World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

2011

Violation of Freedom of Expression in

2 Violation of Freedom of Expression in East Turkestan

World Uyghur Congress (WUC) 3

Violation of Freedom of Expression in East Turkestan

A publication by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

© November 2011 World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

Adolf-Kolping-Str. 9 | 80336 Munich, Germany Tel: +49 89 54321999 | Fax: +49 89 54349789 [email protected] | www.uyghurcongress.org Twitter @UyghurCongress | Facebook www.facebook.com/uyghurcongress

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Introduction ...... 7

Individual Cases of Imprisoned Uyghur Journalists, Blogger, Writer and Website Staff ...... 16 Abdulghani Memetemin ...... 17 Dilshat Perhat, Nureli Obul and Nijat Azat ...... 18 Gheyret Niyaz ...... 19 Gulmira Imin and another four Uyghur website moderators ...... 20 Mehbube Ablesh ...... 22 Memetjan Abdulla ...... 23 Memet Turghun Abdulla ...... 24 Other Uyghur Website Staff Detained after 5 July 2009 ...... 24 Nurmuhemmet Yasin ...... 25 Tursunjan Hezim ...... 26

Individual Cases of Imprisoned for Exercising their Right to Freedom of Expression and Speech ...... 27 Abduhelil Zunun ...... 28 Abdughani Imin and Obulkasim Abliz ...... 28 Abdulla Jamal ...... 29 Ablikim Abdureyim ...... 30 Alim Abdureyim ...... 31 Ekberjan Jamal ...... 32 Halmurat Imin ...... 33 Isa Husen ...... 34 Mamatali Ahat ...... 34 Nurhahmat Yusup ...... 35

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Tursunjan Hesen ...... 36

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Introduction The events of 5 July 2009 in Urumqi Uyghurs have in recent years been suffering severe political, economic and social repression in East Turkestan (also known as the Uyghur Autonomous Region, XUAR, ), as well as institutionalized curbs on the freedom of speech and government efforts to criminalize the expression of Uyghurs’ religious and cultural identity. According to a number of reports by prominent international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), scores of Uyghurs were either put into prison or even executed by Chinese authorities simply for their involvement in political activities, democracy and freedom movements or for practicing their religion. The pressure on Uyghurs has even grown since the July 2009 events in Urumqi, East Turkestan´s capital, and since then, many Uyghurs have fled China due to harsh persecution that has been carried out in the wake of unrest that began on 5 July 2009 in Urumqi. The unrest of 5 July 2009 began with a peaceful demonstration of Uyghurs in Urumqi who were protesting against a lack of government action in regard to a deadly attack on Uyghur factory workers in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province in the south of China. Only due to the violent intervention of the Chinese security forces the protests escalated. The unrest on 5 July 2009 and in subsequent days, in which hundreds of people were killed (according to data published by the Chinese Xinhua news agency, 197 people were killed, but the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) estimates – based on eyewitness reports - that more than 1000 people died in the riots) must be attributed to the continued denial of human rights for Uyghurs in East Turkestan. Eyewitnesses reported to media and international human rights organizations like AI that the Chinese security forces committed extrajudicial killings of demonstrators. In addition, persons who were accused of having participated in the protests were subjected to unfair trials. So far, at least 24 Uyghurs have been sentenced to death1 and at least eight Uyghurs to death with a two-year reprieve2 for murder or other crimes allegedly committed during the July 2009 events. The defendants have been convicted and sentenced after non- transparent trials3 plagued with politicization and strangleholds on due process. Almost all of them were sentenced on the same day that their trials commenced or the day after.4 At least several of the trials were not publicly announced beforehand.5 The appellate courts have upheld all of the sentences

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on which they have rendered decisions thus far and have done so after non- transparent reviews.6 According to official information, so far at least eight of the 24 Uyghurs sentenced to death have been already executed without due process7. In less than one month, they were tried, convicted, and sentenced. Their sentences were upheld by the XUAR Higher People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Court, and they were executed. AI noted that this time period was “extraordinarily short.” The speed with which all of these legal processes took place, particularly in the context of capital cases, is emblematic of the lack of due process. The WUC believes that all 24 Uyghurs sentenced to death have been already executed in the meantime. The WUC also assumes that secretly many more Uyghurs have been sentenced to death in relation with the Urumqi unrest. According to AI, with the exception of one Tibetan case, East Turkestan is the only region in China where prisoners of conscience have been executed in recent years. AI has repeatedly stated that no one who is sentenced to death in China receives a fair trial. Since the July 2009 events, Uyghurs have been subjected to mass and arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances (including of minors); arbitrary sentencing of Uyghurs to death, life, and various jail terms after trials plagued with intense politicization and strangleholds on due process; arbitrary executions; and intensified repression of freedom of expression, including but not limited to the detention and sentencing of Uyghur webmasters, bloggers, and journalists.

Chinese Legislation on Freedom of Expression Article 35 of the Chinese constitution guarantees freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and publication8, but such rights are subordinated to the national interest and the CCP’s status as the ruling power. In addition, the constitution cannot, in most cases, be invoked in courts as a legal basis for asserting rights. The judiciary is not independent and closely follows party directives, particularly in politically sensitive freedom of expression cases. A wide variety of regulations have been issued by different government agencies to establish censorship guidelines.9 Vague provisions in the criminal code and state-secrets legislation have been used to imprison citizens for their online activities, including publication of articles criticizing the government or exposing human rights abuses,

World Uyghur Congress (WUC) 9 transmission of objectionable e-mail messages, and downloading of censored material from overseas websites. Trials and hearings lack due process, often amounting to little more than sentencing announcements.10 On 22 April 2010, the government approved an amendment to the revised draft Law on Guarding State Secrets. The revised law requires internet and telecom firms to “cooperate with public security organs, state security agencies [and] prosecutors” on suspected cases of state secrets transmission.11 The amended state secrets law, effective since 10 October 2010, added a new provision, Article 28, which requires internet and other telecommunications companies to co-operate in investigations of “state secret” leaks, or face prosecution. 12 The authorities maintained tight control over online news reports, restricting licences to large, government-backed websites. Many social media sites remained blocked, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.13 Moreover, prison sentences for online violations tend to be longer in China than in many other countries, often a minimum of three years and sometimes as long as life imprisonment, while punishments elsewhere typically range from six months to four years.14 Once in custody, detainees frequently suffer abuse, including torture and denial of medical attention. Though the targeted individuals represent a tiny percentage of the overall user population, the harsh sentencing of prominent figures has a chilling effect on the fairly close-knit activist and blogging community, and encourages self-censorship among the broader public. More common than long-term imprisonment are various forms of extralegal harassment. According to some estimates, thousands of individuals have been summoned for questioning and warned in recent years by security officials, employers, or university representatives.15

Use of “Endangering State Security” (ESS) Charges to Silence Peaceful Uyghur Dissent Most of the Uyghur website staff members who have been sentenced thus far in connection with the July 2009 incidents were convicted on charges of “endangering state security” (ESS). [“Leaking state secrets” is included within “endangering state security” in China’s Criminal Law.”16.] The Chinese authorities have regularly and arbitrarily used this vague provision to criminalize Uyghurs’ peaceful exercise of their human rights and prosecute and imprison them.17 Crimes of ESS (also translated as “endangering national security”) are defined in articles 102-113 of the PRC Criminal Law. Many of

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them carry the possibility of life imprisonment and capital punishment.18 ESS crimes include, among other acts, "subversion of state power", "separatism" and "leaking state secrets."19 In a March 10, 2006 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment that was based on his visits to China, the Special Rapporteur stated that the “vague definition of [ESS crimes] leaves their application open to abuse particularly of the rights to freedom of religion, speech, and assembly,” 20 and recommended the abolition of such “political crimes.”21 The authorities’ use of the ESS charge against Uyghurs has drastically increased in recent years. The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) noted that in 2008, the number of trials in XUAR courts involving ESS crimes and the number of indictments involving ESS crimes issued by the XUAR procuratorate offices approached the nationwide totals from 2007. In addition, the human rights organization Dui Hua, noted that ESS trials in East Turkestan had increased by 63 percent in 2009 over the previous year, according to the president of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Higher People’s Court. The organization also reported that from 1998 to 2003, more than half of all ESS trials in China took place in East Turkestan, according to statistics published in the Xinjiang Yearbook.22 On 7 March 2010, , Chairman of the XUAR government, told reporters that China had convicted 198 people in connection with the July 2009 events, in 97 separate cases. He further said that the investigations, prosecutions, and trials were continuing and that the total number of convictions would be higher.23 He refused to say how many defendants had been sentenced to death or executed24, although as stated above, state media have reported that 26 people (24 Uyghurs, 2 Han Chinese, according to their names) have been sentenced to death and nine people (8 Uyghurs, 1 Han Chinese, according to their names) have been executed.25 Although Nur Bekri said that the handling of the cases of these 198 people adhered to the principle of open trials, as of the date of his statement, Chinese media had reported on the convictions of far fewer individuals in connection with the events of July 2009.26 This discrepancy underscores the lack of transparency in the prosecutions of defendants in connection with the July 2009 events. On 16 January 2011, Chinese media27 published statistics on trials held in East Turkestan in 2010 on charges of “crimes against national security”. According to the official numbers, 376 trials had been conducted in 2010 for individuals charged with “endangering state security” in a series of cases, including an

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August 2008 attack in in which 16 policemen were reportedly killed. According to the Dui Hua Foundation, this reflects a 16 percent drop compared to the 437 cases concluded in 2009 but remains more than 30 percent above the number reported in 2008. It is assumed that a crackdown against “splittism” following the deadly riots in Urumqi on July 5, 2009, is primarily responsible for the increase in ESS cases over the past two years.28 Dui Hua also noted that “the number of defendants is likely to be much higher [than 376]. Court figures from the XUAR in the period from 1998 to 2003 show that there were more than three defendants, on average, in ESS cases. So, it is very likely that XUAR courts tried more than 1,000 defendants for ESS in 2010—and it is safe to conclude that the overwhelming majority were convicted.”29 AI said in a press release that “authorities must prove Xinjiang trials were fair” and that it “fears that individuals were punished purely for expressing their opinions”. AI “called on the Chinese authorities to conduct trials according to international fair trial standards, including allowing defendants to hire lawyers of their own choosing, allowing them access to their family and lawyers, and informing family members in a timely fashion of detentions, charges and trials.”30

Information Blackout in East Turkestan Following July 2009 Events For many months in the aftermath of the July 2009 protest and ethnic unrest in Urumqi, the Chinese authorities implemented a ten-month information blackout in East Turkestan, obstructing residents’ internet and e-mail access and international phone calling and text messaging capabilities. Although the authorities have slowly restored the information infrastructure in East Turkestan since December 2009, the authorities have issued warnings and regulations that have repressed residents’ speech on the internet, in text messages, and in phone calls even more than it was repressed prior to July 2009. In September 2009, the XUAR-administration adopted a regulation that went into effect on 1 December 2009 and that includes provisions that prohibit the use of the internet to incite ethnic separatism, threaten state security, or spread false information, among other acts. The regulation specifies penalties for violating the provisions.31 The authorities routinely equate Uyghurs’ peaceful dissent with terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism32 so this new regulation is certainly meant, and will certainly be used, to repress Uyghurs’ peaceful exercise of their human rights.

