[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 497 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 497

     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
Government of the People's Republic of China should immediately release 
from custody the children of Rebiya Kadeer and Canadian citizen Huseyin 
  Celil and should refrain from further engaging in acts of cultural, 
   linguistic, and religious suppression directed against the Uyghur 
                    people, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2007

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. 
 Rohrabacher, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Pence, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Pitts, and Mr. 
 Honda) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
Government of the People's Republic of China should immediately release 
from custody the children of Rebiya Kadeer and Canadian citizen Huseyin 
  Celil and should refrain from further engaging in acts of cultural, 
   linguistic, and religious suppression directed against the Uyghur 
                    people, and for other purposes.

Whereas the protection of the human rights of minority groups is consistent with 
        the actions of a responsible stakeholder in the international community 
        and with the role of a host of a major international event such as the 
        Olympic Games;
Whereas recent actions taken against the Uyghur minority by authorities in the 
        People's Republic of China and, specifically, by local officials in the 
        Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, have included major violations of 
        human rights and acts of cultural suppression;
Whereas the authorities of the People's Republic of China have manipulated the 
        strategic objectives of the international war on terror to increase 
        their cultural and religious oppression of the Muslim population 
        residing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
Whereas an official campaign to encourage Han Chinese migration into the 
        Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has resulted in the Uyghur population 
        becoming a minority in their traditional homeland and has placed immense 
        pressure on those who are seeking to preserve the linguistic, cultural, 
        and religious traditions of the Uyghur people;
Whereas the House of Representatives has a particular interest in the fate of 
        Uyghur human rights leader Rebiya Kadeer, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 
        and her family as Ms. Kadeer was first arrested in August 1999 while she 
        was en route to meet with a delegation from the Congressional Research 
        Service and was held in prison on spurious charges until her release and 
        exile to the United States in the spring of 2005;
Whereas upon her release, Ms. Kadeer was warned by her Chinese jailors not to 
        advocate for human rights in Xinjiang and throughout China while in the 
        United States or elsewhere, and was reminded that she had several family 
        members residing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
Whereas while residing in the United States, Ms. Kadeer founded the 
        International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation and was 
        elected President of the Uyghur American Association and President of 
        the World Uyghur Congress in Munich, Germany;
Whereas two of Ms. Kadeer's sons were detained and beaten and one of her 
        daughters was placed under house arrest in June 2006;
Whereas President George W. Bush recognized the importance of Ms. Kadeer's human 
        rights work in a June 5, 2007, speech in Prague, Czech Republic, when he 
        stated: ``Another dissident I will meet here is Rebiyah Kadeer of China, 
        whose sons have been jailed in what we believe is an act of retaliation 
        for her human rights activities. The talent of men and women like 
        Rebiyah is the greatest resource of their nations, far more valuable 
        than the weapons of their army or their oil under the ground.'';
Whereas Kahar Abdureyim, Ms. Kadeer's eldest son, was fined $12,500 for tax 
        evasion and another son, Alim Abdureyim, was sentenced to seven years in 
        prison and fined $62,500 for tax evasion in a blatant attempt by local 
        authorities to take control of the Kadeer family's remaining business 
        assets in the People's Republic of China;
Whereas another of Ms. Kadeer's sons, Ablikim Abdureyim, was beaten by local 
        police to the point of requiring medical attention in June 2006 and has 
        been subjected to continued physical abuse and torture while being held 
        incommunicado in custody since that time;
Whereas Ablikim Abdureyim was also convicted by a kangaroo court on April 17, 
        2007, for ``instigating and engaging in secessionist'' activities and 
        was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment, this trial being held in 
        secrecy and Mr. Abdureyim reportedly being denied the right to legal 
        representation;
Whereas two days later, on April 19, 2007, another court in Urumqi, the capital 
        of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, sentenced Canadian citizen Huseyin 
        Celil to life in prison for ``splittism'' and also for ``being party to 
        a terrorist organization'' after having successfully sought his 
        extradition from Uzbekistan where he was visiting relatives;
Whereas Chinese authorities have continued to refuse to recognize Mr. Celil's 
        Canadian citizenship, although he was naturalized in 2005, denied 
        Canadian diplomats access to the courtroom when Mr. Celil was sentenced, 
        and have refused to grant consular access to Mr. Celil in prison;
Whereas a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson publicly warned Canada ``not to 
        interfere in China's domestic affairs'' after Mr. Celil's sentencing; 
        and
Whereas Mr. Celil's case was a major topic of conversation in a recent Beijing 
        meeting between the Canadian and Chinese Foreign Ministers: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that the Government of the People's Republic of China--
            (1) should recognize, and seek to ensure, the linguistic, 
        cultural, and religious rights of the Uyghur people of the 
        Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
            (2) should immediately release the children of Rebiya 
        Kadeer from both incarceration and house arrest and cease 
        harassment and intimidation of the Kadeer family members; and
            (3) should immediately release Canadian citizen Huseyin 
        Celil and allow him to rejoin his family in Canada.
                                 <all>