[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE UIGHURS: A HISTORY OF PERSECUTION
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND OVERSIGHT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 10, 2009
__________
Serial No. 111-28
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
______
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RON PAUL, Texas
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
DIANE E. WATSON, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri JOE WILSON, South Carolina
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
MICHAEL E. McMAHON, New York CONNIE MACK, Florida
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
GENE GREEN, Texas MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
LYNN WOOLSEY, CaliforniaAs TED POE, Texas
of 3/12/09 deg. BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
BARBARA LEE, California
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
JIM COSTA, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on International Organizations,
Human Rights and Oversight
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts, Chairman
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri DANA ROHRABACHER, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota RON PAUL, Texas
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey TED POE, Texas
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
Cliff Stammerman, Subcommittee Staff Director
Paul Berkowitz, Republican Professional Staff Member
Brian Forni, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
WITNESSES
Mrs. Rebiya Kadeer, President, World Uyghur Congress............. 10
Ms. Kara Miriam Abramson, Advocacy Director, Congressional-
Executive Commission on China.................................. 19
Ms. Felice D. Gaer, Chair, U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom.............................................. 23
Mr. Nury Turkel, Uighur Rights Activist and Attorney............. 34
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Mrs. Rebiya Kadeer: Prepared statement........................... 14
Ms. Kara Miriam Abramson: Prepared statement..................... 21
Ms. Felice D. Gaer: Prepared statement........................... 26
Mr. Nury Turkel: Prepared statement.............................. 38
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 60
Hearing minutes.................................................. 61
THE UIGHURS: A HISTORY OF PERSECUTION
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on International Organizations,
Human Rights and Oversight,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:11 a.m. in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Bill Delahunt
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Delahunt. This hearing will come to order. I represent
Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is America's hometown. Almost
400 years ago a small vessel called the Mayflower made landfall
there and forever changed the history of the world. The men and
women and children on that vessel were seeking religious
liberty and freedom from persecution. Over the span of American
history, many millions from many lands have followed those
pilgrims to our shores and have sought refuge.
George Washington once wrote that he hoped America, and
these are his words, might become a safe and agreeable asylum
to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind in whatever
nation they might belong. For most of our history we have
honored President Washington's hope for that part of mankind:
The virtuous and the persecuted. That is why we are here today,
to receive testimony concerning the Uighurs who are an ethnic
Muslin minority from the northwest of China.
Twenty-two Uighurs were arrested in late 2001, and 17 are
still detained at Guantanamo Bay, while five were previously
resettled in Albania. It is our purpose to determine whether
the Uighurs, previously or currently detained at Guantanamo
are, to use Washington's words, part of the virtuous and
persecuted, or, as one of our colleagues has seemed to
conclude, are terrorists.
In other words, are the Uighurs freedom fighters worthy of
our support and assistance, or are they a threat to our
national security. Now, it is important to know that in June
2007 the House passed a resolution, H.R. 497, that acknowledged
that China had, and was using, the war on terror to oppress the
Uighurs. The resolution states that the Chinese Communists had,
and this is the language of the resolution, manipulated the
strategic objectives of the international war on terror to
increase their cultural and religious oppression of the Muslim
population residing in the Uighur Autonomous Region.
Now, let me repeat that, and please reflect. The Chinese
Communists have manipulated the strategic objectives of the
international war on terror to increase their cultural and
religious oppression of the Uighur minority. What better way to
achieve their objectives than to label the Uighurs as
terrorists? What better way for the Chinese terrorists to
achieve their goals? Now we hear the term terrorist applied to
the 22 Uighur men who either are or are currently detained at
Guantanamo Bay.
My question and my concern is this: Have some of us been
duped by the Communist Chinese regime? Well, today we begin an
effort to find answers to that and many other questions. We
will undertake a thorough effort to find out the truth because
we are the Subcommittee on Oversight and we take that
responsibility seriously. This committee also has within its
jurisdiction the responsibility to review human rights
conditions worldwide.
I would submit that the American concept of due process is
also a human right and it would appear that no due process has
been afforded the Uighurs at Guantanamo until recently. It
should be noted for the record that the Bush administration
concluded that those that are currently there, those 17
Uighurs, were not a threat to the United States. That is the
previous administration. A Federal Court ordered these Uighurs
released in a seminal opinion finding the men to be nonenemy
combatants and not a risk to the United States' national
security; yet, some would seem to deny these men redress and
continue to detain them if no other country would accept them.
That was their position.
We even had a former Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Mr. Gingrich, who said we should send them
back to China. I would submit that that would be an act that
would undoubtedly violate our domestic laws and treaty
obligations against the convention against torture because it
is indisputable that the Uighurs have been a persecuted
minority in China and if they were returned there would have
undoubtedly faced torture and possibly death. That would be a
stain on our national honor, particularly in the light of those
words of George Washington.
Well, as I indicated, today is the first in a series of
hearings we plan to hold in which we will make an effort to
find out what is true and learn more about the treatment of the
Uighurs in China and the circumstances surrounding their
arrival and their detention at Guantanamo. Now, there have been
some reports today, unconfirmed, that the Uighurs may be
resettled, all 17, in the nation of Palau. Maybe their
President, Johnson Toribiong, maybe he read those words of
George Washington and is giving refuge for the virtuous and the
persecuted. We will make an effort to find out.
As I said, we plan to pursue this because we should learn
whatever lessons there are from the detention and the treatment
of the Uighurs. It is important for us as we move forward
because the President has announced that he intends to close
Guantanamo. What we want to do is ensure fairness and revealing
the truth rather than opinion to our colleagues and to the
American people.
Well, as to the treatment of the Uighurs in China, which is
what we are going to do here today, our colleague Chris Smith
eloquently stated before, and I am quoting from him, that ``the
list of serious human rights abuses committed by the Chinese
Government is long. It includes the persuasive systematic
exploitation of women and the murder of their children through
forced abortion as part of its coercive one child per couple
policy.''
Against the Uighurs it is used as a means of genocide of
trying to destroy an entire race and ethnic group of people
because of who they are. The imprisonment of democratic
dissidents and religious believers remain a pervasive problem
in China. Congressman Smith went on to say that if a Uighur or
anyone is arrested, the way they get a conviction is that they
torture you. Eventually, you sign on the bottom line and admit
your so-called crimes.