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In addition, the Kashgar Public Security Bureau, Kashgar District Procuratorate, and Kashgar District Intermediate Court issued an announcement in March 2010 for that locality that specifies penalties under China’s Criminal Law for utilizing technology such as the internet and cell phones to “incite splittism” (separatism). The directive defines the crime to include using technology to carry out, with the aim of splitting the country, acts including: spreading "materials, open discussion, and advocacy on separatism"; "inciting participation in rallies, marches, demonstrations, or the criminal activity of beating, smashing, looting, and burning”; disseminating literary works with separatist content; and "slandering and assaulting the Party and government."33 Furthermore, the XUAR government’s announcement on 14 May 2010 that full internet service was being restored to the region after ten months of blocked or limited access was coupled with a warning that web users “should not do anything that hurts the internet environment or harms ethnic unity, social stability, and national interests.”34 In addition, the restoration of the internet occurred in the midst of the continued detention of a significant number of Uyghur website staff and journalists who were arrested after 5 July 2009 and the sentencing of several of them.35 In addition, Internet users in East Turkestan are subject to filtering by the Great Electronic Wall of China, which blocks access to websites and content regarded as subversive by the authorities. Websites and blogs about Uyghurs and the issues they face continue to be prime targets for the censors.36 The list of forbidden keywords and terms include “,” “World Uyghur Congress,” “Uyghur Human Rights Project,” and “East Turkestan Independence”, “RFA” [Radio Free Asia has an Uyghur news service].37 The vast majority of the websites dedicated to the Uyghur community, including sites in , Mandarin, and English, remain blocked, censored, or otherwise unreachable.38 According to interviews conducted by Radio Free Asia with Chinese government employees, the authorities have blocked online discussion of events in July 2009 and have implemented keyword filtering of content related to events in July 2009.39 Furthermore, the Hong Kong-based Mingpao newspaper reported on 19 June 2010 that XUAR media received a directive that month prohibiting reports connected to the July 2009 anniversary other than those prepared by the central government’s news agency Xinhua.40 Furthermore, after the authorities had restored domestic text messaging services and international phone calling services in January 2010, the

World Uyghur Congress (WUC) 13 authorities gave reports that they had placed residents into criminal detention or imposed administrative punishments against residents for spreading “harmful” information by text message and phone calls, including information that damages ethnic unity.41 Generally speaking, international phone calling capabilities were resumed in late January 2010.42 However, according to accounts received by Uyghur organizations, they have been erratic.43 Amnesty International noted in its July 2010 report on the July 2009 events and the aftermath that as international phone calls are routinely monitored in the region, many people are fearful of speaking about politically sensitive topics on the phone.44 E-mail exchanges are also frequently monitored.45 Also international media reported in July 2010 that although the authorities have reconnected East Turkestan to dozens of government websites since the end of December 2009, the government continues to impose official blocks on popular Uyghur-language news and discussion portals.46

Current Condition of Freedom of Speech and Information in East Turkestan and China According to Freedom House, the country´s internet environment remains one of the world´s most restrictive, converting China´s internet into an “intranet.”47 In 2010, China was spearheading – together with Iran - the list of imprisoned journalists worldwide with at least 34 jailed journalists on 1 December 2010, according to a report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in April 2011.48 In 2009, 24 journalists were imprisoned in China and the CPJ affirms that the increase was propelled by a series of imprisonments of Uyghur and Tibetan journalists that began in the latter half of 2009 and continued into 2010, the details of which emerged only recently in scant news accounts of the detainees' court proceedings. The Uyghur and Tibetan journalists covered ethnic issues and the violent regional unrest of recent years, topics that are officially off-limits. Mainstream Chinese journalists were virtually silent as these ethnic writers and editors were charged and convicted on a series of antistate crimes.49 According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the world’s biggest prisons for netizens is China with 77 netizens imprisoned in March 2011.50 For the first , Twitter users were arrested for their posts on the social network. In addition, RSF considers China one of world´s top violators of Internet freedom, highlighting that China´s Great Firewall is the world’s most

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consummate censorship system.51 The “Great Firewall“ combines URL filtering with the censoring of keywords considered “sensitive” (especially those related to politics and social problems), the monitoring of the largest blog and micro- blogging platforms through authorities (from which they are removing numerous posts and comments), access problems, cyberdissident surveillance and online propaganda. Censorship is institutionalised and managed by several ministries and administrations,52 and governament agencies and private companies together employ hundred of thousands of people to monitor, censor, and manipulate online content.53 The “50-cent party,” named after the Net surfers paid to post pro-government online comments in order to “influence public opinion,” is still in operation.54 Some estimates place the number of these commentators at over 250,000.55 According to a top Chinese official, throughout 2010, some 60,000 websites containing “harmful materials” were forcibly shut down, and an estimated 350 million articles, photographs, and videos were deleted.56 The regime has been known to use the pretext of fighting pornography or the crackdown against the “dissemination of false news” to justify the filtering.57 The main news sites, such as the Chinese state-controlled media, regularly receive oral and written directives from the Department of Propaganda specifying what topics can, or cannot, be covered and under what conditions.58 China is also tackling the anonymity of Internet and cell phone users. On 29 April 2010, China adopted an amendment to the State Secrets Law which requires Internet and telecom companies to cooperate with the authorities on matters relating to national security. Such companies must now block the transmission of vaguely defined state secrets over their networks, keep connection logs and alert the competent authorities to any possible violations. They may also be forced to suppress certain contents.59 Chinese authorities are tightening their grip on prepaid cell phone communications. A new regulation which entered into effect on 1 September 2010 now requires users of prepaid cell phones to provide detailed personal information by presenting their identity card when buying SIM cards. Anyone who already owns one has three years to register. In actuality, this new rule may potentially compromise the cell phone users’ personal data protection, since it enhances the authorities’ ability to monitor calls, SMSs, and data exchanges, thereby facilitating the identification of individuals who criticise or demonstrate against the government.60

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On 8 June 2010, the Chinese Council of State’s Information Bureau published a “white paper” on the Internet, which reasserts the need for online censorship in China in the name of “respect for local laws” and “maintaining stability.”61 Even though internet and communications are censored throughout China, the conditions of freedom of opinion and speech are even worse in “politically sensitive areas” like East Turkestan and Tibet. According to Freedom House, the most systematically censored topics include amongst others independent evaluations of China’s rights record, violations of minority rights in Tibet and East Turkestan, the Falun Gong spiritual group, the 1989 Beijing massacre, pro- Taiwanese independence viewpoints, and various dissident initiatives that challenge the regime on a systemic level.62 In addition, overtly political organizations and ethnic minorities remain underrepresented among websites that are freely accessible within China.63

Effects of the “Jasmine Revolution” on Uyghurs Amidst harsh Chinese security measures to stamp out even the smallest sign of dissent in major Chinese cities, and as Chinese citizens have called for a pro- democracy “Jasmine Revolution” in spring 2011, authorities in East Turkestan have acted forcefully to clamp down on Uyghurs and preempt any possible unrest. Five Uyghurs were reportedly64 detained in the regional capital of Urumqi on 22 and 23 February 2011, where authorities have recently intensified a propaganda campaign against Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer. In the predominantly Uyghur city of Kashgar in the southern part of East Turkestan, authorities deployed fire engines 65and armored vehicles to ensure that the slightest indication of disorder could be thwarted quickly. According to residents of Urumqi, armed police were seen not only on streets, but also on public buses. 66 Among those arrested in Urumqi was 23-year-old Halmurat Imin from , who was detained on February 22 on charges of “illegal possession of a counterrevolutionary propaganda DVD” and “endangering state security” in connection with a campaign to confiscate copies of the DVD “Ten Conditions of Love” and other “illegal” publications and DVDs. The film “Ten Conditions of Love” focuses on the life and struggles of Rebiya Kadeer. Four young Uyghurs were also detained in front of the Rebiya Kadeer department store in Urumqi on February 23 on charges of “disturbing public order” and “obstruction of public business”, and other Uyghurs gathered nearby were forcefully dispersed.

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Individual Cases of Imprisoned Uyghur Journalists, Blogger, Writer and Website Staff

The Chinese authorities have detained and sentenced Uyghur website staff and journalists in connection with the July 2009 incidents. The authorities have accused Uyghur-language websites of helping to foment the unrest in Urumqi because messages had been posted on these websites about the Uyghur demonstration planned for 5 July 2009 (which was peaceful and brutally suppressed by Chinese security forces) and/or because the websites had reported on the brutal killing of at least two but possibly several dozen Uyghur migrant workers at a toy factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province by Han Chinese factory workers (and this incident ended up being the spark for the protest). Although the Chinese authorities’ persecution of Uyghur journalists and website staff intensified after the July 2009 incidents, it certainly preceded the events.

