Posted on 02/09/2007 3:43:02 PM PST by jonassen
BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - China has executed a Uighur activist in a far-northwestern city for attempting to "split the motherland" and possessing explosives, drawing condemnation from a human rights group which said the evidence was insufficient.
Ismail Semed, who was deported to China from Pakistan in 2003, had told the court a confession had been coerced, but he was executed nevertheless on Thursday in Urumqi, capital of the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang, Radio Free Asia on Friday quoted his widow, Buhejer, as saying.
"When the body was transferred to us at the cemetery I saw only one bullet hole in his heart," Buhejer told the U.S. government-funded radio.
The exile group, the World Uighur Congress, said the prosecution had presented no credible evidence for a conviction.
"His trial, like most Uighur political prisoners' trials, was not fair," it said in an emailed statement.
A spokeswoman for the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court said a group of people had been executed on Thursday but said she had no knowledge of specific cases. The Xinjiang regional government declined to comment.
Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs account for 8 million of the 19 million people in Xinjiang.
The radio said the charge of attempting to split the motherland stemmed from the allegation that Semed was a founding member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, outlawed by Beijing as a terrorist group.
But Nicholas Bequelin, Hong Kong-based China researcher of Human Rights Watch, said: "The death penalty was widely disproportionate to the alleged crimes ... his trial did not meet minimum requirements of fairness and due process."
"We don't think there was sufficient evidence to condemn him," Bequelin added.
China has waged a harsh campaign in recent years against what it says are violent separatists and Islamic extremists struggling to set up an independent "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang, which shares a border with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia.
Buhejer met her husband briefly on Monday shortly after being informed of the decision to execute him, RFA said.
"(It was) only for 10 minutes" that they were allowed to meet, she was quoted as saying.
He told her to "take care of our children and let them get a good education". The couple has a young son and daughter.
Semed had previously served two prison sentences for taking part in a violent uprising in 1990. He fled to Pakistan after a Chinese government crackdown in 1997.
Two other Uighurs who testified against Semed were also executed, RFA quoted unnamed sources in the region as saying.
In a reference to another case currently in court in Urumqi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday Canadian diplomats had no right to be present at the hearing of Hussayin Celil, a Uighur accused by China of terrorism who was awarded Canadian citizenship two years ago.
Celil, also known as Yu Shanjiang, fled China in the 1990s and travelled last year to Uzbekistan, where he was detained and then extradited to China on terrorism charges.
He was cited in court documents related to Semed as a co-conspirator, Bequelin told Reuters. China has not recognised Celil's Canadian citizenship, obtained in 2005. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard)
What a sad day when you have to look to the Commies for leadership on an issue.
--I was under the impression that the back of the head was the usual place for the bullet in Chinese executions--(better for organ transplantability, for one thing)--
Communism does seem rather Islamofascist-proof.
Troubling.
The Uighurs aren't supposed to be seeking independence by force. The Communist government probably is just using the war against Islamofascism as a cover to continue to persecute people and keep them in line.
Communist persecution of the Uighurs (or Christians while on the topic), is NOT something to be admired.
I guess they must be Sunni Muslims because right now the Chinese are trying to court the Iranians, along with all our former allies.
Where's the outrage? Where's the condemnation? Any country other than the USA can do whatever and no one cares. This is the attitude Bush should have taken a long time ago. No matter what you do, you'll get hammered, so you might as well earn the contempt. It's far easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
The Nuke Mecca Crowd admires all persecutions that target Muslims.
From what source--the Chinese government--or even more outlandish--NewsMax?
Just taking care of business the way business should be taken care of. "You hear that liberals"?
Taking no chances they did the old bullet in the heart trick.
China's brutality is not something I want us to emulate, against Muslims or anyone else.
>>BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - China has executed a Uighur activist in a far-northwestern city for attempting to "split the motherland" and possessing explosives,<<
You would think that would take a lot of explosives... China is really big.
No I hear you both, just trying to find levity in the face of the islamic horror show.
There's no outrage from the muslim world because the Chinese have made it perfectly clear that it doesn't tolerate ANY form of secession. Basically the Chinese are saying, "you can worship a pedophile or a cow if you want, just don't f-- with my land." What Bush should be doing is also stamp his feet hard on the ground and tell the muslim world, "it's not about your religion, but if you f-- with America, you get f--ed." Apparently that message is being diluted by our dimwitted moonbats.
I know people that lived in Xinjiang for most of their lives. The Uygurs there can be extremely violent. This includes car bombs, murder, and armed attacks. One of the people I know personally witnessed armed Uygur hiding behind pregnant women as they attacked a government building.
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