Again, there is abuse, after abuse, after abuse, and the
Uighurs bear the brunt of it. Imagine sending them back to
China as a solution to the conundrum in which we find ourselves
today. The 2008 human rights report published by our own
Department of State confirms what Congressman Smith and others
have publicly stated. I am going to read just a few excerpts
for the record from that report.
During the year the Chinese Government increased its severe
cultural and religious persecution of the ethnic minorities in
the Tibetan areas and in the Uighur Autonomous Region.
Executions of Uighurs, whom authorities accused of separatism,
but which some observers claim were politically motivated, were
reported during prior reporting periods. Regulations
restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching in placing of
worship, continued to be implemented forcibly in the Uighur
Autonomous Region.
Measures to tighten control over religion in the Uighur
Autonomous Region included increasing surveillance of mosques,
religious leaders and practitioners, detaining and arresting
persons engaged in unauthorized religious activities. The
government in the Uighur Autonomous Region took measures to
dilute expressions of Uighur identity, including measures to
reduce education in ethnic minority languages.
During the year, authorities increased repression in the
Uighur Autonomous Region and targeted the region's ethnic
Uighur population. The Chinese Government continued to repress
Uighurs expressing peaceful political dissent and independent
Muslim religious leaders often citing counterterrorism as the
reason for taking action. The excuse of terrorism to suppress
and oppress a religious minority. Here we are today. Many
Americans are just discovering that there is a group of people
who are called the Uighurs, and today we will learn something
about them.
Although Muslim, we will learn that the Uighur men and
women are not Jihadees but are a peace loving people who seek
religious liberty and are proponents of democracy. We will
learn about their treatment in Communist China and their likely
fade if they should be sent back to China. Well, now let me
turn to my friend and colleague, the ranking member of this
Subcommittee on Oversight and Human Rights, the gentleman from
California, Dana Rohrabacher.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Some people might be surprised to see, Mr.
Chairman, that I am being challenged as being who is the most
anti-Communist on this panel. I would note that last weekend I
was out in the ocean doing what I love to do, which is surfing
at sunset, the beautiful horizon there to the west, and I
thought of the words that Ronald Reagan once told me and has
repeated many times, and I don't want to compete with you, Mr.
Chairman, in terms of talking about your beautiful coastline,
but Ronald Reagan did mention that had the pilgrims landed in
California instead of on Plymouth Rock, the east coast would
still be uninhabited.
I appreciate your remarks today. We have so much to be
grateful for. I realize when I am sitting there on my surfboard
and I am looking into the west and looking into the sunset that
there are people who live on the other side of that lake and we
are grateful for the freedom that we have here but we must
remain in solidarity with human beings who share our values,
whether here, or there, or there. The fact is that America is a
dream, as you pointed out, of a place where we identify with
those people throughout the world who are struggling for their
freedom and their liberty.
If we ever lose that, we have lost the essence of what
America was supposed to be all about. I have always felt that
that is what my particular party was all about, and I am more
than disturbed that some of my fellow Republicans have been
defending the Guantanamo Bay prisoner situation with the worst
possible arguments by focusing on the potential release of 17
Uighurs rather than emphasizing that Guantanamo has been a
perfect location to imprison blood thirsty murderers who would
murder our families, terrorists.
The line of attack on this effort, what I have seen, in
terms of focusing on the release of the Uighurs when trying to
discuss the Guantanamo issue has been a political attack, I
would say a very despicable political attack, which is trying
to frighten the American people at the expense of 17 helpless
human beings. The facts are that the Uighurs are not enemy
combatants and I happen to support, and have always supported,
Guantanamo being used as a location for us to imprison
terrorists who threaten to kill our families, who hate America.
Well, if you believe that, which I felt my fellow
Republicans believed that, we should be the ones who are in the
forefront of trying to make sure that when mistakes are made
that they are admitted and corrected as soon as possible,
otherwise, what kind of people are we if we don't? We know we
are in a terrible fight with terrorists who have already
slaughtered 3,000 of our fellow citizens.
When you fight those kind of battles and you have to have
situations like Guantanamo, it behooves us to go out of our way
and to be as, and to put as much energy as we can into ensuring
that there aren't mistakes made so that the validity of our
battle is underscored. As we say, the Uighurs are not enemy
combatants, they are friends and admirers of the United States,
as I have said in many occasions long before this. Their
enemies are the dictators in Beijing who rule over the People's
Republic of China and invaded, and now occupy, the Uighur
country of east Turkistan.
The Bush administration that held the Uighurs in Guantanamo
labeled them as terrorists to appease the Chinese dictatorship
in a pathetic attempt to gain its support at the beginning of
the war against Iraq and to assure its continued purchase of
U.S. Treasuries. Many, if not all, the negative allegations
against the Uighurs can be traced back to Chinese intelligence
whose purpose is to snuff out an independence movement that
challenges the Communist bosses in Beijing.
No patriot, certainly no Republican, should fall for this
manipulation which has us doing Beijing's bidding. It is a
travesty. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, has been in the
forefront of defending this miscarriage of justice, and
unfortunately, at the service of the Communist Party
dictatorship of China. As early as 2003 for 10, and continuing
through 2008 for others, the United States military concluded
that the Uighurs should be released since early as 2003.
These determinations were predicated on finding that each
Uighur does not pose a continuing threat to the United States
or its allies in our ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda. Two Judges
on the D.C. Federal Panel that reviewed the Uighurs' case, two
of them were appointed by Republicans. The Court found that the
Uighurs had been turned in by Pakistani villagers, not caught
on the battlefield, and also acknowledged that no source
document evidence was introduced to indicate that the Uighurs
had actually joined the east Turkistan Islamic movement, that
is ETIM, or that they had personally committed any hostile acts
against the United States or its coalition partners.
