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31-07-09, 02:38
Kadeer says nearly 10,000 'disappeared' in China unrest
Agence France-Presse
Page 1
2009-07-30 12:32 AM
Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer charged yesterday that nearly 10,000 people "disappeared" in ethnic unrest in China's northwest this month and expressed disappointment at the U.S. response to the violence.
Kadeer, the U.S.-based head of the World Uighur Congress, said that "the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people," speaking during a Japan visit that angered the communist government in Beijing.
Speaking through an interpreter and citing local sources, she said "close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night" when authorities cracked down from July 5 on the unrest in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.
"Where did those people go?" she said. "If they died, where did they go?"
Kadeer, 62, claimed that Chinese police used machine guns to randomly shoot Uighur people after dark after the electricity was turned off, and that the following morning large numbers of Uighur men had gone missing.
Beijing accuses the mother-of-11 and grandmother of being a "criminal" and a separatist who instigated the unrest - which the government says left 197 people dead, most of them Han Chinese killed by angry Uighur mobs.
"I was not involved in the incident," Kadeer told the Tokyo press conference.
"If China says I did it, I want them to show evidence. If the international community judges it as evidence, I would acknowledge that."
Kadeer instead charged that "the responsibility lies with the authorities who changed what was a peaceful demonstration into a violent riot."
"For Uighurs, taking part in demonstrations is like committing suicide."
Kadeer - who was jailed in China from 1999 to 2005 and now lives in exile in a suburb of Washington - was on a three-day visit in Japan.
China has also complained to Australia over a planned visit next week by Kadeer, the foreign affairs department in Canberra said yesterday.
"The matter has been discussed several times, both in Canberra and Beijing," an official said, declining to give further details.
Kadeer is due to attend the Aug. 8 launch in Melbourne of the documentary "10 Conditions of Love," which depicts her life story and which prompted Chinese attempts to have it pulled from the city's film festival.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1017180&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng
Agence France-Presse
Page 1
2009-07-30 12:32 AM
Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer charged yesterday that nearly 10,000 people "disappeared" in ethnic unrest in China's northwest this month and expressed disappointment at the U.S. response to the violence.
Kadeer, the U.S.-based head of the World Uighur Congress, said that "the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people," speaking during a Japan visit that angered the communist government in Beijing.
Speaking through an interpreter and citing local sources, she said "close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night" when authorities cracked down from July 5 on the unrest in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.
"Where did those people go?" she said. "If they died, where did they go?"
Kadeer, 62, claimed that Chinese police used machine guns to randomly shoot Uighur people after dark after the electricity was turned off, and that the following morning large numbers of Uighur men had gone missing.
Beijing accuses the mother-of-11 and grandmother of being a "criminal" and a separatist who instigated the unrest - which the government says left 197 people dead, most of them Han Chinese killed by angry Uighur mobs.
"I was not involved in the incident," Kadeer told the Tokyo press conference.
"If China says I did it, I want them to show evidence. If the international community judges it as evidence, I would acknowledge that."
Kadeer instead charged that "the responsibility lies with the authorities who changed what was a peaceful demonstration into a violent riot."
"For Uighurs, taking part in demonstrations is like committing suicide."
Kadeer - who was jailed in China from 1999 to 2005 and now lives in exile in a suburb of Washington - was on a three-day visit in Japan.
China has also complained to Australia over a planned visit next week by Kadeer, the foreign affairs department in Canberra said yesterday.
"The matter has been discussed several times, both in Canberra and Beijing," an official said, declining to give further details.
Kadeer is due to attend the Aug. 8 launch in Melbourne of the documentary "10 Conditions of Love," which depicts her life story and which prompted Chinese attempts to have it pulled from the city's film festival.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1017180&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng