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Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association January 2, 2013
 The flag of East Turkestan. The Uyghur American Association (UAA) calls on China to immediately release information on Uyghur writer Nurmemet Yasin, who reportedly died over a year ago in a Chinese prison, according to Chinese legal scholar Teng Biao on Twitter two days ago. Yasin was arrested in 2004 for his fictional piece, “Wild Pigeon,” about a young pigeon who commits suicide rather than live in captivity, which Chinese authorities claimed was a veiled attack on the government. Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service reports that Yasin’s family denies his death and claims to have visited him recently, while Chinese authorities have not revealed any information as to his condition.
In a statement from Washington, DC today, UAA President Alim Seytoff said, “Nurmemet Yasin committed no crime and should never have been imprisoned by China’s government. The sentencing of an innocent writer to ten years in prison for no other cause than his writing clearly highlights the lack of free expression or legal protection for Uyghurs in China. China should immediately inform the world of Nurmemet Yasin’s condition and end the brutal practice of torture in its prison system. The rumors and speculation surrounding this tragedy demonstrate a critical lack of transparency in China’s legal system and especially in the treatment of Uyghur prisoners.”
Continue reading Urge China to Immediately Release Information on Nurmemet Yasin’s Condition by The Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association December 10, 2012
 The flag of East Turkestan. On the occasion of Human Rights Day 2012, the Uyghur American Association (UAA) calls on newly appointed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, to embrace the value of universal human rights that is embodied in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to respect the rights of the Uyghur people to “freedom, justice and peace.”
The annual December 10 commemoration of the adoption of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 is a reminder of the indivisibility of human rights and of government obligations to meet international human rights standards.
“It is time for the repression to end in East Turkestan,” said UAA President Alim Seytoff in a statement from Washington, DC. “The repression and demonization that Uyghurs endured under Hu Jintao created deep resentment in East Turkestan. The divide between Uyghur and Han Chinese societies is at a critical level. Xi Jinping holds the key to creating opportunities for inter-ethnic dialogue by reversing the discriminatory, assimilative and repressive policies of his predecessor. By showing respect for Uyghurs and their human rights, Xi Jinping will make a positive contribution to resolving the East Turkestan issue.”
Continue reading It is Time For the Repression to End in East Turkestan by The Uyghur American Association
The Weekly Standard Blog November 28, 2012
 Riyadh. Early in November, the Saudi Arabian government announced the replacement of interior minister Prince Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz, named to the post in June of this year, after the death of Prince Nayef, his elder brother. Nayef, who succumbed at age 78, had been feared widely as the embodiment of the most extreme trend in Wahhabism, the ultra-fundamentalist Saudi state sect. Nayef was the leading opponent of the cautious reform course pursued in the desert monarchy by 88-year-old King Abdullah since his rise to the throne in 2005.
Prince Ahmed, born in 1941, has been followed as interior minister by Nayef’s son, Prince Muhammad Bin Nayef. A grandson of King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud (1876-1953), the founder of the Saudi state in its most recent form, Prince Muhammad, only 53, represents the second generation of Saudi princes. He is therefore viewed by some observers as a herald of changes brought about by those inevitable forces, aging and death.
Continue reading Saudi Arabia’s New Interior Minister and Old Wahhabi Habits by Irfan Al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association November 9, 2012
 The flag of East Turkestan. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) is releasing a Chinese language version of its report Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities. The report, published in English in April 2012, documents the Chinese state’s top-down destruction of Uyghur communities in Kashgar and throughout East Turkestan, in a targeted and highly politicized push that Chinese officials have accelerated in the wake of turbulent unrest in the region in 2009. Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities reveals how the destruction of Uyghur neighborhoods has resulted in the loss of both physical structures, including Uyghur homes, shops and religious sites, and patterns of traditional Uyghur life that cannot be replicated in the new, heavily-monitored Chinese-style apartment blocks where many have been forcibly relocated.
Continue reading Uyghur Human Rights Project Chinese-language report on demolitions of Uyghur neighborhoods Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities by The Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association July 5, 2012
 Flag of East Turkestan. On the third anniversary of the unrest that took place on July 5, 2009 in Urumchi, the regional capital of East Turkestan, the Uyghur American Association (UAA) is releasing the Chinese-language version of UHRP’s report Can Anyone Hear Us? Voices From The 2009 Unrest In Urumchi. The report, published in English in 2010, examines the unrest through the accounts of Uyghur eyewitnesses. Can Anyone Hear Us? Voices From The 2009 Unrest In Urumchi also investigates the economic, social and political factors that set the context for the unrest, as well as the information lockdown that followed.
UAA hopes to engage the international Chinese-speaking community in dialogue regarding the events of 2009 and the state of ethnic relations in East Turkestan today. This is especially important as, three years after the unrest, “ethnic harmony” in the region only exists in official propaganda, and key government officials have actively worked to exacerbate tensions between Han Chinese and Uyghurs, in spite of “ethnic unity” propaganda. The region remains subject to intense security crackdowns, and the security presence has been heightened in Urumchi to mark the anniversary of the July 5 unrest. Chinese officials have thus far refused to allow independent investigators to visit East Turkestan to allow a comprehensive accounting of the events in Urumchi.