Of course this is moot, however, because the Court also
recognized that there was a failure to establish the ETIM as
being associated with al-Qaeda or the Taliban and because of
this found there was insufficient evidence to classify the
Uighurs as enemy combatants. The Uighurs were also recommended
for release because there is ``substantial support'' for the
claim that the source of evidence against them was Communist
China and that the Judges determined that the case ``maintains
that Chinese reporting on the subject of the Uighurs cannot be
regarded as objective and offers substantial support for that
proposition as well.''
An FBI agent reported that ``the Uighurs are moderate
Muslims who occupy the east Turkistan, which was taken over by
the Chinese and renamed Xinjiang,'' I guess this is how you
pronounce it, ``a province of China.'' The Uighurs were offered
land in Afghanistan in order to gather themselves together in
their personal opposition to Chinese oppression. Uighurs
consider themselves to be fighting for democracy and they
idolized the United States, and this is all from the FBI
determination, ``although the Uighurs are Muslim, their agenda
did not appear to include Islamic radicalism.''
Many conservatives knowledgeable about the facts have also
come out in opposition to holding the Uighurs. I am very proud
of these people, and I think that these people have been
holding true to the values that at least my party is supposed
to be about. It is unfortunate that some other political
leaders in my party have not seemed to be so principled.
The list includes Mickey Edwards, president of the Aspen
Institute, lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton
University; Thomas B. Evans, a former Member of Congress and a
former co-chairman of the Republican National Committee; Bruce
Fein, former Associate Deputy/Associate Attorney General to
Ronald Reagan; David Keaton, chairman of the American
Conservative Union; William Sessions, former Director of the
FBI and former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Texas; John Whitehead, president of the
Rutherford Institute; Laurence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff
to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
All of these my fellow Republicans who have been taking a
principle stand rather than playing politics with the lives of
these 17 Uighurs. An ongoing attempt to appease Communist China
is behind the detention of the 17 Uighurs currently held in
Guantanamo. By detaining the Uighurs, the United States is an
accomplice to China's discrimination against the Uighur people
and the illegal occupation of east Turkistan and we should all
recognize this.
An FBI report noted that Communist Chinese agents were
allowed into Guantanamo in 2002 to interrogate, torture and
threaten these Uighurs even though the United States has
condemned China's human rights abuses of the Uighurs.
Mr. Delahunt. Would the gentleman yield for a moment?
Mr. Rohrabacher. I certainly will.
Mr. Delahunt. I ask the gentleman if he has a memory of the
request that you and I made, myself, as chair of this
subcommittee, and you, as the ranking member, of our
Government, the executive branch, for you and myself to have
access to the Uighur detainees. Do you have a memory of that?
Mr. Rohrabacher. I certainly do.
Mr. Delahunt. While it would appear that Communist Chinese
intelligence agents were granted access, the response to you
and to me was deafening silence. I find that totally
unacceptable and offensive.
Mr. Rohrabacher. It is the type of, well, it is a comment
on the current reality we live with that our Government feels
so subservient to Communist Chinese bosses that their agents
are able to interrogate people who are being held at an
American military base in custody but that members of the
United States Congress are not granted that same privilege.
Amnesty International has found that China ``continues to
brutally suppress any peaceful political, religious and
cultural activities of Uighurs and enforce a birth control
policy that compels minority Uighur women to undergo forced
abortions and sterilization.'' How could we not see that by
detaining these men we were only participants in China's
hateful and discriminatory policies toward the Uighurs, China's
attempt to suppress these people?
The Republican Party should not be in the business of
supporting the Chinese Communist Party's self-serving vision of
what is right and what is wrong. We Americans should stand for
a different principle in this, we should stand above this,
rather than momentary deals made with dictators. If any country
should stand for principle, it should be ours because there is
no hope in the world, not just for the Uighurs, but for anybody
who believes in liberty and justice, unless we Americans hold
firm to our standards and our principles.
Most important in this case, we need to be truthful. I
happen to have always supported Guantanamo Bay as a prison and
I have supported enhanced interrogation during a time when our
country is at war with the radical Islamists who would murder
our people, and did murder our people when they slaughtered
3,000 of our citizens on 9/11. I have three children at home,
my neighbors have children. It is our job to protect the
children and the lives of our people all over the United States
of America.
If we hold that to be true, and we are committed to this
war, and that Guantanamo, I believe, has been playing an
important part of that, we must have the courage to admit our
mistakes when we make mistakes. Whatever human endeavor is made
by the United States or anyone else, mistakes will be made. If
we don't admit our mistakes and we don't try to correct them,
we are adding on to what was a mistake. We are then making it a
sinful decision.
We need to admit a mistake was made when we held the
Uighurs in the first place. They were sent to us to collect a
bounty. That was the motive of people who sent them to us. We
should have realized and been honest enough to realize this
needs much further looking into than in a case where most of
the people who are now being held in Guantanamo, if not all of
them, most of the people being held there were not turned in
for people with a bounty, but instead were picked up on the
battlefield and had much evidence that they had actually come
from other countries to join the al-Qaeda foreign legion and to
basically serve as an army to attack the United States.
So with that said, Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to sit here
with you and to try to bring to light the facts behind this
case, this very murky episode, in the war against radical
Islam. Again, let me just note while we move forward to try to
do justice to the Uighurs and admit our mistakes, I do not
believe that that means that we in some way in this war against
radical Islam, which was declared on us, that we are in a
morally inferior position.
We should be proud of the fact that we are protecting
ourselves and trying to defend the world and the decent people
of this world against this force, you know, that actually holds
all of our values, whether religious freedom or how we treat
women, that it holds them in contempt and would declare us
their enemies. So with that said, let us get down and try to
get the facts out and do our duty. That is what this is about.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Delahunt. Well, thank you, Dana, and never let it be
said that you were not an individual of strong convictions and
profound courage. We agree on very little. I would close
Guantanamo, I am opposed to, I will use the euphemism, enhanced
interrogation techniques, but one thing that I share with my
friend, and he is my friend, is whatever the facts are we will
go there, we will search for the truth. This particular episode
of the Uighurs deserves the kind of transparency that the
President has referred to.
Wherever these 17 men end up, and hopefully they are on
their way to that island in the Pacific, which I understand has
great surfing, Mr. Rohrabacher, whatever happens, it is
important for us to learn from this. I have always respected
anyone who can acknowledge mistakes and learn from those
mistakes, and you clearly are an extraordinary example of that
kind of individual. I have a lot of work to do with you,
however, on some other issues, but we will discuss that in a
private moment.