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Abdulghani Memetemin67 Sentenced in June 2003 to nine years in prison for “supplying state secrets to an organization outside the country.” According to Amnesty International, authorities detained Abdulghani Memetemin (age at detention: 38), a Uyghur journalist and teacher, on 26 July 2002 in Kashgar, East Turkestan. The Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to nine years imprisonment on 24 June 2003, for “supplying state secrets to an organization outside the country,” a crime under Article 111 of China’s Criminal Law. Radio Free Asia reported that he also received three years deprivation of political rights. Memetemin had neither access to a lawyer during his pre-trial detention or legal representation at the trial. He reportedly was tortured while in custody. According to the verdict, Abdulghani Memetemin had been providing information to the East Turkestan Information Centre (ETIC), an NGO run by exiled Uyghurs in Germany which publicises reports of human rights abuses against Uyghurs in China. His postings reportedly covered various issues, including information about Uyghur farmers allegedly being forced to work without pay in government projects, confiscation and burning of Uyghur history books, restrictions on Islamic religious practices, and the difficulties faced by the unemployed. ETIC was formally labeled a "terrorist organisation" by the Chinese authorities in December 2003, although the evidence for this conclusion is unclear. The charges against Abdulghani Memetemin consisted of 18 specific counts, including: translating records of human rights violations in East Turkestan and ETIC documents into Chinese; sending news articles and transcriptions of speeches by the Chinese authorities to ETIC; and trying to recruit additional reporters for ETIC. Amnesty International considered Abdulghani Memetemin to be a human rights defender, reporting peacefully on human rights violations against the ethnic Uyghur community in East Turkestan. He is also a prisoner of conscience detained in violation of his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression and association. Abdulghani Memetemin, a father of two, served his prison sentence in Xinjiang No. 4 Prison. He was due for release on 25 July 2011, however it is unclear if he has been released or not. He is an honorary member of the Uyghur PEN, German and Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC).

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Dilshat Perhat68, Nureli Obul69 and Nijat Azat70 Sentenced in July 2010 to 5, 3, and 10 years' imprisonment, respectively, for “Endangering State Security (ESS)” On 23 or 24 July 2010, the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court, East Turkestan, sentenced three Uyghur Webmasters, Dilshat Perhat (administrator of the Diyarim Website), Nureli Obul (Salkin Website), and Nijat Azat (Shabnam Website), to 5, 3, and 10 years' imprisonment, respectively, for

Dilshat Perhat endangering state security. Sources connected the cases said they were sentenced for not deleting postings about hardships in East Turkestan and, in one instance, permitting the posting of announcements for a demonstration in Urumqi in July 2009.

Dilshat’s brother, Dilmurat Perhat, another webmaster of Diyarim who currently resides in England, told the Nijat Azat Uyghur American Association (UAA) that his brother Dilshat had repeatedly deleted postings on Diyarim’s message board that advertised the peaceful protest planned for July 5, 2009 in Urumqi and that Dilshat had contacted the Chinese police multiple times to inform them about the postings. Dilmurat further told UAA that Dilshat had told him that the police had responded that he should not worry as they knew about the plans for the demonstration. Unidentified men in Urumqi took Dilshat Perhat (age at detention: 27) from his home on 7 August 2009. Authorities earlier interrogated him from 24 July to 2 Nureli Obul August 2009 in connection to the demonstration and riots in Urumqi. Nijat Azat and Nureli Obul are also believed to have been detained then. According to his brother, Dilshat Perhat is serving his sentence in the Prison in Changji City, XUAR (about 40km from Urumqi). He receives family visits every 1-2 month for around 20 minutes. The location at which Nureli Obul and Nijat Azat are serving their sentences is unknown.

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Gheyret Niyaz71 Sentenced in July 2010 to 15 years of prison for “Endangering State Security (ESS)” Gheyret Niyaz (also: Hailaiti Niyazi), born in 1959, a Uyghur journalist in Urumqi, was taken from his home on 1 October 2009. His family was told by the police on 4 October that he was under suspicion for endangering state security and that he had been detained because he had “given too many media interviews”. On 23 July 2010, the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court sentenced him in a one-day trial to 15 years' imprisonment for endangering state security (ESS), according to an interview with Niyaz’s wife, Risalet, reported on uighurbiz.net, where Niyaz was an administrator. He was denied legal representation of his choosing and due process, and his trial was conducted against a background of intense politicization. The conviction was reportedly based on an interview conducted on 2 August 2009 with Niyaz and published in the Hong Kong news weekly Yazhou Zhoukan in which Niyaz discussed his efforts to alert the authorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) about the possibility of trouble the day before the outbreak of the violent ethnic conflict in Urumqi on 5 July 2009. In the interview, Niyaz said that the authorities took no action to prevent the outbreak, despite Niyaz’s repeated warnings. Until June 2009, Gheyret Niyaz had worked as an editor and manager for the Web site uyghurbiz.net, which later came under official scrutiny as authorities accused the site of contributing to incitement of rioting in July 2009. Niyaz speaks and writes mainly in Chinese, and is widely regarded as a moderate voice who advocates greater understanding between the Han and Uyghur people. Niyaz has worked at two state-controlled publications, as a former director of Xinjiang Legal Daily and a journalist at the Xinjiang Economic Daily. Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Amnesty International, Human Rights in China, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists all issued statements expressing concern about Niyaz's imprisonment. He was last known to be held at the Urumqi PSB detention center. His current location is not known.

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Gulmira Imin and another four Uyghur website moderators72 Sentenced in April 2010 to life imprisonment for “splittism, leaking state secrets, and organizing an illegal demonstration.” Chinese security forces detained Gulmira Imin (born in 1978) on 14 July 2009 in the city of Aksu, East Turkestan for her alleged involvement in the organization of the 5 July 2009 demonstration in Urumqi. At the time of her arrest, Gulmira was as a staff member at the local government office in Aksu where she had began to work in 2000. In addition, she also contributed to the Uyghur-language website Salkin with poetry and short stories and had been invited to help as a moderator in late spring 2009. Gulmira had been critical of government policies in her online writings. Salkin, as well as other Uyghur websites, reportedly posted an announcement calling Uyghurs to demonstrate in Urumqi on 5 July 2009 against the government´s inaction regarding the Shaoguan incident. Gulmira was in Urumqi on 5 July to participate in the demonstration, which many Uyghurs considered legal (demonstration had been announced in internet for several days and was not removed by Chinese authorities, therefore many people believed that the demonstration was authorized by the authorities), and witnessed the brutal crackdown of the demonstration. In the course of the day, she spoke several times by phone with her husband who is living in Norway and told him what was happening on Urumqi. During the conversations, her husband could clearly hear gunshots in the back and Gulmira told him that she saw a lot of casualties, several dead bodies, and that demonstrators were running around and that there was a lot of chaos. After the events of 5 July 2009, Gulmira disappeared for three month. Her family believed that she might have been killed in the aftermath of the protests. Her husband in Norway tried to reach Gulmira and family members by phone and e-mail to know her whereabouts, but in the night from 5 - 6 July, Chinese authorities imposed a communication blackout on East Turkestan, which remained in place for nearly 10 months thereby largely cutting off East Turkestan’s residents from the outside world (no internet, no telephone).

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Her family only learned about her detention in October 2009, when China Central Television (CCTV) broadcasted a documentary entitled The July 5 Riot from Start to Finish which named and showed Gulmira, wearing prison attire. It claimed that the July 5th unrest in Urumqi was organized by separatist forces cooperating inside and outside the country and said that Gulmira was one of six organizers who attended three meetings planning the demonstration, and that she leaked state secrets to her husband. The leaks were allegedly made in the before mentioned phone calls from Gulmira to her husband on 5 July. China Central Television also drew links between Gulmira and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which the Chinese authorities have accused of instigating the “riot” or orchestrating events on 5 July 2009, an accusation that is absolutely false and fabricated. The sentence against her became public only on 8 August 2010 in an article published by Radio Free Asia (RFA). On 1 April 2010, the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court tried, convicted, and sentenced Gulmira to life in prison for “splittism, leaking state secrets, and organizing an illegal demonstration” that are crimes under Articles 103, 111, and 296 of China’s Criminal Law. Her lawyer, whom she never had met before, was present during the trial. Another four other Uyghur defendants - all website moderators - were sentenced together with Gulmira, namely: Ahmet Tursun, Muhter, Tursun Mehmet, and Gulnisa Memet. Also Memetjan Abdulla (see his profile below for more information) was sentenced together with her. During her trial, Gulmira Imin is said to have tried to address the court about torture and other ill-treatment in a police detention centre that was overcrowded and had no shower facilities. In detention, she and other detainees were given salty water to drink, they were not allowed to go to the toilet, they were beaten, and the wounded were left untreated. Finally she was coerced into signing a document without knowing the content. Since her conviction, Gulmira has met her lawyer only twice. She is allowed to receive family visits once every three months. She appealed to the court sentence (date unknown), but her appeal was rejected. Gulmira is currently held in the Xinjiang Women’s Prison (Xinjiang No. 2 Prison) in Urumqi.

