan for fear of being arrested again by the Chinese government. There I was engaged in my own private business as well as promoting the human rights of the Uyghur people.

However, on August 20 1998, the Uzbekistan police arrested me because of Chinese pressure to suppress the Uyghur political movement in Central Asia. The Uzbek police detained for five months and later released me since they couldn't press any charges against me.

During my stay in Central Asia, I witnessed the Chinese terror against the Uyghur youth that were on the Chinese wanted black list. In February 1998, Abdukuddus (Tursun Muhammad), a religious and political activist, was murdered in Kyrgyzstan. In June 1998, Erkin Sedirdin, Tahir (Kahar) and Ilmi Hikmet were all mutilated to death in Almaty. In May 1999, Abdugheni Kebir was poisoned and lynched to death. The entire Uyghur communities in Central Asia firmly believe these young Uyghurs died as a result of Chinese infiltration and involvement in Central Asia.

Today I am only telling my personal suffering in the Chinese jail.

This is only one drop in the ocean of Uyghur suffering under extremely harsh Chinese persecution inside and outside of China. The fundamental human rights of the Uyghur people have never been guaranteed but always violated by the Chinese government since 1949. I sincerely hope the U.S. take necessary legislation to guarantee the human rights of the Uyghur people.

Thank you very much!

May God bless you and America!

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of X.A

Human Rights Violations of Uyghur Intellectuals

A. A. (A. A. in the Chinese passport)

Date of Birth: December 1, 1967

Birthplace: A., Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China

Education Graduated High School: 1984

Graduated Preparatory College: 1986

Graduated University: 1990, S.

Work Experience

July 1990 to March 1993 - Coal Mining Design Company of Xinjiang, U.

March 1993 to October 1996 - Consultant to the coal mining industry in T., K., A., A., K., S., U.

October 1996 to December 1997 - Businessman for family private practice producing indigenous homeopathic medications.

March 6, 1998 - Left China for Kyrgyzstan.

Statement

From December 12-18, 1985, I entered the students' protest in Urumchi while a student at the Xinjiang Polytechnic Institute. This protest was the first time that students protested after the Chinese began economic reforms under Deng Xiao Ping in 1980. In Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian, Uyghur students also supported this protest. At that time 20,000 students from different schools participated in that protest in Urumchi.

In April, 1989, there was a students' demonstration in Beijing. After one week, students from all over China began expressing support for the Beijing students' demonstration. At our university there were 12,000 students. In Shu Jiu there were four universities. In our university there were 30 students from Xinjiang, 27 Uyghurs, 2 Kazakhs, and one Kyrgyz. I also led these students during our study groups. I also belonged to the Students Union that organized 2,000 students to go to Beijing. We stayed in Beijing from May 3 to May 29, 1989.

Although I had passed my entrance exam for a Master's degree in February 1990 I was not allowed to go on with my studies as part of my punishment for being involved in the Tien An Men Square demonstrations. In July 1990 I graduated from the Coal Mining Technological University of China with a Bachelor's degree and went to work for the Coal Mining Design Company of Xinjiang in U. I was sent to a very dangerous mine outside U. for five months as a general worker. I continued working for the Coal Mining Design Company of Xinjiang until March, 1993 when I decided to leave and work for myself. During the time I worked for the Coal Mining Design Company of Xinjiang, the best jobs were given to Chinese who had less experience or education than me. I thought I could do better on my own. From March 1993 to October 1996 I worked as a consultant to small private mining companies throughout Xinjiang. I designed three new mines and helped many others with different situations. As I worked in many parts of my homeland I met many different kinds of Uyghurs and learned about their lives. I learned about the lives of our people in villages, farms, and mountains. I learned about their economic, social, and political conditions and how they are living under Chinese rule. I discovered the friendliness of our people, their trusting natures, their peacefulness, but their lives are very hard and they work in poor, primitive conditions, unchanged for centuries. Many don't know much about the outside world. They suffer silently but I heard their stories.

Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing: The Persecution of Uyghurs 7-15-99

Statement of X.A

From 1984, the Communist Chinese authorities introduced birth control in our region. Since then, thousands of babies were killed and thousands of mothers died of abortion complications. In June 1995, my father's cousin, H., lived in the village of K., near K. In the village the people can have three children. My father's cousin had a fourth child. In her seventh month of pregnancy the authorities discovered her condition. They took her to a special hospital for this kind of operation and they opened her stomach. The baby, a son, was alive, but the authorities injected him with a drug that killed him. My grandmother took my father's cousin and her dead baby to her house. She then took the baby's body to the mosque and after the mullah prayed they buried the baby. There are many, many stories like this, but this is a true story told to me by my grandmother. Many baby bodies are thrown out to feed the dogs in the street, so we are thankful that my grandmother was able to give this baby a decent burial.

A friend of mine, E., from T., a very intelligent young man who was a Communist Party member and the first secretary of the village government, was sent for further studies in Beijing. Soon after he was arrested in Beijing.

The police held him for questioning for one year until in 1996 they transferred him to U. after a trial in A. E. insisted that he only spoke about peaceful change to his friends, but the authorities accused him of organizing the bombings in T. and A. If there had been any evidence for E.'s involvement he would have been killed. Because the authorities had no evidence they sentenced him to life imprisonment.

When I worked in the T. region in 1994 in the town of P., I helped the Uyghur village government build a new coalmine. That village is 90% Uyghur, 5% Dungan (Hui - Chinese Muslims), and 5% Chinese. There is also a gold mine on land that belongs to the village but is run by a Chinese man who works for the town government. Every year the Chinese-run gold mine produces 500 kilograms of gold. The Uyghur villagers asked me to help them start another gold mine, but they were not able to get permission from authorities or financing from banks. Only the Chinese was able to get permission and financing. These experiences and stories made me want to find solutions to my people's problems. I often met with friends who thought like me and we discussed ways to peacefully change our country. East Turkestan, my homeland is a "Golden Land", a very rich land, but today our people have nothing. If everyone knew about our situation, they would ask, "Why do the Uyghurs live like this?" My question is "When will this situation finish? When will the suffering stop?" "Who will stop this?"