The vice chair of this subcommittee is Mr. Carnahan. If he
wishes to make a statement.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member.
Just briefly, you know, as we are working to reengage our
allies and partners around the world it is important, I
believe, that we work with all countries on human rights, and
equality and religious freedom. Last week in Cairo, President
Obama spoke about religious freedom. He said that freedom of
religion is central to the ability of people to live together
and that faith should bring us together.
I will be interested to hear what the witnesses have to say
about how they support the Uighur people. Ms. Gaer, your
organization's recent report was mentioned in the article in
The Economist last week that suggested the U.S. needs to
actively support religious freedom as part of our foreign
policy. I would be very interested in hearing your views and to
hear you expand about that. Again, just wanted to thank all the
witnesses for being here today with regard to this important
issue. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Mr. Carnahan. The distinguished
gentleman from New Jersey, we are joined by Mr. Payne. Does he
wish to make a statement?
Mr. Payne. Well, I will be very brief. Let me just commend
you for calling this hearing. I think that it is very
important. It is amazing that we have such positive relations
with the People's Republic of China, a country that says we
will execute these people if they come home. We really ought to
have higher standards. I agree with the chairman, too, that
this so-called enhanced interrogation is wrong. If we bring
ourselves down to where the worst of the world is, then we are
simply wallowing in the gutter.
The sad part is that perhaps some of these Uighurs were
enhancely interrogated. Innocent people should not be subjected
to the brutality of torture; however, and now we are finding
that they will be released, and so that is why it is wrong that
our nation will debate whether, as Mr. Cheney did, should
torture be done? He supported it whole-heartedly. That is not
the purpose for this hearing; however, I am sure that some of
these innocent people were brutalized, and so I can't
understand how some of us can say we embrace it, it is right,
it is the way to go, when innocent people are brutalized, and
anyone is brutalized.
I just returned from an African country where a person was
water boarded, and I have heard about it from time to time, but
to hear him talk about how you are immersed under water and
body hits so you have to take deep breaths as the water comes
in. This is something that we did. It is absolutely wrong. I
yield back. Thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Mr. Payne. I just want it to be
clear. There would appear to be no allegations that I am aware
of that the treatment of the Uighurs by the Americans
implicated any enhanced interrogation techniques. Obviously, we
will make that inquiry. However, what I am unaware of is how
they were treated when those Communist Chinese intelligence
agents were allowed access to those. There are some reports
that there were not only interrogated, but intimidated and
threatened in Guantanamo not by Americans, but by Communist
Chinese intelligence agents.
Mr. Rohrabacher, we are going to make every effort to find
the truth of that particular allegation as well. Now let me
introduce an extremely distinguished panel of witnesses, and
let me begin by introducing a remarkable woman, Ms. Kadeer. She
has led an incredible life and is currently the democratic,
that is a small ``D,'' leader of the Uighur people worldwide.
She is the mother of 11 children and is a former laundress
turned a successful businessperson.
She spent nearly 6 years in a Chinese prison for
criticizing China's human rights violations and defending
Uighur freedom. In 1999, Ms. Kadeer was arrested while on her
way to meet a United States congressional delegation to discuss
human rights issues. For her actions, she was sentenced to 8
years imprisonment in March 2000 following a secret trial.
During her imprisonment, Ms. Kadeer witnessed the beating and
torture of other prisoners and was forced to spend 2 year in
solitary confinement.
Since arriving in the United States, Ms. Kadeer has
actively campaigned for the rights of the Uighur people. She
was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
In 2005, she founded the International Uighur Human Rights and
Democracy Foundation here in Washington, D.C., which again
works to promote human rights for Uighur children and women
living in the autonomous region. In 2006, she became the
President of the Uighur American Association and President of
the World Uighur Congress, which represents the interests of
the Uighur diaspora.
In retaliation for her advocacy, her children have been
persecuted. In spring of 2006, three of her sons were detained
and beaten and other family members, including her brother, her
daughter and several grandchildren, were placed under house
arrest. Currently, two of her sons are in a Communist Chinese
prison for tax evasion in one case, and in the other, for
instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.
President Bush recognized Ms. Kadeer in a speech he
delivered in Czechoslovakia, in Prague, by stating, and these
are his words, ``Another dissident I will meet with here is
Rebiya Kadeer of China whose sons have been jailed on what we
believe is an act of retaliation for her human rights
activities. The talent of men and women like Ms. Kadeer is the
greatest resource for their nations, far more valuable than the
weapons of their army or oil under their ground.'' Ms. Kadeer,
it is an honor for all of us to have you here today and hear
your story.
Next, we welcome Ms. Felice Gaer, chair of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom. Ms. Gaer directs
the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human
Rights of the American Jewish Committee which conducts research
in advocacy to strengthen international human rights protection
in institutions. She is also the first American to serve as an
independent expert on the U.N. Committee against Torture.
Nominated by the Clinton administration and renominated by
the Bush administration, she has served on the committee since
the year 2000, including as vice chair, general rapporteur, and
as year round rapporteur on follow-up country conclusions. She
is also a member on the Council of Foreign Relations and on the
Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch in Europe and central
Asia, and is vice president of the International League on
Human Rights.
She is also a graduate of Wellesley College which is right
outside of Boston, Massachusetts, which is near Plymouth,
Massachusetts, America's hometown, and she has advanced degrees
from Columbia University in New York. Welcome.
I am also pleased to welcome Kara Abramson. She is an
advocacy director at the Congressional Executive Commission on
China where she focuses on ethnic minority rights and religious
freedom in China. She received her bachelor's degree from
Princeton and her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School where she
focused on international human rights law. In addition, she has
studied and researched the Chinese legal system as a Fulbright
fellow in China, she has been published on numerous topics,
including the Uighur Autonomous Region and Chinese legal
education. Welcome to you, Ms. Abramson.
You share, and it is spelled the same way, my daughter's
first name, who I just was notified is delivering my first
grandchild as we speak, so I might be distracted during the
course of this hearing.