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73 Mehbube Ablesh Sentenced in August 2008 to three years in prison for “inciting splittism.” According to Radio Free Asia, Mehbube Ablesh (born in 1979), a Uyghur employee in the advertising department at the Xinjiang People's Radio Station in Urumqi was fired from her job in August 2008 and placed in detention, in apparent connection to her criticism of Chinese government policy in the region. At that time, charges against her and subsequent information on the case remained unknown. A co-worker connected the detention to articles she wrote for the Internet. An overseas source said that in her communications with him, she had been critical of political leaders in the XUAR and had criticized Mandarin-focused language policies in the region. A source also noted she had posted articles on the Internet that criticized government security measures for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games and government handling of collecting donations from Uyghurs following the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Only in summer 2010, the Dui Hua Foundation reported newly obtained information on her case. Based on responses to a request for information from Chinese authorities, the Dui Hua Foundation reported that Mehbube Ablesh (identified as Mehbube Abrak in the report) was serving a three-year prison sentence for "splittism" (separatism), a crime under Article 103 of China's Criminal Law, in apparent connection to her criticism of Chinese government policies. The date of Mehbube Ablesh's sentencing is not known. Given the relatively short length of the sentence and circumstances of the case, Dui Hua conjectures that the full charge could be "inciting splittism,” rather than "splittism," a more serious crime. She was serving her sentence in the Xinjiang Women's Prison (Xinjiang No. 2 Prison) in Urumqi. Under Article 47 of China's Criminal Law, each day in custody counts as one day served of a prison sentence. Although the precise date of Mehbube Ablesh's detention is not known, if authorities followed the law in calculating her sentence from the day around August 2008 when she appears to have been detained, her sentence would have expired on the same date in 2011. However, it is unknown whether she has been released or not. She is an honorary member of the Independent Chinese PEN and the Uyghur PEN (www.uyghurpen.org).

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Memetjan Abdulla74 Sentenced in April 2010 to life imprisonment for “helping to instigate deadly ethnic rioting in Urumqi in July 2009” According to Radio Free Asia, public security officers in Beijing took Uyghur Web site administrator Memetjan (Muhemmetjan) Abdulla (born in 1977) away in mid-July 2009. Memetjan Abdulla was a journalist at China National Radio and also an administrator for the Web sites Uyghur Online and Salkin. Based on information that Memetjan Abdulla's friends sent to Radio Free Asia (on 20 December 2010 and 21 December 2010), the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court tried and sentenced him to life in prison on 1 April 2010, at the same closed trial as for Gulmira Imin. Precise charges against him are not known, however it is believed that he was charged for “Helping to instigate deadly ethnic rioting in Urumqi in July 2009”. He reportedly translated a World Uyghur Congress (WUC) announcement calling Uyghurs abroad to protest official handling of attacks against Uyghurs in Shaoguan, Guangdong, in June 2009, which he had taken from a Chinese- language Web site and reposted in translation on Salkin. He also reportedly spoke to foreign reporters in Beijing about the Shaoguan incident, which preceded demonstrations and riots in Xinjiang in July 2009. Authorities reportedly charged that he helped incite the July events. His prison location is not known.

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Memet Turghun Abdulla75 Disappeared since May 2010 and believed to be in detention for distributing "separatist ideas." According to a public security official cited by Radio Free Asia (RFA), Memet Turghun Abdulla, a Uyghur man from , Kashgar district, disappeared from his home sometime around May 2010 and is believed to be in detention. Yengisar county state security officials had originally detained Memet Turghun Abdulla in August 2009 for writing an online article about Han Chinese in Guangdong province killing Uyghur factory workers in June 2009, an event which prompted demonstrations in Urumqi on 5 July 2009. He was subsequently confined to his house by authorities. The RFA source said it is unknown who detained him in May, and local police denied knowledge about his disappearance. However, a recent internal Party bulletin said he had been detained for distributing "separatist ideas." Further details about his case, including his current location, are not known.

Other Uyghur Website Staff Detained after 5 July 200976 Other Uyghur website staff who have been detained in the aftermath of the July 2009 incidents include but are not limited to: Diyarim contributors Obulqasim, Xeyrinisa (Heyrinisa) and Xalnur (Halnur), both university students, and Erkin, a university professor, who were all arrested on 7 August 2009 in Urumqi. Also Diyarim administrators known by the pen names "Muztagh," "Lükchek," and "Yanchuqchi" and Salkin administrator Muhemmet were reportedly arrested. The Chinese authorities had accused Diyarim, along with other Uyghur-language websites, of helping to foment the unrest because messages had been posted on these websites about the Uyghur demonstration planned for 5 July 2009 in Urumqi. These individuals were detained in the midst of the detention of many other Uyghur website staff. It is unclear if they have been tried and sentenced. Their whereabouts are unknown.

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77 Nurmuhemmet Yasin

Sentenced in February 2005 to ten years of prison for “inciting Uyghur separatism; inciting racial hatred or discrimination" According to Radio Free Asia, Xinjiang authorities detained Nurmuhemmet Yasin (age at detention: 31) on 29 November 2004, after the Kashgar Literature Journal published his story "Wild Pigeon" in late 2004. The story tells of a caged bird who commits suicide rather than live without freedom. According to Dui Hua, on 2 February 2005, the Bachu (Maralweshi) County People’s Court sentenced Nurmuhemmet Yasin to 10 years’ imprisonment for "inciting racial hatred or discrimination," a crime under Article 249 of the Criminal Law. Some sources have reported that the sentence was for "inciting splittism," a crime under Article 103 of the Criminal Law. On 14 July 2005, the same court sentenced Korash Huseyin, editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal, to three years’ imprisonment for “dereliction of duty” for publishing Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s story (Korash Huseyin was released in 2008). The Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court upheld Nurmuhemmet Yasin’s sentence on appeal on 17 March 2005. According to information reported in a March 17 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article, prison authorities have taken repercussions against imprisoned writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin since he met with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak in late 2005 and reported mistreatment to Nowak. According to a RFA article, authorities have reduced Nurmuhemmet Yasin's family visits from every two months to twice a year and have restricted Nurmuhemmet Yasin's activities within prison as punishment for having not "reformed his views." He is currently held at Xinjiang No. 1 Prison.

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Tursunjan Hezim78 Sentenced in July 2010 to seven years of prison; charges unknown. According to Radio Free Asia, public security officials in Aksu district, East Turkestan, detained Tursunjan Hezim, a Uyghur man who administered the Uyghur Web site Orkhun, in early July 2009, after demonstrations and riots occurred in Urumqi starting on July 5. His whereabouts were unknown until March 2011. The Aksu Intermediate People's Court reportedly held a closed trial and sentenced Tursunjan Hezim in July 2010 to seven years' imprisonment. Information on the precise date of the sentence and the charges against him is not available. A source familiar with the case said authorities told Tursunjan Hezim's family about the sentence but did not inform them of the charges. His website Orkhun focused on Uyghur history and culture and was among several sites that had Bulletin Board Services temporarily shut down during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and that were closed down after the July 2009 events. The website, named after the homeland of ethnic Uyghurs' Turkic ancestors, had published mostly scholarly articles about Uyghur culture and history. Aside from his research activities, Hezim (36 years old at detention) also participated in online discussions on Uyghur websites such as UyghurOnline and Bostan under the pen name Yawuz. No Information is available on the location where he is serving his sentence.

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Individual Cases of Uyghurs Imprisoned for Exercising their Right to Freedom of Expression and Speech

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Abduhelil Zunun79 Sentenced in November 2001 to 20 years and 5 years deprivation of political rights for "splittism." On 16 February 2000, authorities in Aqsu district, East Turkestan, detained Abduhelil Zunun, who is reported to have translated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the Uyghur language, for splittism and for illegally producing or trafficking weapons, ammunition, or explosives, crimes under articles 103 and 125 of the Criminal Law. On 5 November 2001, the Aqsu District Intermediate People's Court sentenced Abduhelil Zunun to 20 years in prison and 5 years deprivation of political rights. He is serving his sentence at the Xinjiang Number 1 Prison.

Abdughani Imin and Obulkasim Abliz80 Sentenced in October 2001 to 13 and 15 years’ imprisonment for “inciting splittism.” According to a report in the summer 2005 issue of Dui Hua Dialogue, and to Dui Hua information based on official Chinese sources, public security officials in Yopurgha (Yuepuhu) county, located in , detained Uyghurs Abdughani Imin and Obulkasim Abliz on 13 and 27 January 2000, respectively, after a third man confessed to police that the three men displayed the banned Uyghur national flag at the county court house on 10 December 1999. The Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Abliz on 10 October 2001, to 13 years’ imprisonment on the charge of “inciting splittism.” The court sentenced Imin on the same day to 15 years’ imprisonment, probably on the same charge. Both men appealed to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region High People’s Court, which rejected Abliz’s appeal on 22 January 2002 and Imin’s appeal on an unknown date. Imin is serving his sentence in Xinjiang Prison No. 1, and Abliz is held in Xinjiang Prison No. 3.

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Abdulla Jamal81

Detained in April 2005; it is unclear whether he has been tried and sentenced; his whereabouts are unknown. Abdulla Jamal (age at detention: 42), a middle school teacher at the No. 1 Middle School of Poskam County in Kashgar, was detained on 12 March 2005 and formally arrested in April 2005 in Kashgar. Amnesty International reported that he was arrested for writing a manuscript entitled, Disaster in the Oil Well, that the authorities claimed incited separatism. According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the manuscript was a novel titled “Tragedies at the Oil Well.” RFA reports that Abdulla Jamal initially had been detained in March 2005, along with three teachers (Abdushukur, Aynur Abdugheni and Aniqiz Ghurpur) and 17 or 18 students, ostensibly for involvement in a fight between ethnic Uyghur and Han Chinese students. According to AI, his detention took place after he submitted his manuscript for publication. Amnesty International believes he may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression. Further details about the case, including Abdulla Jamal’s current whereabouts, are not known.

