Uighurs shot dead on 9th July

Well, I asked for Uighur news and I got it. Needless to say it is not good. A party of fifteen Uighurs was raided by Chinese troops and 5 were shot dead. Those taken captive have confessed that they were plotting against China. I wonder, was that confession extracted under the a)' good cop/bad cop' scenario we have come to accept in our own country, or was it b)'Confess to x happening or I will dip your grandchildren in boiling water' type of scenario.
We will never know the truth. But we can know that is was not scenario a).
A Burmese friend stated that her facvourite torture was not the 'rolling an iron bar up and down your shins until the skin breaks down to the bone' type of thing. She should know. Another friend is not too keen on the 'hanging naked for days in below zero temperatures and having buckets of freezing water splashed over you' type of scenario. And he should know.
I tried to find a picture of torture for this post, but the ones I found were just too awful for me to contemplate. I can't even stand a picture of it.
Don't let torture go unchallenged whether it be Uigurs or Tibetans or anyone else. Our own government condones the use of confessions extracted under torture. Do the people? Stay silent and you are agreeing to torchure by default. So don't stay silent!

And another thing - Guantanamo

Guantanomo Bay is apparently no longer the US Base it used to be and I am getting fed up with the new rhetoric which goes out of its way to site the horrible Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre in Cuba.
I guess that the US are now trying to distance themselves from the whole sorry affair. But blaming it on Cuba just rubs salt into Cuban wounds. Guantanamo Bay is quite beautiful as you see from my picture above. But the Detention Centre is nothing to do with Cuba. The US have been allowed to keep this site in exchange for not bombing the living daylights out of this beleagured nation. Cubans do not even acknowledge the existance of the naval base - as I found out first hand.
I am feeling very cross today. The whole Cuban thing is annoying. Why do we force economic sanctions on Cuba? Can anyone remember why we prevent trade with Cuba? Oh, I do believe that we don't like the government because it upset out 'friends' in the US. Does anyone know why we don't use economic sanctions on Zimbabwe? Oh yes, because we say that sanctions hurt the people.

Thanks Patrick

Well, I've been away on a short break, but my friends have been on the ball. Patrick brought to my attention a massive piece of news:

In the first ruling of its kind, a US court has overturned the designation of an inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as an "enemy combatant".

How could I have missed that?

Huzaifa Parhat is an ethnic Uighur from East Turkistan. He was rounded up by China after 9/11 when every misguided government thought 'whoopee' and incarcerated anyone with the wrong shaped beard because obviously they were terrorists. Unfortunately the poor bloke has not even heard this news because they have not let him out of solitary confinement. The judges have said he must be freed, transferred or be the subject of a fresh hearing. I suppose they will dither around indefinately, meanwhile it has just been the 7 years of wrongful imprisonment and misery. Hands up those who have been in solitary confinement. I have met only one person - Rebiya - and she hadn't done anything wrong either.

So this poor man (who is at worst a petty criminal) faces even more time in solitary confinement despite the fact that he poses no threat to our beloved friends in the US, and no-one says a word. Great. I so love the bloody human race.

Response from the BBC

Annoyed that there was no coverage by the BBC of the Uighur problems, I wrote to them suggesting that they cover the Olympic torch relay in Xinjiang, and, co-incidence or not, they have. They have also loaded up some lovely new pictures, two of which I have borrowed. One shows the ancient market in Urmuqi, a major city in the region. The other is a view of the modern city which lies on the ancient Silk Road.

The Chinese government has pulled yet another fast one and pushed the torch through the Uighur region a week early. People living on the route have been told to stay indoors, close their windows and doors, not look out of them and watch the proceedings on television! Being used to the type of punishment involved for not obeying orders, they did just this.

Urmuqi, although seemingly having many new buildings and roads, is apparently the most polluted city in China. The region is rich in minerals and fossil fuels. No doubt it is por in safety and environmental concerns. Who cares, they are only a minority ethnic group fighting for a place in their own land.

Olympic Torch to East Turkisthan

The Olympic torch will be paraded in East Turkisthan, but our News services will not report it. If a thousand people are killed we can be sure only that our news services will not report it.

The Uighurs are more frightened than the Tibetans and they have less hope. The Uighurs in this country are very afraid to show themselves because they still fear reprisals from the Chinese government if they speak up. We cannot comprehend such fear. We have no knowledge of what form such reprisals may take. They know.

In little old Cardiff I was taken to task by a random Chinese person for showing a picture of the Dalai Lama in public. He thought it was a terrible thing and shoudn't be shown. He actually became quite angry about it. Is is suprising how many people do not understand the principles of Freedom of Speech.

We have to have greater dialogue with the Chinese people. Even though they live here they do not understand us. The fault is ours.

We fear the worst

It is not possible to know how it feels to have lost a child until it happens to you. In a north-eastern province of China, once known as East Turkisthan, it happens a thousand fold. To the Uighur people it happens, to the Chinese people it happens. The Tianamen Mothers still wait to hear what happened to their children on that fateful day in 1989. The Chinese government is a problem. Witness the earthquake where so very many 'one child' young people died. Their mothers now beyond childbearing age mourn their everything, their entire investment in the human race. Who can comprehend their grief?

The time to find a change of heart is running short. Only the strong words of Europe and the US can find a way into the ears of the Chinese policymakers. Have you ever written to your MP? Now might be a good time to start. Tell them you want to see more freedom for the people of China - that includes the Tibetan Autonomous Zone and Rebiya's Uighurs. If there is no change now, the reprocussions on those who have spoken out so far will be terrible.

Freedom of speech? Why is that so hard? Yet Rebiya Kadeer fights on for her son and her people.

China Jails Canadian Citizen

A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China has revealed that "the systematic repression of religion in Xinjiang was continuing as "a matter of considered state policy". This comes just as a Canadian citizen is jailed for life for alledged separatisim and terrorism charges. The Canadian government is outraged by reports that he is being tortured in custody and the Chinese government have responded that the Canadians should mind their own business! Hmmm, a Canadian citizen would be Canadian business - wouldn't it?

Systematic repression includes executions and the detention of thousands of people every year, the report claims.

"Religious regulation in Xinjiang (East Turkisthan) is so pervasive that it creates a legal net that can catch just about anyone the authorities want to target," said Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China.

The report also reveals that almost half the detainees in Xinjiang's Uighur re-education camps are there for engaging in illegal religious activities.

Uighurs make up about eight million of the 19 million people in Xinjiang. Many of them favour greater autonomy, and China views separatist sentiments as terrorism and a threat to the state. September 11th has done all repressive governments one huge favour.

The worldwide campaign against terrorism has given Beijing the perfect excuse to crack down harder than ever in Xinjiang. Other Chinese enjoy a growing freedom to worship, but the Uighurs, like the Tibetans, find that their religion is being used as a tool of control.

Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.