Finally, I am also happy that my friend, Nury Turkel, can
join us today. He is a Washington-based attorney whose practice
focuses on commercial and regulatory measures, including
antitrust issues, aviation matters and international
agreements, among other things. In addition to his law
practice, Nury has been, and continues to be, an active Uighur
advocate and has testified not only before the United States
Congress, but also spoken to the United States Military
Academy, the National Defense University and Columbia
University.
He holds both a law and master's degree from American
University here in Washington. Nury, welcome. It is always good
to see you. Let us proceed. I think what we should do is begin
because it is such an honor to have you here, Ms. Kadeer, with
your testimony. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF MRS. REBIYA KADEER, PRESIDENT, WORLD UYGHUR
CONGRESS
Mrs. Kadeer. Before I begin my testimony, Mr. Chairman, I
would like to thank you and thank Congressman Rohrabacher for
holding this very special hearing today. I know that if the
Uighur people knew about how much you are well aware of the
situation of the Uighur people, the suffering today, I know
they would be so delighted that some Members of Congress in the
United States, they actually understand our six decades
suffering under Chinese Communist rule.
Before I begin my testimony, I would like to state on the
record that the Uighur people, together with all the freedom
people, are opposed to terrorism and violence because we know
that the Uighur people are also victim of terrorism. Since I do
not speak English, Uighur American Association Vice President,
Alim Seytoff, will read my statement.
[The following testimony was delivered through an
interpreter.]
Mrs. Kadeer. Thank you for inviting me to speak on the
persecution of the Uighur people by the Government of the
People's Republic of China. Such interest in the plight of the
Uighur people at the highest levels of the U.S. Government
shines a light on the darkest corners of the Chinese Government
repression and gives hope to millions of the Uighur people
across the world. This year, China will enter its 60th year
under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.
The pace of economic develop in the PRC since the inception
of the reform era in the late 1970s has earned the CCP the
admiration of many observers. However, in the rush to praise
modern China, a 60-year history of political repression and the
present day policy of minority persecution has been obscured.
The Uighur people of east Turkistan have long been victims of
CCP's 60 year authoritarian rule.
In the years since the CCP gained control of east Turkistan
in 1949 and before Deng Xiaoping launched his era of economic
reforms, Uighurs were subjects to a number of destructive
Communist-led campaigns and movements. From the purges of east
Turkistan nationalists in the anti rights campaign of the late
1950s to the starvation, exile and destruction of the Cultural
Revolution between 1966 until 1967, Uighurs, along with
millions of other victims, were persecuted by the CCP.
However, Uighurs were also subjected to special campaigns
specifically direct at them so as to dilute their unique ethnic
identity. In early 1960s, the CCP administration investigated a
forced resettlement policy with the aims of dispersing
concentrations of Uighurs and of isolating Uighurs from their
communities. In 1961, my family fell victim to this policy. We
were forced to leave our home and to relocate far from our
friends and relations.
As is apparent, documenting the history of the Uighur
persecution by the Chinese authorities is a long and a detailed
undertaking which is full of personal stories, most likely lost
due to the silencing of Uighur descent throughout the years.
However, in this testimony I would like to focus on the present
day persecution of the Uighurs and use this opportunity to
outline the suffering of the Uighur people which is happening
as we convene here now.
At this point in history, the Uighurs of east Turkistan
face a critical challenge to their very existence as a unique
people. East Turkistan sits on valuable natural resources,
namely oil, natural gas, and is strategically important due to
its proximity to Russia, south Asia and central Asia. The
Chinese Government's thirst for energy to drive its economy and
its growing dominance in global affairs has made the Uighur
presence in east Turkistan an inconvenience.
In order to resolve this, the Chinese Government is
undertaking methodical long and short term measures. These
measures impact every area of Uighur society, including its
politics, economics and culture. The message these measure
spell out is clear: Uighurs must assimilate or face extinction.
Wang Lequan, the Xinjiang party's secretary, has called the
subjugation of the Uighur people a life and a death struggle.
Since 9/11, the Chinese Government has used our Islamic faith
against us and labeled the Uighurs as terrorists to justify
crackdowns and security sweeps as part of the global war on
terror.
The Chinese authorities have also heavily promote the
notion that a coordinated and organized Uighur terror network
exists under the umbrella of an organization called the East
Turkistan Islamic Movement, or something called Turkistan
Islamic Party. It is not certain who are the actual members of
ETIM or TIP. Independent observers are not even sure if ETIM
actually exists. With regard to TIP, dots exist as to whether
it is indeed a group operated by some Uighurs or a shadow
terror organization created by the PRC authorities to demonize
Uighur people's peaceful struggle against Chinese repression.
It is in the national interest of China to have a
radicalized Uighur group, such as ETIM or TIP, to justify the
severe repression it carries out against the Uighur people,
especially after 9/11. Using the terror threat as a pretext in
the pre-Olympics period, the Chinese authorities were able to
detain, arrest and even execute Uighurs for their peaceful
opposition to the Chinese rule in east Turkistan. Because of
time I will skip some of the details, and I am going to come
back to my personal story.
Traveling all over my homeland as a businesswoman and a
philanthropist I witnessed the slow eradication of my people's
religion, language and identity. I tried to help my people out
of poverty, give opportunities to marginalized Uighurs and
speak out against the injustices. For this, I paid a heavy
price. I was once a political prisoner of the Chinese
Government. I spent nearly 5 years in inhumane conditions for
the price of my advocacy on behalf of the Uighur people in
prison.
In prison, I saw for myself torture, cruelty and act on my
people by the Chinese authorities. Even in exile and among free
people in the United States I am aware that I am subject to
harassment from Chinese authorities, including surveillance of
my activities at work and even at home. However, it is my two
sons, Alim and Ablikim, who currently pay a greater price.
Today, they suffer in a Chinese prison convicted on false and
politically motivated charges.
Alim was detained on May 30, 2006, and severely beaten by
Chinese police on June 1, 2006. He was arraigned on Monday,
June 10, 2006, on charges of attempting to split the state. On
June 13, 2006, he was charged with tax evasion as a result of
an investigation into the family business. He has reportedly
been tortured and subject to physical abuse while in detention.