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Ablikim Abdureyim82 Sentenced to nine years in prison and three years deprivation of political rights for "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities" According to Chinese state media Xinhua, the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court sentenced Ablikim Abdureyim, a son of Rebiya Kadeer, to 9 years in prison and three years deprivation of political rights on 17 April 2007, for "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities." According to the Uyghur American Association (UAA), the court reportedly tried Ablikim, who was not given the right to legal representation of his choice, on 22 January 2007. Abdiriyim's family says that his “confession” was likely to have been made under torture. The verdict alleged he disseminated pro-secession articles, planned to incite anti-government protest, and wrote an essay misrepresenting human rights conditions in East Turkestan. Authorities formally arrested Ablikim and his brothers Alim and Kahar on 14 June, and indicted Ablikim on 14 July for subversion of state power, and Alim and Kahar for tax evasion. The Tianshan District People's Court imposed a 7- year prison sentence and fine on Alim and imposed a fine on Kahar on 27 November 2006, for tax evasion. Their mother is Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uyghur activist, whose family has been targeted by the authorities since she was detained as a prisoner of conscience in 1999. This intensified after she was released on medical parole on 17 March 2005 and left China for the USA. On 27 November 2006, the day after Rebiya Kadeer was elected president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a court sentenced her sons, which is considered an unacceptable persecution against Rebiya Kadeer's family and a punishment for her human rights activism. In 2007, the Uyghur American Association (UAA) reported that Ablikim has reportedly been subjected to maltreatment and has suffered from physical ailments throughout his imprisonment and detention. When Ablikim Abduriyim’s relatives visited him in prison on 13 December 2010, he told them he had been tortured. He said he was also transferred to solitary confinement on 3 November 2010 after refusing to sign a document denying that he had witnessed a controversial incident in the prison. According to Dui Hua information based on official Chinese sources, Ablikim is serving his sentence at the Xinjiang Number 4 prison.

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Alim Abdureyim83

Sentenced to seven years in prison for “tax evasion.” According to Xinhua, the Tianshan District People’s Court imposed a seven-year prison sentence and fine of RMB 500,000 (USD 62,500) on Alim Abdureyim, a son of Rebiya Kadeer, and imposed a fine on her son Kahar Abdureyim on 27 November 2006 for tax evasion. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) reported the court tried the pair on 27 October 2006. According to UHRP, authorities formally arrested Alim, Kahar, and their brother Ablikim on 14 June 2006, and formally indicted Ablikim on 14 July 2006 for subverting state power, and Alim and Kahar for tax evasion. Chinese media reported that authorities first placed Alim and Ablikim in criminal detention on 1 June 2006. Authorities first took Kahar into custody on 13 June 2006. Their mother is Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uyghur activist, whose family has been targeted by the authorities since she was detained as a prisoner of conscience in 1999. This intensified after she was released on medical parole on 17 March 2005 and left China for the USA. On 27 November 2006, the day after Rebiya Kadeer was elected president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a court sentenced her sons, which is considered an unacceptable persecution against Rebiya Kadeer's family and a punishment for her human rights activism. According to Dui Hua information based on official Chinese sources, Alim is currently serving his sentence in the Xinjiang Number 3 prison.

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Ekberjan Jamal84 Sentenced in February 2008 to 10 years of prison for “splittism and revealing state secrets”. According to a 15 April 2009 report from Radio Free Asia (RFA) based on an interview with Ekberjan Jamal’s mother, authorities in municipality detained Ekberjan (age at detention: 22) on 25 December 2007, after he used his mobile phone to transmit to friends in the Netherlands the sounds of shopkeepers’ demonstrations in Turpan. His friends recorded the sounds and gave the recordings to Hong Kong-based Phoenix News and to RFA. RFA used them in a broadcast and Ekberjan posted RFA’s online version of the broadcast on his personal webpage. The authorities shut down Ekberjan’s webpage when they detained him. Ekberjan’s mother told RFA that he was tried for allegedly sending information abroad on 21 different occasions and that the Turpan Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison on 28 February 2008 for splittism and revealing state secrets, crimes under articles 103 and 11 of the Criminal Law. According to witnesses, the shopkeepers protested in Turpan on 1, 17, and 19 November 2007. They were protesting against local authorities, who they said had failed to keep a promise to restore their businesses and compensate them for lost income after a fire on October 3, 2007 at the Turpan Grand Bazaar. According to residents, the fire killed one person and destroyed about 1 million yuans worth of merchandise. The sounds Ekberjan shared by cell phone were of police sirens, voices, and his own voice explaining what he was witnessing. Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur service received and used the sounds on 26 November 2007 in a broadcast. As of April 2009, he was being held in the Xinjiang Number 4 prison in Urumqi.

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Halmurat Imin85 Detained in February 2011 for "illegal collection of reactionary propaganda DVDs" and "endangerment of state security." According to a spokesperson from the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Dilshat Raxit cited in 28 February 2011, Radio Free Asia report, public security officials in Urumqi city, detained Halmurat Imin, a 23-year-old Uyghur man from Hoten district on 22 February 2011, in connection to DVDs reportedly in his possession. Authorities accused him of "illegal collection of reactionary propaganda DVDs" and suspected "endangerment of state security." The WUC spokesperson reported that the detention came as authorities heightened security during calls for "Jasmine" protests in China and as Urumqi authorities inspected markets after finding DVDs about U.S.-based Uyghur rights advocate Rebiya Kadeer, namely the film “Ten Conditions of Love” which focuses on her life and struggles. Additional information on his case, including his current whereabouts, is not available.

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Isa Husen86 Sentenced in June 2005 to 12 years in prison; charges unknown. Isa Husen (Eysa Husen) was born in 1966 in Toksu (Shin he in Chinese). He graduated from Shixeza Agricultures University in 1988 and after his graduation he was employed by Toksu agricultural office. Later he was vice- chief of Kichikyultuz villages in Toksu until he was arrested on August 1994. In February 1994 he had founded the “Justice Party of East Turkestan” in Toksu and was elected president. In this position, he denounced the unjust policies of the Chinese government against the Uyghur people and was arrested few months after the founding of the party in August 1994. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and was released in 2003. After his release, he did not participate in any kind of political activities, but he was highly respected by the people in Toksu. The Chinese authorities therefore considered him a dangerous person and arrested him again in June 2005 without presenting evidences against him. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison on unknown charges. He is currently held in Urumqi, but the exact prison is unknown.

Mamatali Ahat87 Sentenced in March 2006 to 8 years in prison. On 6 March 2006, the Hotan Municipal Court sentenced Mamatali Ahat to eight years in prison after he raised the flag of East Turkestan at the statue of Mao Zedong shaking hands with a Uyghur farmer in Hotan's Unity Square. The court accused Ahat of having stolen guns and explosives with the intent of blowing up the statue. The statue of Mao and Uyghur farmer Kurban Tulum has been held up by the Chinese government as symbolic of what it portrays as the beneficial policies enjoyed by Uyghurs under Chinese Communist Party rule. However, Uyghurs widely view the statue as a symbol of the way in which the oppression they suffer in their daily lives differs from official propaganda. Further details on the case are unknown.

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88 Nurhahmat Yusup Sentenced in September 1997 to 20 years for "counter-revolutionary" offenses According to Amnesty International, authorities in Kashgar municipality, East Turkestan, detained Nurhahmat Yusup (age at detention: 22) in July 1996 after he replaced the PRC flag in Kashgar's People's Square with the in China banned East Turkestan flag. During a search of Nurhahmat Yusup's house, police reportedly found a tape of poems from a well known Uyghur poet which had been labeled as "reactionary." Possession of the tape itself was considered an offence. Authorities charged Nurhahmat Yusup with "counter-revolutionary" offenses (though the exact charges against him are not known) and sentenced him in September 1997, despite representation by a lawyer, to 20 years in prison. After his trial his family was allowed to visit him in prison. Amnesty International is concerned that Nurhahmat Yusup is reported to have been sentenced to a heavy term of imprisonment for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression. Nurhahmat Yusup was last known to be serving his sentence at a prison within the Liu Daowan (Xinjiang No.1 prison) of Urumqi.

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Tursunjan Hesen89 Detained in July 2009 for “revealing state secrets and endangering state security”; sentence against him – if any – unknown. According to Radio Free Asia, authorities in Dadamtu township, Ghulja (), Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, detained Tursunjan Hesen (Hasan Tursunjan) on 2 July 2009 and reportedly accused him of revealing state secrets and endangering state security, after he had given interviews to overseas media about a case involving his daughter, Arzigul Tursun. In 2008, local authorities in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture had announced plans to force Arzigul, who was six months pregnant with her third child, to undergo an abortion after she was unable to pay a 45,000 yuan (US $6,591) fine for exceeding the number of children permitted under the region’s population planning regulation. Arzigul escaped from the local hospital to which she had been forcibly taken for the abortion, but the authorities tracked her down and took her to a larger hospital. Following intense international advocacy on her behalf, including from two U.S. Congressmen (Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey) and the U.S. Ambassador to China (Clark Randt), the authorities released her from the hospital in November 2008 without executing the abortion, but continued to subject her and her family to harassment and surveillance. Prior to his detention on 2 July 2009, Tursunjan (age at detention: 67) had reported that police had interrogated him repeatedly about Arzigul’s case, asking who had informed international media about the case. They also interrogated him about an unrelated land dispute in the region. He is believed to be held at the Ghulja PSB detention center and reportedly was scheduled to stand trial in November 2009. It is unknown whether Tursunjan Hesen has been tried and sentenced

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1 See eg., U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010. 2 See id.; Uyghur Student Sentenced to Death” (www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/death-12302010153000.html), Radio Free Asia (online), Dec. 30, 2010. 3 See Uyghur Student Sentenced to Death” (www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/death- 12302010153000.html), Radio Free Asia (online), Dec. 30, 2010; U.S. Congressional- Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010; Amnesty International (online), “China Must Halt Death Sentences Against Uighurs” (http://amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/china-must-halt-death- sentences-against-uighurs-20091203), Dec. 3, 2009; Amnesty International USA (online), “Amnesty International Urges the Supreme Court to Review the Sentencing of Five Uighurs to Death” (press release) (www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20091203002&lang=e), Dec. 3, 2009. 4 See eg., U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010. 5 See Human Rights Watch (online), “China: Events of 2009” chapter (www.hrw.org/en/node/87491) in “World Report 2010” (www.hrw.org/world-report- 2010), January 2010; Human Rights Watch (online), “China: Xinjiang Trials Deny Justice: Proceedings Fail Minimum Fair Trial Standards” (www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/15/china-xinjiang-trials-deny-justice), Oct. 15, 2009. 6 See eg., U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010. 7 See eg., id; Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, “2009 Human Rights Report: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)” (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/135989.htm), Mar. 11, 2010. 8 For the Chinese Constitution see for example http://www.hkhrm.org.hk/english/law/const03.html (accessed 13 May 2011) 9 See Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 102