Continue reading Uyghur Human Rights Project issues Chinese-language version of its report on the 2009 unrest in Urumchi
by The Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association May 29, 2012
 Rebiya Kadeer. Photograph 2012 by Voice of America. In a sign of increasing official pressure on the sons of Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer and her other family members in East Turkestan, Chinese authorities have forced imprisoned son Alim Abdureyim to sign documents releasing ownership of two buildings, one formerly owned by Ms. Kadeer and the other by her daughter Akida Rouzi, to the state. Judicial officials reportedly told Alim, who was escorted to a court in Urumchi before being taken back to prison, that the buildings would be demolished in about two weeks’ time. The move comes following the recent transfer of another imprisoned son of Ms. Kadeer, Ablikim Abdureyim, to a high-security prison.
“In defiance of Chinese law and human decency, Chinese authorities stop at nothing to abuse my sons in prison,” said Ms. Kadeer. “My sons’ only ‘crime’ is their relationship to me- and because the Chinese government is no longer able to silence me, they are going after my family. We have seen that in other cases, such as with Chen Guangcheng, Chinese officials take a sick satisfaction in persecuting the family of those who have spoken out for truth and justice. The time has come for Chinese leaders to end the unlawful, brutal mistreatment of our loved ones.”
Continue reading Chinese officials increase pressure on the imprisoned sons of Rebiya Kadeer by The Uyghur American Association
Radio Free Asia May 11, 2012
Flag of East Turkestan. The mother of a Uyghur man missing for nearly three years after he participated in demonstrations in China’s troubled Xinjiang region says she has been under constant surveillance by authorities bent on dissuading her from continuing the search for her son.
Patigul Eli said her son Imammemet Eli, 25, was taken by police on July 14, 2009, nine days after ethnic violence gripped the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, and that the last she heard about him was nine months later when fellow inmates said he was found severely tortured and bundled away in a hospital.
He is among several thousand who “disappeared” in the aftermath of the most deadly episode of ethnic unrest in China’s recent history, according to Uyghur exile groups. More than 1,000 Uyghurs have been jailed over the riots, which left some 200 dead and 1,700 injured, according to official statistics.
Continue reading Search for a Missing Son by Shohret Hoshur
Uyghur American Association April 2, 2012
Flag of East Turkestan. A new 89-page report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) documents the Chinese state’s top-down destruction of Uyghur communities in Kashgar and throughout East Turkestan, in a targeted and highly politicized push that Chinese officials have accelerated in the wake of turbulent unrest in the region in 2009. Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities reveals how the destruction of Uyghur neighborhoods has resulted in the loss of both physical structures, including Uyghur homes, shops and religious sites, and patterns of traditional Uyghur life that cannot be replicated in the new, heavily-monitored Chinese-style apartment blocks where many have been forcibly relocated.
This report does not discount the importance of providing modern structural amenities to Uyghurs. However, it asserts a failure on the part of Chinese authorities to engage in meaningful consultation with Uyghurs regarding how they wish to transform their own communities. The report details the international and domestic legal instruments to which the Chinese government is bound that are designed to protect residents from forcible eviction from their homes and ensure that indigenous populations, such as the Uyghurs, have the right to develop according to their own principles.
Continue reading Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities by Uyghur Human Rights Project
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association February 28, 2012
Flag of East Turkestan. The reported deaths of residents of Kargilik (Chinese: Yecheng) in Kashgar Prefecture on February 28 have taken place against a backdrop of a heavy Chinese security presence in the region, mass detentions and heightened restrictions on Uyghurs’ religious practices. The Uyghur American Association (UAA) calls upon the international community to view official Chinese statements about the reported deaths with extreme caution until independent observers are allowed to investigate the incident.
Chinese state media outlets reported on February 28 that an unknown number of “attackers” armed with knives killed at least 10 people in Kargilik, and that “police shot two of the assailants dead, while also chasing other attackers“. The Global Times stated that a number of other individuals were also injured in the attack. However, a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on February 28 provided a contradictory account. RFA cited an unnamed Uyghur who claimed that a group of young Uyghurs killed three Chinese individuals, after which 12 Uyghur youths were then killed by armed police. RFA was unable to confirm this account. Kargilik is a predominantly Uyghur area in the southern part of East Turkestan that is situated approximately halfway between Kashgar and Hotan, on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert.
Continue reading Deaths reported in East Turkestan, as tensions mount in the region by Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association February 10, 2012
 Flag of East Turkestan. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and Uyghur American Association (UAA) are pleased to announce the launch of their redesigned websites, www.uhrp.org and www.uyghuramerican.org. The new websites feature a focus on the research and activism conducted by UHRP and UAA, and provide readers with the latest news on issues affecting Uyghurs in East Turkestan. UHRP and UAA hope that visitors to our websites will find the new format appealing and user-friendly, and that Chinese visitors will be attracted to the new Chinese-language section of www.uyghuramerican.org.
“With the launch of our newly designed websites, we hope to reach out more effectively to a diverse audience that is increasingly concerned about Uyghur human rights issues,” said UAA president and UHRP director Alim Seytoff. “While the human rights conditions in East Turkestan have worsened, the efforts of UAA and UHRP have also broadened in scope in recent years. We hope that our new websites will help guide Internet users to learn about the situation of the Uyghur people, and we also hope to illustrate the widening advocacy and research work that is being conducted on behalf of Uyghurs.”
Continue reading Uyghur Human Rights Project and Uyghur American Association launch new websites by Uyghur American Association
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