He was reported to have confessed on or around July 1, 2006 to
criminal and political charges against him as a direct
consequence of being tortured by the Chinese authorities.
In November 2006, Alim was sentenced to 7 years in prison
and was fined US$62,500 U.S. dollars deg.on charges
of tax evasion. My second son, Ablikim, was detained on May 30,
2006, as well. He also was severely beaten by Chinese police on
June 1, and he was later hospitalized in June following police
beating and has repeatedly been tortured and subject to severe
medical neglect during his detention and subsequent
imprisonment. He was also severely beaten, especially in his
heart part, so he suffers heart problems today as a result of
torture in Chinese prison.
Ablikim was sentenced to 9 years in prison on charges of
secessionism in April 2007. On May 31 this year, the Chinese
authorities allowed some of my children to separately visit
Alim and Ablikim. Ablikim, who has heart problems as I
indicated, didn't say much during the visit. He did point to
his heart, trying to show that his heart problem is getting
worse. He looked extremely pale and very skinny. Alim, the
other son, say that he had to do heavy prison labor and
suffered tremendously as a result of poor quality of prison
food.
He, too, looked quite skinny. Prison authorities only
allowed family members to give Alim 100 Chinese Yen, which is
equivalent to US$15 U.S. dollars deg., monthly to pay
for his food. Alim also state that he suffers severe stomach
problems for which the authorities did not provide any kind of
medical care. The Uighur people had hoped that the Chinese
Government would honor its pre-Olympic promises to the
international community for a greater respect for human rights.
Instead, Uighurs have seen an intensification of the long-
term persecution it has suffered at the hands of the PRC
authorities. This is a critical time for the Uighur people, so,
in conclusion, I will offer in the context of the long-standing
support shown by the United States to the Uighur people five
recommendations to policy makers on addressing the systemic and
egregious human rights abuses that prevail in east Turkistan.
I ask that the committee encourage the establishment of
independent body to investigate China's systematic human rights
violations of the Uighur people and evaluate the consequences
of China's six decade long repressive policies in east
Turkistan. Second, I ask that the committee work with the U.S.
State Department to establish a consulate in Urumqi, the
regional capital, to monitor and document the deteriorating
human rights situation in the region.
Third, I would like to ask that the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
send officials to visit my children in prison and find out
their situation there. Fourth, to enhance dialogue between Han
Chinese, the Uighurs and Tibetans. I ask that radio free Asia
and voice of America add to their Mandarin services a half-hour
program each week on issues related to east Turkistan and
Tibet. In this way, Mandarin speakers are able to access
information from a different perspective on these two regions.
Lastly, I ask that the committee work with the State
Department again to establish a special envoy on Uighur affairs
to oversee at a senior level the evaluation of Chinese
Government's performance on improving human rights conditions
in east Turkistan and a launch of the dialogue on a solution to
the legitimate grievances and aspirations of the Uighur people.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Kadeer
follows:]Rebiya Kadeer deg.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you so much, Ms. Kadeer. Next, we will
start with Ms. Abramson, and then we will go to Ms. Gaer and we
will end up with Nury Turkel.
STATEMENT OF MS. KARA MIRIAM ABRAMSON, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR,
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
Ms. Abramson. Thank you. In my remarks, I will provide a
brief introduction to the history of the Uighurs and to the
area today known as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is located within the
northwest borders of the People's Republic of China. It
occupies one-sixth of China's total territory, is a resource
rich area and borders eight countries. Its population today is
roughly 21 million, according to official Chinese statistics.
The Uighurs are the main indigenous ethnic group in the
region. They are a Turkic ethnic group that share cultural ties
with Uzbeks, Kazakhs and other central Asian populations, as
well as with the Turks of Turkey. The Uighurs are Sunni Muslim
and speak a language related to Turkish. As these facts
suggest, the Uighurs have a distinct culture and history that
is different from the Chinese. The Uighurs' home, what is today
designated as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region by the
Chinese Government, is often noted as a crossroads of Asia and
a hub on the Old Silk Road. This location helps explain the
region's complex history.
The Government of the People's Republic of China, however,
politicizes and simplifies the region's history to justify its
current control over the area. The Chinese Government today
says that the region has been an inseparable part of China for
millennia. The reality is far different. Ruling powers in China
before the PRC had varying degrees of interaction with, and in
some periods a degree of control, over the region.
For much of their history, Uighurs experienced their own
patterns of political rule apart from China. The Qing dynasty
rulers of China conquered the region in the mid-18th century
and later designated it as Xinjiang Province in 1884, but
control by the Qing and its successors was often tenuous well
into the 20th century. In the 1930s and 1940s, local ethnic
groups declared two independent republics in the region.
Communist forces took control of Xinjiang in 1949, and in 1955,
the PRC Government designated the region as the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region.
This designation means Xinjiang is like a Chinese province,
but in addition is entitled to special legislative powers to
allow in theory for more autonomy in governance and special
protections for ethnic minority populations. In reality, there
are strong limits to this autonomy system to the extent that we
see something that looks like the exact opposite of autonomy in
Xinjiang.
Since the PRC took control of Xinjiang it has left a strong
imprint in the region. As a result of state migration policies,
Han Chinese, the main ethnic group in China, now constitute at
least 40 percent of the region's population, up from around 6
percent in the 1950s. Uighurs, who were 75 percent of the
population in the 1950s, are now around 45 percent based on
official Chinese statistics.
In addition to engineering demographic shifts, we have seen
other longstanding policies to promote assimilation, to remake
aspects of Uighur ethnic and religious identity to conform with
state goals, and to punish peaceful forms of dissent and other
forms of expression. After the Cultural Revolution there was
some leeway to develop and express Uighur identity in the 1980s
but repression in the region has worsened since the 1990s and
the PRC gained momentum to further tighten controls after 9/11.
To end, let me discuss a few of the reasons why we see this
level of repression. First, it is important to remember that
this is a region that is historically and culturally quite
distinct from China, as the Uighurs themselves are distinct
from the Han Chinese. That the region is today a part of China
reflects, among other factors, the strength of the Chinese
Communists in 1949 rather than the democratic will of the
Uighur people.