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10 Ibid., p. 103 11 See Human Rights Watch (HRW), “World Report 2011”, 24 January 2011, available at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wr2011.pdf , p. 304 12 See Amnesty International, “Annual Report 2011”, chapter on China, May 2011, available at: http://amnesty.org/en/region/china/report-2011 13 Ibid. 14 See Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 105 15 Id. 16 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2009” (www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt09/CECCannRpt2009.pdf), Oct. 10, 2009, pp. 66, 244, 253-254 (citing sources); Amnesty International (online), “China: Fear of torture and other ill-treatment: Abdushukur Qurban (m)” (Urgent Action) (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/111/2008/en) (pdf follows download), Dec. 5, 2008, 1st page; U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2008” (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi- bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:45233.pdf), Oct. 31, 2008, p, 168. 17 See id. and Amnesty International, “Annual Report 2011”, Chapter on China, May 2011 available at: http://amnesty.org/en/region/china/report-2011 18 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Number of Trials for State Security Crimes in Xinjiang Increases in 2009” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=134666), posted on Feb. 5, 2010. 19 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2009” (www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt09/CECCannRpt2009.pdf), Oct. 10, 2009, pp. 66, 244, 253-254 (citing sources); Amnesty International (online), “China: Fear of torture and other ill-treatment: Abdushukur Qurban (m)” (Urgent Action) (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/111/2008/en) (pdf follows download), Dec. 5, 2008, 1st page; U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2008” (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi- bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:45233.pdf), Oct. 31, 2008, p, 168. 20 See UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment , “Report: MISSION TO CHINA”, E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, p.11- 12, March 2006, available at: http://daccess-dds- ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G06/117/50/PDF/G0611750.pdf?OpenElement 21 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Number of Trials for State Security Crimes in Xinjiang Increases in 2009” (Commission Analysis)

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(www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=134666), posted on Feb. 5, 2010 [citing to and quoting to March 6, 2006 report by UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment]. 22 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2009” (www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt09/CECCannRpt2009.pdf), Oct. 10, 2009, pp. 66, 244, 253-254 (citing sources); Amnesty International (online), “China: Fear of torture and other ill-treatment: Abdushukur Qurban (m)” (Urgent Action) (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/111/2008/en) (pdf follows download), Dec. 5, 2008, 1st page; U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2008” (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi- bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:45233.pdf), Oct. 31, 2008, p, 168. 23 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010 (citing sources); “198 convicted for unrest in China’s Xinjiang” (www.france24.com/en/20100307-198-convicted-unrest-chinas-xinjiang), AFP (published on France 24’s website), Mar. 7, 2010; “Xinjiang official stresses fighting separatism, says 198 sentenced for deadly riots” (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/07/c_13201007.htm), Xinhua (in English) (online), Mar. 7, 2010. 24 See id. 25 See generally, id. 26 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “198 People in Xinjiang Reportedly Sentenced in Trials Marked by Lack of Transparency” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=137197), posted on Apr. 21, 2010 (citing sources). 27 See Ifeng “新疆去年审结危害国家安全犯罪案件376” (http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/detail_2011_01/16/4303712_0.shtml), 16. January 2011 28 Dui Huia Foundation “Xinjiang Court Offers First Indicator of State Security Stats for 2010” (http://www.duihuahrjournal.org/2011/01/xinjiang-court-offers-first- indicator.html), 20 January 2011 29 See id. 30 See Amnesty International “China must show Xinjiang unrest trials were fair” (http://www.amnesty.ca/media2010.php?DocID=157), 17 January 2011 31 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Xinjiang Government Issues Internet Regulation, Keeps Strict Control on Information” (Commission Analysis)

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(www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=130352), posted on Dec. 8, 2009 (citing sources). 32See eg., U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2009” (www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt09/CECCannRpt2009.pdf), Oct. 10, 2009, pp. 243-248, 253-254, 256-258 (citing sources); Amnesty International (online), “Uighur Ethnic Identity Under Threat in China” (www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/010/2009/en/e952496e-57bb-48eb-9741- e6b7fed2a7d4/asa170102009en.pdf), Apr. 2009, 1st-2nd pages; U.S. Congressional- Executive Commission on China (online), “Annual Report 2008” http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi- bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:45233.pdf), Oct. 31, 2008, pp. 168-169, 171, 172 (citing sources). 33 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Internet Available in Xinjiang, But Controls Over Information Remain” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=143705), posted on Aug. 19, 2010 (citing sources and the law). 34 See “China Restores Internet to Xinjiang” (www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/14/china-restores-internet-access-xinjiang), Reuters [published on The Guardian (UK) (online)], May 14, 2010). See generally, Chris Hogg, “China restores Xinjiang internet” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia- pacific/8682145.stm), BBC News (online), May 14, 2010. 35 See Uyghur American Association (UAA) (online), “Internet Reopened in East Turkestan, But Uyghur Webmasters and Bloggers Remain Behind Bars” (press release) (www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4597/1/Internet-reopened-in-East-Turkestan-but- Uyghur-webmasters-and-bloggers-remain-behind-bars-/index.html), May 14, 2010; “Call for Uyghurs’ Release” (www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease- 12152009110742.html), Radio Free Asia (RFA) (online), Dec. 15, 2009; Amnesty International (online), “China Holds Uighur Journalist Over Xinjiang Unrest Remarks” (www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/china-holds-uighur-journalist-over- xinjiang-unrest-remarks-20091030), Oct. 30, 2009; Amnesty International (online), “China: Uighur Journalist Detained, Risks Torture” (Urgent Action) (www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/060/2009/en/ea19e87f-a9c2-444b-b42e- 2ba7eda59e30/asa170602009en.html), Oct. 30, 2009; Amnesty International (online), “China: Uighur Website Editor At Risk of Torture” (Urgent Action) (www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/056/2009/en/c4679695-04f7-49c5-a067- f33346e7458e/asa170562009en.html), Sept. 30, 2009. 36 See Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), “How censorship can affect the peaceful solution of the crisis in Xinjiang” (http://en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/100705- Xinjiang_speech.pdf), July 5, 2010; Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom, “Open Letter to the Xinjiang’s party secretary,”

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(http://en.rsf.org/china-open-letter-to-the-xinjiang-s-20-05-2010,37527.html), Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), May 20, 2010. 37 See Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), “How censorship can affect the peaceful solution of the crisis in Xinjiang” (http://en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/100705- Xinjiang_speech.pdf), July 5, 2010; Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom, “Open Letter to the Xinjiang’s party secretary,” (http://en.rsf.org/china-open-letter-to-the-xinjiang-s-20-05-2010,37527.html), Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), May 20, 2010. Reporters Without Borders Report: „Internet Enemies“, March 2011, available at: http://12march2011.org/i/Internet_Enemies.pdf, p. 20 ; Xiao Qiang, “A List of Censored Words in Chinese Cyberspace,” China Digital Times, August 30, 2004, http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2004/08/the-words-you-never-see-in-chinese-cyberspace; The Washington Post “Keywords Used to Filter Web Content”, 18 February 2006, available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/02/18/AR2006021800554.html 38 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Internet Available in Xinjiang, But Controls Over Information Remain” (Commission Analysis)( http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=143705), posted on Aug. 19, 2010; Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), “How censorship can affect the peaceful solution of the crisis in Xinjiang” (http://en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/100705-Xinjiang_speech.pdf), July 5, 2010. See also, Marianne Bariaux, “Web blocks remain one year on for China’s Uighurs” (www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ifncCt6BaacPu87xIkt9Ep_5WKEA), AFP (published on Google), July 5, 2010. 39 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Internet Available in Xinjiang, But Controls Over Information Remain” (Commission Analysis) (http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=143705), posted on Aug. 19, 2010 (citing Radio Free Asia and Mingpao reports). 40 See id. 41 See U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Xinjiang ‘Ethnic Unity’ Regulation Imposes Party Policy, Restricts Free Expression” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=135732), posted on March 16, 2010 (citing a February 7, 2010 Tianshan Net report and a January 26, 2010 report from the XUAR Public Security Department). 42 See Amnesty International (online), “Justice, Justice: The July 2009 Protests in Xinjiang, China” (www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/new-testimonies- reinforce-call-china-investigate-xinjiang-riots-2010-07-02) (pdf follows download), July 2, 2010, p. 16 (citing sources).

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43 See Cui Jia, “SMS returns to Xinjiang: Residents restricted to daily maximum of 20 text messages” (www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/18/content_9332764.htm), China Daily (online), Jan. 18, 2010 (indicating that residents still could not make international phone calls independently from their phones and that they could only make international phone calls at local branches of China Telecom after first registering their identification). See generally, “Email service resumed in Xinjiang 8 months after riot” (www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/21/content_9619384.htm), Xinhua (in English) (published on China Daily’s website), Mar. 21, 2010. Note: UAA has received accounts from individuals who have tried to call the region that the ability to connect has been erratic. 44 See Amnesty International (online), “Justice, Justice: The July 2009 Protests in Xinjiang, China” (www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/new-testimonies- reinforce-call-china-investigate-xinjiang-riots-2010-07-02) (pdf follows download), July 2, 2010, p. 16 (citing sources). 45 See generally, Andrew Jacobs, “Resentment Simmers in Western Chinese Region” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/world/asia/05uighur.html), The New York Times (online), Sept. 4, 2010. 46 See Marriane Barriaux, “China’s Uighurs face web blocks one year after riots,” Agency France Presse, July 5, 2010, available at: http://www.sinodaily.com/afp/100706015122.2f27b2pc.html 47 See Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 88 48 See Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Report: „Attacks on the Press in 2010“ (online), April 2011, chapter on China, available at: http://www.cpj.org/2011/02/attacks- on-the-press-2010-china.php 49 See Id. 50 See Reporters Without Borders Report: „Internet Enemies“, March 2011, available at: http://12march2011.org/i/Internet_Enemies.pdf, p. 5 51 See Id. 52 See Id., p. 9 and 15 53 See Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 92 54 See Reporters Without Borders Report: „Internet Enemies“, March 2011, available at: http://12march2011.org/i/Internet_Enemies.pdf, p. 17 55 David Bandurski, “China’s Guerrilla War for the Web,” Far Eastern Economic Review (July 2008), http://feer.wsj.com/essays/2008/august/chinas-guerrilla-war-for-the-web

