. 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)
Aw, come-on! They aren't White, Christian, or Israeli--so all judgement must be suspended. On the flip side, I can't help but admire the Chinese tactics in this case.
BTTT
No. The report is that if you're ethnic Chinese (even tourists), you have to be real careful in that province. It's not uncommon that tourists are attacked with handgrenades if you're ethnic Chinese, even if you're from the US (they really don't care). If you're white, you might be OK.
Obviously there are discrimination against hte Uighur by the Han chinese there (i.e. business will hire more han chinese than Uighur, etc.) But as far as violence goes, the Uighurs can be pretty violent, not all, but some. I have heard stories about hand grenade throwing as well.
Because the victims aren't "White, Christian, or Israeli"?
Yep.
A voice of reason. Glad there are a few hear.
Touche'
Interesting response. Can't wait to hear it when the Chicoms turn their guns on Christians again. Be careful what you wish for, fool.
No, because the perpetrators aren't White, Christian, or Israeli. The MSM and the International Rights groups turns a blind eye whenever atrocities are committed by anyone NOT part of the those groups. Because they know that if they made a stink, their heads would role next time they stuck their nose in the camel's tent.
You're outraged because the perpetrators aren't White, Christian, or Israeli? The unscrupulous Chinee strikes again, eh?
"China will probably be the only country that will survive the muslim onslaught."
You read my mind. I hate to think it, but it may just turn out that way.
China executes a muslim. hmmmm.... Kind of hard to fault them for that.
I wonder where the human rights groups are when the muzzies are blowing up civilians in countries across the world. The silence is deafening.
I'm becoming more and more dictatorship friendly.
I thought the IRA was made up of those born into Catholicism.
Yes. I was referring to the UVF, who are Protestants.
Duly noted.
As defined by a Communist dictatorship that's never been one for fair trials.
I would not be surprised if reading FR was a crime in the PRC.
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