Given these circumstances, the Chinese Government sees the
region and certain assertions of ethnic and religious identity
as a potential source for separatist movements that could
challenge Chinese control or lead to instability. As China
watched central Asian republics emerge in the 1990s, these
fears became particularly acute. In addition, as I noted,
Xinjiang is a resource rich area. For this, and many other
reasons, China wants to hold on to it.
As for the nature of this separatist movement, Xinjiang
specialists who have looked at available information have
questioned the presence of a real and vigorous separatist
movement inside China, but the Chinese Government nonetheless
perceives a threat. Of course, with the Chinese Government's
track record of manipulating data on terrorist attacks,
conflating peaceful expressions and religious activity with
separatist acts and imposing barriers to freedom of press, it
can be quite difficult to get an accurate picture of the
separatist threat claimed by the Chinese Government. What is
clear, however, is the nature and scope of Chinese Government
repression in the region. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Abramson
follows:]Kara Abramson deg.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you very much. Next, we will go to Ms.
Gaer.
STATEMENT OF MS. FELICE D. GAER, CHAIR, U.S. COMMISSION ON
INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Ms. Gaer. Thank you very much, Chairman Delahunt, and thank
you to the other members for being here and holding this
hearing. It is certainly a timely hearing. Last week we
commemorated the brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
Tiananmen has been a vivid symbol of the Chinese Communist
Party's abuse of its own citizens' right to speak out, to
assemble and make demands on their government. We have rightly
commemorated the many students and activists who protested for
freedom and paid a steep price.
We also have the timeliness of this morning's newspapers
about the Uighur Muslim detainees being likely to be released
and possibly sent abroad. Today we are here to examine another
kind of abuse which is China's egregious repression of the
Uighur Muslim in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is a Federal
bipartisan commission, and we have studied and written about
China for some time.
The Commission has existed for 10 years and we have been
writing about China for 10 years. In 2005 we traveled there. We
also went to the Uighur region. We visited Urumqi and we
visited Kashgar. We have just issued our annual report a month
ago and have an extensive chapter dealing with the entire
situation in China, which I commend to you. Here, I will just
summarize the fact that religious freedom abuses are widespread
in China. Every religious group experiences some type of
harassment, restriction or control.
We believe we should pay close attention to the human
rights situation in Xinjiang Province, a region with an
estimated 8 million Uighurs, the vast majority of whom are
Muslim. We think we should do so because of enduring
restrictions on the Uighur religion and culture, and growing
ethnic tensions between the indigenous Uighur population and
newly arrived Han Chinese migrants, as well as the repression
that we have described.
Xinjiang is sometimes called China's other Tibet. Chinese
Government authorities themselves commonly equate the peaceful
religious practices of Uighur Muslims with religious extremism,
and with separatism, and they use the global war on terror as
an alleged reason to crack down on a wide variety of peaceful
forms of religious activity and expression. Since 9/11, China
has beefed up military and police units in the region, it has
detained thousands of so-called suspected ``separatists'' and
it has severely restricted religious freedoms which are
protected under international law, and frankly, under China's
own constitution.
There have been bombings, there have been other incidents
in Xinjiang Province over the past two decades, but the vast
majority of Uighurs seeking to enjoy their religious, civil,
cultural and economic rights do so peacefully. China's wide
ranging repression of the region's historic Uighur Muslim
religion, language and culture has been widely criticized, in
fact, as being counterproductive.
The Commission has recommended that the United States
should press China to provide transparent information on
terrorist activity in Xinjiang, to open trials of these so-
called religious extremists and to allow international
observers and lawyers access to current prisoners. Chinese
restrictions on peaceful religious activity and expression in
Xinjiang are particularly egregious and they are, in fact,
draconian in scope.
The government continues to limit access to mosques,
including the participation of women, of persons under the age
of 18, of government officials, and of course, of Communist
Party members themselves. Teachers, professors, university
students and other government employees are simply prohibited
from engaging in any religious activities, such as reciting
daily prayers or distributing literature that is religious.
Imams in Xinjiang are required to attend annual political
training seminars to retain their licenses, and local security
forces monitor imams and other religious leaders.
There continue to be an unknown number of Uighurs
imprisoned for reasons related to peaceful religious activity
or religious freedom advocacy. The Commission on International
Religious Freedom, as well as the U.S. Department of State and
Chinese sources themselves, have reported 1,300 arrests and
detentions in the last year, a sharp increase from about 740
last year. Those are their numbers. The details of these cases
are simply not known.
In the year leading up to the Beijing Olympics, government
officials in Xinjiang expanded measures to strengthen control
over Uighur religious activity. Some of the new measures
undertaken include campaigns to ``weaken religious
consciousness.'' That is a quote of the phrase used by the
Chinese leaders.
So campaigns to weaken religious consciousness among women
and among young people, rules to expel religious leaders for
missing required political indoctrination courses, requirements
to monitor students in schools particularly, and also to
monitor them during their school vacations, and also campaigns
to confiscate so-called illegal religious publications and to
close so-called illegal religious centers. Now, the
Congressional Executive Commission on China, the Uighur
American Foundation and our Commission have many more examples
of such restrictions and abuses targeting the Uighurs.
I have limited time so I wanted to concentrate the
remaining time on a few recommendations. First of all,
prisoners. The Commission believes it is important for Members
of Congress to repeatedly raise individual prisoner cases with
Chinese officials and to seek to meet imprisoned Uighurs during
official visits to China. We also wish you luck on getting to
visit the prisoners in Guantanamo. It is important to have such
visits because they raise the profile of these prisoners.
In terms of the visits in China, they would demonstrate the
fact that the United States advocates for religious freedom of
Muslims just as much as it does for Christians, Jews, Bahai's
and Buddhists. Since we do, why not show it? Ms. Kadeer's
children, including Ablikim Abdureyim, need those visits. That
information about the visit in May is extraordinarily important
and moving and it should create a sense of urgency. If we can
get the consulate to go out there, great. If we can't, maybe it
is time for the Congress to try again.
Secondly, we believe that the United States-China human
rights dialogue, which has been reestablished, should be
strengthened. The recently renewed dialogue will include a
working group on human rights, we are told. Will it be focused
on achieving measurable and concrete results or will it only be
a talk shop? The Commission thinks the Congress can play an
important role in suggesting to other parts of the government
that this dialogue can be successful.