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cited in Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 98 56 “China Shuts Over 60,000 Porn Websites This Year,” Reuters, December 30, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6BT01T20101230 cited in Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 92 57 See Reporters Without Borders Report: „Internet Enemies“, March 2011, available at: http://12march2011.org/i/Internet_Enemies.pdf, p. 15 58 See Id. 59 See Id., p. 16 60 See Id., p. 18 61 See Id.p. 17 62 See Freedom House Report “Freedom on the Net 2011”, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/FOTN2011.pdf, p. 93 63 See Id., p. 102 64 See Radio Free Asia, “Uyghurs Targeted Amidst Reform Call”, 28 February 2011, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/reform-02282011114853.html 65 See The Economist, “Catching a whiff of jasmine in Kashgar”, 20 February 2011, available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2011/02/precautions_xinjiang 66 See Radio Free Asia, “乌鲁木齐及拉萨满布警察 市民不知“苿莉花”, 28 February 2011, available at: http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/jasmine_xinjiang- 02282011111244.html?encoding=simplified 67 Sources for Abdulghani Memetemin: Amnesty International, “China: More activists stand up for human rights, despite risks”, AI Index: ASA 17/059/2004, 6 December 2004, available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/059/2004/en Amnesty International, “China: Human rights defenders at risk”, ASA 17/045/2004, 6 December 2004, available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/045/2004/en Amnesty International, The Wire, December 2004. Vol. 34, No. 11, available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/NWS21/011/2004/en Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ), “Imprisoned Journalists in 2010”, 1 December 2010, available at:

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http://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2010.php#china Radio Free Asia (RFA), China Jails Uyghur Journalist For "Separatism", 30 July 2004, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/142490-20040730.html Rebiya Kadeer in The Wall Street Journal China’s Uighur Oppression Continues, 04 August 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3710 and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575408650462789996.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Abdulghani Memetemin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00047), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5543 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Uyghur Political Prisoners Mehbube Ablesh's and Abdulghani Memetemin's Prison Sentences Expire, 18 October 2011, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=163986 68 Sources for Dilshat Perhat: Amnesty International (AI), China Convicts Uighur Web Managers on State Security Charges, 30 July 2010, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/china- convicts-uighur-web-managers-state-security-charges-2010-07-30 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China Sets Prison Terms for 3 Uighur Web Managers, 2 August 2010, available at: http://cpj.org/2010/08/china-sets-prison-terms- for-3-uighur-web-managers.php Radio Free Asia (RFA), Call for Uyghurs’ Release, 15 December 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease-12152009110742.html Reporters without Borders, Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security, 2 August 2010, available at: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur- journalist-and-website-24-07-2010,38016.html The New York Times, China Imprisons 3 Men Who Maintained Uighur Web Sites, 30 July 2010, available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31china.html?_r=1 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Dilshat Perhat” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2009-00449), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7644 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalist and Webmasters, 7 August 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur American Association Strongly Condemns the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4861/1/Uyghur-American-Association-strongly- condemns-the-sentencing-of-three-Uyghur-webmasters/index.html

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World Uyghur Congress (WUC), WUC Strongly Denounces the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3617 69 Sources for Nureli Obul: Amnesty International (AI), China Convicts Uighur Web Managers on State Security Charges, 30 July 2010, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/china- convicts-uighur-web-managers-state-security-charges-2010-07-30 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China Sets Prison Terms for 3 Uighur Web Managers, 2 August 2010, available at: http://cpj.org/2010/08/china-sets-prison-terms- for-3-uighur-web-managers.php Radio Free Asia (RFA), Call for Uyghurs’ Release, 15 December 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease-12152009110742.html Reporters without Borders, Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security, 2 August 2010, available at: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur- journalist-and-website-24-07-2010,38016.html The New York Times, China Imprisons 3 Men Who Maintained Uighur Web Sites, 30 July 2010, available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31china.html?_r=1 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nureli” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2010-00106), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7814 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalist and Webmasters, 7 August 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur American Association Strongly Condemns the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4861/1/Uyghur-American-Association-strongly- condemns-the-sentencing-of-three-Uyghur-webmasters/index.html World Uyghur Congress (WUC), WUC Strongly Denounces the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3617 70 Sources for Nijat Azat: Amnesty International (AI), China Convicts Uighur Web Managers on State Security Charges, 30 July 2010, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/china- convicts-uighur-web-managers-state-security-charges-2010-07-30

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Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China Sets Prison Terms for 3 Uighur Web Managers, 2 August 2010, available at: http://cpj.org/2010/08/china-sets-prison-terms- for-3-uighur-web-managers.php Radio Free Asia (RFA), Call for Uyghurs’ Release, 15 December 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease-12152009110742.html Reporters without Borders, Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security, 2 August 2010, available at: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur- journalist-and-website-24-07-2010,38016.html The New York Times, China Imprisons 3 Men Who Maintained Uighur Web Sites, 30 July 2010, available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31china.html?_r=1 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nijat Azat” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2010-00253), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7963 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalist and Webmasters, 7 August 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur American Association Strongly Condemns the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4861/1/Uyghur-American-Association-strongly- condemns-the-sentencing-of-three-Uyghur-webmasters/index.html World Uyghur Congress (WUC), WUC Strongly Denounces the Sentencing of Three Uyghur Webmasters, 29 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3617 71 Sources for Gheyret Niyaz: Amnesty International (AI) Urgent Action, China: Uighur journalist detained, risks torture, ASA 17/060/2009, 30 October 2009, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/060/2009/en Amnesty International (AI), China holds Uighur journalist over Xinjiang unrest remarks, 30 October 2009, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and- updates/news/china-holds-uighur-journalist-over-xinjiang-unrest-remarks-20091030 Amnesty International (AI), China sentences Uighur journalist to 15-year prison term, 23 July 2010, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/china- sentences-uighur-journalist-15-year-prison-term-2010-07-23 BBC, Chinese court 'jails Uighur journalist', 23 July 2010, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10744133

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Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Respect Freedom of Expression, Release Xinjiang Journalist Hailaite Niyazi, 30 July 2010, available at: http://chrdnet.org/2010/07/30/a- public-letter-by-chinese-citizens-urging-the-release-of-uyghur-journalist-hailaite-niyazi/ Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ), China sentences Uighur journalist to 15 years, 26 July 2010, available at: https://www.cpj.org/2010/07/china-sentences-uighur-journalist- to-15-years.php Dui Hua Foundation's summer 2010 Dialogue Newsletter, Official Responses to Uyghur Prisoner List Reveal Information on Unique Cases, available at: http://www.duihua.org/work/publications/nl/dialogue/nl_txt/nl40/nl40_3a.htm Freedom House, Journalist’s Sentencing Signals Continued Suppression of Uighurs, 26 July 2010, available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=1214 Human Rights in China (HRIC), Heavy Prison Term for Uyghur Advocate of Inter-ethnic Understanding, 23 July 2010, available at: http://www.hrichina.org/content/832 Reporters without Borders, Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security, 2 August 2010, available at: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur- journalist-and-website-24-07-2010,38016.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Gheyret Niyaz” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2009-00448), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7643 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalist and Webmasters, 7 August 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798 Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Journalist Gets 15 Years, 22 July 2010, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/trial-07222010152945.html Radio Free Asia (RFA), Fate of Uyghur Journalist 'Unknown', 1 November 2010, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/journalist-11012010101314.html Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur journalist and webmaster Gheyret Niyaz sentenced to 15 years, 23 July 2010, available at: http://uhrp.org/articles/4022/1/Uyghur-journalist-and-webmaster-Gheyret-Niyaz- sentenced-to-15-years-/index.html Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Uyghur American Association commends Chinese intellectuals and human rights groups for their appeals on behalf of Uyghur journalist and blogger Gheyret Niyaz, 30 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/4874/1/Uyghur-American-Association-

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commends-Chinese-intellectuals-and-human-rights-groups-for-their-appeals-on-behalf- of-Uyghur-journalist-and-blogger-Gheyret-Niyaz/index.html Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Internet reopened in East Turkestan, but Uyghur webmasters and bloggers remain behind bars, 14 May 2010, available at: http://www.uhrp.org/articles/3782/1/Internet-reopened-in-East-Turkestan-but-Uyghur- webmasters-and-bloggers-remain-behind-bars-/index.html World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Press Release, WUC Condemns 15-year Sentence Handed Down to Uyghur Journalist and Website Editor Gheyret Niyaz, 24 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3468 72 Sources for Gulmira Imin and another four Uyghur website moderators: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Gulmire Imin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2010-00238), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7948 Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ), “Imprisoned Journalists in 2010”, 1 December 2010, available at: http://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2010.php#china Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Web Moderators Get Life, 08 August 2010, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/sentence-08082010190802.html RFA Unplugged, The Fight For Justice Takes Its Toll On Uyghur Family, 10 September 2010, available at: http://www.rfaunplugged.org/2010/09/01/the-fight-for-justice-takes- its-toll-on-uyghur-family/ China Central Television (CCTV), The July 5 Riot from Start to Finish, documentary, available on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a0kN7E4GlA&feature=related (part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaObRk6h7jY&feature=related (part 2) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlg6sI7-3qA&feature=related (part 3) 73 Sources for Mehbube Ablesh: Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ), Imprisoned Journalists in 2010, 1 December 2010, available at: http://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2010.php#china Dui Hua Foundation's summer 2010 Dialogue Newsletter, Official Responses to Uyghur Prisoner List Reveal Information on Unique Cases, available at: http://www.duihua.org/work/publications/nl/dialogue/nl_txt/nl40/nl40_3a.htm International PEN, Uighur journalist and writer detained, 2008, available at: http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/2891/prmID/1691

