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Amnesty International Urgent Action !
CHINA: HEALTH OF UIGHUR PRISONER ‘CRITICAL’: ABDUKIRAM ABDUVELI
Amnesty International Urgent Action UA: 271/12 Index: ASA 17/037/2012 China Date: 20 September 2012
HEALTH OF Uighur PRISONER ‘CRITICAL’
An Uighur man, Abdukiram Abduveli, suffering from bone and joint cancer, is being denied urgent medical treatment in prison in China.
Religious leader in the Uighur community in China, Abdukiram Abduveli, was charged with crimes of inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda on 1 July 1991. On 5 May 1993 he was given a 12-year sentence including four years’ suspension of permission to exercise his political rights. No details of the evidence were given in the court verdict and he was denied a lawyer. During this time Abdukiram Abduveli was subjected to solitary confinement and his right to freedom of religion including praying, was restricted.
Abdukiram Abduveli was due to be released from prison on16 November 2002, but upon his family’s arrival at the prison in Urumqi, they were verbally notified that his sentence had been extended by three years. No reason was given. Abdukiram Abduveli’s sentence was extended three more times – on the 16 November 2005, 16 November 2008 and 16 November 2011. Only in 2009 did the Urumqi New City Intermediate People’s Court release a written verdict concerning his extended sentence, proposing that his release date would be 30 June 2014.
In September 2011, in protest at his sentence extensions, Abdukiram Abduveli began a hunger strike in prison; this lasted for nine months, and he was reportedly force-fed via an IV tube. According to Abdukiram Abduveli’s brother, prison guards allowed his immediate family to visit him in prison over these nine months, with the purpose of convincing him to end his hunger strike. Each time both his mother and brothers visited, they found him in critical ill-health and noted his inability to stand due to malnutrition. On 16 November 2011 his family were verbally notified that he had developed bone and joint cancer but were denied access to him and instead only allowed to watch a video tape of him. His condition has reportedly deteriorated so severely that his sight and hearing have diminished. Abdukiram Abduveli continues to be denied necessary medical attention and access to his immediate family. His mother continues to appeal against his imprisonment.
Please write immediately in Mandarin or your own language:
Urging that the authorities ensure Abdukiram Abduveli receives immediate and adequate medical care; Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdukiram Abduveli unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 1 NOVEMBER 2012 TO:
President of the PRC
Hu Jintao Guojia Zhuxi
The state Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China
Fax: +86 106 2381025
Email: gov@govonline.cn
Salutation: Your Excellency
Chairman of XUAR People’s Govt
Nur Bekri Zhuxi
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Renmin Zhengfu Banggongting
2 Zhongshanlu
Urumqi 830041
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu
People’s Republic of China
Fax: +86 991 2817567
Salutation: Dear Chairman
And copies to:
Director of the Department of Justice
Abuliz Usour Tingzhang
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Sifating
27 Renminlu
Urumqi 830
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu
People’s Republic of China
Fax: + 86 991 2311590
Salutation: Dear Director
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
HEALTH OF Uighur PRISONER ‘CRITICAL’
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Torture and other ill-treatment are endemic in all forms of detention, even though China ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 1988. Amnesty International also receives regular reports of deaths in custody, many of them caused by torture, in a variety of state institutions, including prisons, Re-education Through Labor facilities, and police detention centres.
Uighurs are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority who are concentrated primarily in the XUAR. Since the 1980s, the Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. This includes arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention, and serious restrictions on religious freedom as well as cultural and social rights. Chinese government policies, including those that limit use of the Uighur language, severe restrictions on freedom of religion, and a sustained influx of Han migrants into the region, are destroying customs and, together with employment discrimination, fuelling discontent and ethnic tensions. In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Chinese government initiated an aggressive campaign that has led to the arrest and arbitrary detention of thousands of Uighurs on charges of “terrorism, separatism and religious extremism”. On 14 August 2008, Wang Lequan, Communist Party Secretary of the XUAR, announced a "life and death" struggle against Uighur "separatism".
The situation has worsened following the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2011 as the Chinese authorities have used the context of counter-terrorism, to attempt to justify further repression to the human rights of Uighurs.
Name: Abdukiram Abduveli
Gender m/f: m
UA: 271/12 Index: ASA 17/037/2012 Issue Date: 20 September 2012
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