Wall Street Journal
By REBIYA KADEER
May 30, 2007; Page A19
Nothing compares to a mother's pain when her children are suffering. The anguish is even greater when the suffering is designed as an act of retaliation by a vindictive government determined to punish those who speak out against its egregious human-rights violations.
Upon my release in 2005 after five years in a Chinese prison, I was warned by the Chinese authorities not to speak out on human rights. I should not forget that I had family in China, I was told.
The Chinese government certainly lived up to its word. My family has been under constant pressure from authorities and my children have been repeatedly detained, tortured or imprisoned. Now my son has joined his youngest brother Alim in prison. Ablikim received a nine-year sentence from a Chinese court on charges of "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities."
The real reason for his conviction is my human-rights activism on behalf of the 10 million Turkic Uighurs who live in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the former East Turkestan. Constantly being labeled terrorists for even the most modest attempt to preserve their unique culture, ethnic background and Muslim faith, Uighurs in Xinjiang continue to suffer under Beijing's repression and forced cultural assimilation. China's long and powerful arm prevents them from finding safety in countries bordering Xinjiang, and Uighurs are harassed by Chinese agents even in Europe and the U.S.
Ablikim's arrest, detention, trial and sentence were all in violation of China's Constitution: My son should have had access to a lawyer; he did not.
My son should have had the right to a public trial; yet no family member was allowed to attend his trial or even notified of its existence. Numerous attempts to simply determine his condition were met with stonewalling and frustration.
Unfortunately, mine is just one of countless Uighur families that have been devastated by the Communist Party's use of vaguely defined "state security crimes." In the same week, and in the same court that my son was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, Uighur-Canadian Huseyin Celil was sentenced to life in prison on charges of "terrorist activities" and "plotting to split the country." No evidence against Mr. Celil was made public. In addition, Beijing acted in defiance of international law by refusing to acknowledge his Canadian citizenship and denying him consular assistance.
In recent years, and especially as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach, Chinese leaders have repeatedly claimed progress on human rights. President Hu Jintao has again and again stressed the importance of respecting the rule of law as a cornerstone of a new and improved China. In a speech at Yale University last year he promised to "protect people's freedom, democracy and human rights according to law."
Yet true rule of law is still a foreign concept in China, for any ethnic group, including the majority Han Chinese. Imprisoning its own people and stripping them of their legal rights at the whim of the authorities is just another way that the Chinese government seeks to eliminate any form of dissent. Polished political leaders in Beijing are eager to say what they believe the world wants to hear, while other government officials, particularly on the local level, routinely break the laws of their own country. All too often the international community is content to listen to the false promises of China's politicians and ignore the miserable reality of China's human-rights conditions.
China will only become a great nation worthy of world-wide respect when it adheres to international legal and human-rights standards throughout its territory, and can guarantee those standards to all its citizens. If Beijing really wants to show the world that it is serious about improving its human-rights record, releasing my two sons and Huseyin Celil would be a good place to start.
Ms. Kadeer is the president of the Uyghur American Association and World Uyghur Congress.