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Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Radio Worker Sacked, Detained, 08 September 2008, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/radio- 09082008141404.html?searchterm=None Radio Free Asia (RFA), Tutqun mehbube ablesh heqqide toluqlima melumatlar, 8 September 2008, available at: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Mehbube Ablesh” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2008-00545), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7043 http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/mehbube-ablesh-turmide2- 09082008205116.html/story_main?encoding=latin U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, New Information Released on Uyghur Political Prisoners Mehbube Ablesh and Omer Akchi, Commission Analysis, 11 October 2010, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=146218 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Uyghur Political Prisoners Mehbube Ablesh's and Abdulghani Memetemin's Prison Sentences Expire, 18 October 2011, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=163986 74 Sources for Memetjan Abdulla: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Memetjan Abdulla” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2009-00384), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7579 Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghurbiz' tor békitining bashqurghuchisi muhemmet abdulla iz - Déreksiz yoqap ketken, 26 August 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/uyghurbiz-tor-bet-bashqurghuchisi- 08262009182307.html?encoding=latin Radio Free Asia (RFA), Xitay, selkin tor békitining bashqurghuchi muhemmetjan abdullaning péyigha chüshken, 02 September 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/muhammed-abdulla-tutuldi- 09022009173319.html?encoding=latin Radio Free Asia (RFA), Terjiman we muxbir muhemmetjan abdullaning muddetsiz qamaqqa höküm qilinghanliqi melum bolmaqta, 20 December 2010, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/terjiman-mixbir- 12202010165808.html?encoding=latin Radio Free Asia (RFA), “Uyghur Journalist Handed Life Term”, 21 December 2010, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/journalist-12212010162519.html

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NY Times, Editor Said to Get Life Sentence for Uighur Reports, 24 December 2010, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/world/asia/25uighur.html?_r=1 AFP, Uighur group protests trial of Xinjiang journalist, 24 December 2010, available at: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20101224- 254653.html 75 Sources for Memet Turghun Abdulla: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Memet Turghun Abdulla” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2010-00227), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7937 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press Release, Internet reopened in East Turkestan, but Uyghur webmasters and bloggers remain behind bars, 14 May 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=2343 76 For these cases see: See Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General, Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom (online), “Open Letter to the Xinjiang’s party secretary,” (http://en.rsf.org/china-open-letter-to-the-xinjiang-s-20-05-2010,37527.html), May 20, 2010; Uyghur American Association (online), “Internet Reopened in East Turkestan, But Uyghur Webmasters and Bloggers Remain Behind Bars” (press release), (www.uyghuramerican.org//articles/4597/1/Internet-reopened-in-East-Turkestan-but- Uyghur-webmasters-and-bloggers-remain-behind-bars-/index.html), May 14, 2010; “Call for Uyghurs’ Release” (www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurrelease- 12152009110742.html), Radio Free Asia (online), Dec. 15, 2009. See also, U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (online), “Xinjiang Court Imposes Prison Sentences on Uyghur Journalists and Webmasters” (Commission Analysis) (www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=144798), posted on Aug. 19, 2010. 77 Sources for Nurmuhemmet Yasin: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nurmuhemmet Yasin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00018), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5511 Uyghur PEN, Biography of Nurmuhemmet Yasin, available at: http://www.uyghurpen.org/author-biography.html Radio Free Asia, Yazghuchi nurmuhemmet yasingha ' idiyisini yaxshi özgertmigenlik' sewebi bilen jaza bérilgen, 17 March 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/nurmemet-yasin-yawa-kepter- 03182009023521.html?encoding=latin 78 Sources for Tursunjan Hezim:

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U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Tursunjan Hezim” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2011-00234), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=8728 Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Historian Given 7 Years, 6 March 2011, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/tursunjanhezim-03062011164000.html Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Uighur website editor sentenced in secret in China, 10 March 2011, http://www.cpj.org/2011/03/uighur-website-editor-sentenced- in-secret-in-china.php World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Press Release, WUC Condemns 15-year Sentence Handed Down to Uyghur Journalist and Website Editor Gheyret Niyaz, 24 July 2010, available at: http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=3468 79 Sources for Abduhelil Zunun: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV), Kein Freibrief für Menschenrechtsverletzungen an Uiguren, Tibetern und Falun Gong-Anhängern, Dezember 2001, available at: http://peuples-menacés.ch/pdf/02-02-032.pdf U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Abduhelil Zunun” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00287), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5796 Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), World Human Rights Day – Remember Abduhelil Zunun, 9 December 2005, available at: http://www.uhrp.org/articles/90/1/World- Human-Rights-Day--Remember-Abduhelil-Zunun/World-Human-Rights-Day--Remember- Abduhelil-Zunun.html 80 Sources for Abdughani Imin and Obulkasim Abliz: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Abdughani Imin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00159), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5656 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Obulkasim Abliz” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00160), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5657 81 Sources for Abdulla Jamal: Amnesty International (AI), Fear of Torture and Ill-Treatment – Abdulla Jamal, 16 June 2005, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/019/2005/en/7a50cbc5- d4d9-11dd-8a23-d58a49c0d652/asa170192005en.html Radio Free Asia, Uyghur Youths, Teacher Detained After School Brawl, Residents Say, 21 June 2005, available at: www.rfa.org/english/uyghur/uyghur_clash- 20050621.html?searchterm=None

52 Violation of Freedom of Expression in East Turkestan

U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Abdulla Jamal” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2005-00097), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5593 82 Sources for Ablikim Abdureyim: Amnesty International (AI), China urged to release Uighur activist allegedly tortured in prison, 20 December 2010, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and- updates/china-urged-release-uighur-activist-allegedly-tortured-prison-2010-12-20 Human Rights in China (HRIC), HRIC Condemns Rights Violations and Harsh Sentence in Ablikim Abdureyim’s Case, 19 April 2007, available at: http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision_id=35969&item_id=35965 Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Dissidents Sons Detained, Beaten in Front of Own Children, 1 June 2006, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur_kadeer- 20060601.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Ablikim Abdureyim” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2006-00084), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5885 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Son of Rebiya Kadeer sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of "secessionism", 17 April 2007, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/873/1/Son-of-Rebiya-Kadeer-sentenced-to- nine-years-in-prison-on-charges-of-quotsecessionismquot/index.html Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Rebiya Kadeer's imprisoned son in urgent need of medical treatment, 11 December 2007, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/1308/1/Rebiya-Kadeers-imprisoned-son-in- urgent-need-of-medical-treatment/index.html Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Chinese embassy spokesman responds to concerns about the health of Rebiya Kadeer's son in Voice of America news report, 17 December 2007, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/1317/1/Chinese-embassy-spokesman- responds-to-concerns-about-the-health-of-Rebiya-Kadeers-son-in-Voice-of-America- news-report/index.html 83 Sources for Alim Abdureyim: U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Alim Abdureyim” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2006-00071), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5872 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press release, Rebiya Kadeer’s son sentenced to seven years; another fined; another feared tortured, 27 November 2007, available at:

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http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/680/1/Rebiya-Kadeers-son-sentenced-to- seven-years-another-fined-another-feared-tortured/rabiye.html Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Dissidents Sons Detained, Beaten in Front of Own Children, 1 June 2006, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur_kadeer- 20060601.html 84 Sources for Ekberjan Jamal: Radio Free Asia, Ekberjan jamal sumrugh téléwiziyisi we erkin asiya radiyosigha uchur yetküzgini üchün 10 yilliq késilgen, 13 April 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/ekperjan-jamal-kesilgen- 04142009064714.html?encoding=latin Radio Free Asia, Ekberjan jamalning késilishi we uning nöwettiki ehwali, 14 April 2009, available at: http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/ekperjan-jamal- kesilishi-04152009161240.html?encoding=latin Radio Free Asia, Youth jailed for Alleged Separatism, 15 April 2009, available at: www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurcellphone-04142009165038.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Ekberjan Jamal” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2009-00193), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7386 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Xinjiang Authorities Block, Punish Free Expression, Commission Analysis, 2 July 2009, available at: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=119624 85 Sources for Halmurat Imin: Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghurs Targeted Amidst Reform Call, 28 February 2011, available at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/reform-02282011114853.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Halmurat Imin” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2011-00215), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=8709 Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press Release, Chinese fears of “Jasmine Revolution” unrest lead to clampdown on Uyghurs, 01 March 2011, available at: http://www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/5518/1/Chinese-fears-of-Jasmine-Revolution- unrest-lead-to-clampdown-on-Uyghurs/index.html 86 The information on Isa´s case was obtained by the WUC from sources in East Turkestan. 87 Source for Mamatali Ahat:

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Uyghur American Association (UAA) Press Release, Two Uyghurs Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Terms for Peaceful Political Expression, 16 March 2009, available at: www.uyghuramerican.org/articles/2651/1/Two-Uyghurs-in-Hotan-sentenced-to- lengthy-prison-terms-for-peaceful-political-expression/index.html 88 Sources for Nurhahmat Yusup: Amnesty International (AI), People's Republic of China: Gross Violations of Human Rights in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region - Prisoner Profiles, ASA 17/36/99, October 1999, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/036/1999/en/d87e607d-e04c-11dd- b049-c56b318da40f/asa170361999en.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Nurhahmat Yusup” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2010-00091), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7799 89 Sources for Tursunjan Hesen: Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Grandfather Detained, 30 Oct. 2009; available at: www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/detained-10302009202838.html?searchterm=None Radio Free Asia (RFA), New Son for Uyghur Woman, 13 Feb. 2009, available at: www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uyghurbirth- 02132009165136.html?searchterm=None Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Woman Released, Without Forced Abortion, 18 Nov. 2008, available at: www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/release- 11182008110804.html?searchterm=None Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Woman Found, Facing Abortion, Nov. 17, 2008, available at: www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abortion-11172008112655.html U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Annual Report 2009, 10 Oct. 2009, available at: www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt09/CECCannRpt2009.pdf, pp. 262-263 U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Entry for “Tursunjan Hesen” in Political Prisoner Database (CECC Record Number: 2009-00444), available at: http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=7639

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