256 Uyghurs convicted for "political crimes" since June 2014

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the Chinese government of arbitrary arrests and unfair court proceedings to incite violence in the northwest of the country. "People are being arrested randomly, simply based on their ethnic origin or religion, to fuel hatred between the Uyghurs and the Han Chinese," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Sunday. According to information by the STP, 256 Uyghurs were convicted for "political crimes" since June 2014, often with long prison terms. 22 of them were sentenced to death and executed.

At the end of the week it became known that – in mid-July 2014, in secret court proceedings – 17 Uighur demonstrators had been sentenced to prison terms of six months to seven years. They had dared to protest against the death of the 17-year old motorcyclist Abdulbasit Ablimit. In April 2014, the young man had ignored a red traffic light in Aksu and
had then shot in the back by a police patrol. Many of the recent convicts are relatives and neighbors of the young man who had called for a punishment of those who were responsible for the shooting.

"Anyone who dares to protest against the malpractice of the authorities or the police authorities in Xinjiang / East Turkestan, is threatened with several years of imprisonment," said Delius. "It is the region with the most politically motivated criminal prosecutions in all of China." According to official figures, more than 80 percent of the court proceedings based on alleged state security offenses in China concern the region of Xinjiang. "It is especially the Uyghurs who suffer from the state arbitrariness and lack of a rule of law."

But the Chinese authorities do not only systematically violate laws to silence unwanted critics in Xinjiang / East Turkestan: "Despite White Papers concerning the human rights situation and a national human rights initiative, the oppression of human rights activists has reached a dramatic level throughout the country," said Delius. "Since January 2012, the Chinese authorities kept more than 1,600 human rights activists detained for five days or more. Thus, on average, more than two human rights were detained or placed under house arrest every day."

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.