The way you can do that is to ask the State Department to
submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees
detailing the extent to which China has made progress on a
series of benchmarks and issues specified by the Congress.
Congress has done this in the case of Vietnam. No reason you
couldn't do the same thing with regard to China.
Third recommendation. Raising Chinese human rights issues
at the United Nations. The U.S. has recently rejoined the Human
Rights Council, been elected as a member. It is present, and a
presence, at the General Assembly and other bodies as well.
The commission believes the United States should raise
publicly concerns about human rights abuses against the Uighurs
in appropriate multilateral and international fora, including
the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, and that it
is important to ensure that preparations for such action are
made at appropriately high levels. Working year round with
these bodies, the United States can help produce the type of
multinational attention that can command attention in China and
improve compliance with human rights standards by its
government.
Fourth, the Commission urges the Obama administration to
take targeted action under the International Religious Freedom
Act of 1998. The Congress created this act. Our Commission
exists because of it. Under it, the United States Government
identifies the systematic and egregious violators of freedom of
religion on an annual basis. If a country is so designated, as
China has been for many years now, that country also will be
identified with certain ``Presidential actions.''
Unfortunately, previous administrations have used preexisting
sanctions only, sanctions that were first put in place after
Tiananmen.
There have been no unique sanctions with regard to China
that deal with religious freedom. Such a practice provides
little incentive for China to address the religious freedom
violations, including those that are in Xinjiang Province. The
Commission recommends a break with the past on these practices,
that there should be new Presidential actions or sanctions that
would focus either on state agencies or officials in the area
where the problems are, those who are responsible for egregious
religious freedom conditions.
Xinjiang and its officials could be the target of such
sanctions as one of the worst offenders of religious freedom in
China. We hope that Members of Congress can help the Commission
make the strongest case for such action directly with the White
House and the Department of State. Finally, we echo the
recommendation made by Ms. Kadeer about opening a consulate in
Urumqi. It would be a dramatic addition.
Finally, we believe that there should be a transparent
mechanism created in China for reviewing cases of persons
detained under suspicion of offenses related to state security
or participating in so-called illegal gatherings or religious
activities. They have been barely afforded any due process.
There is a need to look again there. We hope you can help with
that as well. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Gaer
follows:]Felice Gaer deg.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you so much, Ms. Gaer. Last, but
certainly not least, Mr. Turkel. Nury, would you please
proceed.
STATEMENT OF MR. NURY TURKEL, UIGHUR RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND
ATTORNEY
Mr. Turkel. Thank you. Chairman Delahunt, Ranking Member
Rohrabacher and members of the subcommittee, I want to thank
you for holding this hearing. I am extremely grateful for your
interest and leadership in examining the critical issues
affecting the future of the Uighur people, including the
problem of economic, social, cultural discrimination, denial of
religious freedom, the impact of so-called war on terror in
Chinese version, and China's misuse of its global influence,
and finally, the fate of the 17 Uighur prisoners in Guantanamo.
The Uighur people greatly appreciate any efforts that could
help promoting and protecting their freedoms, including the
rights to be Muslim. Like Tibetans, Uighurs have endured
decades of discrimination, brutal oppression under Communist
Chinese rule. According to various human rights organizations,
Uighurs are almost without exception the only ethnic group in
China to be regularly executed for nonviolent political
offenses.
Since 9/11 in particular, Beijing has taken advantage of
antiterrorism sentiment using the United States-led war on
terror as an excuse to oppress Uighurs with impunity, including
many who have peacefully protested their treatment. Ironically,
China regularly portrays Uighur historians, poets, writers, as
intellectual terrorists and jailed them for expressing their
ideas in the written and spoken word. Today, Uighurs face not
just daily humiliation and discrimination but harsh
persecution, and even threat of cultural and religious
extinction.
A few years ago Chinese Communist Party Chief Wang Lequan
said ``Xinjiang will always keep up the intensity of its
crackdown on ethnic separatist forces and deal them devastating
blows without showing any mercy.'' As promised, over the past
several years Chinese leaders brutally punish Uighurs who even
peacefully express dissent and who actively oppose China's
ongoing onslaught against Uighurs' ethno-national identity.
These aggressive policies are mostly targeted against
Uighurs' religious and cultural identity. Now I would like to
discuss challenges the Uighurs face under Chinese Communist
rule in greater detail. China's cultural repression of the
Uighurs is not reactive. It is a deliberate policy to control,
monitor and sterilize Uighur culture so it cannot be a vehicle
for self-rule and even challenge to the Communist state.
A key component of this effort is to eliminate literary,
academic and professional use of the Uighur language. Since
2002, the bilingual education policy has mandated the use of
Mandarin Chinese as a primary language of instruction for
Uighur students throughout the education system. This is a
precision attack, a cruise missile, if you will, against Uighur
culture in attempt to dumb it down and subvert it Mandarin
Chinese.
I think Communist China's top man in the Uighur region,
Wang Lequan, made Chinese intentions very clear when he said
the adoption of the Chinese will improve the quality of ethnic
minorities because indigenous language are out of the step with
the 21st century. Mr. Chairman, Uighurs were the stewards of
the central Asian Silk Roads and the Uighur cultural background
makes them well-suited to promote trade and keep up with the
pace of the globalization. The beauty of the Uighur culture
does not need Wang Lequan or other Communist leaders'
improvements.
China's plan for Uighurs continue. Just last week China
Daily quoted a chairman of Xinjiang regional government, Nur
Bekri, as saying that ``terrorists from neighboring countries
mainly target Uighurs that are relatively isolated from
mainstream society as they cannot speak Mandarin that are then
tricked into terrorist activities.'' Mr. Chairman, these
troubling comments imply that those Uighurs who can speak only
their native language are inherently terrorist suspects, and
therefore, government must force the Chinese language upon
them.
In other words, the parlance of Chinese Communists double
speak. Mr. Bekri is attempting to justify a language planning
policy aimed at eliminating the Uighur language in the
education system on security grounds. Clearly, this is another
attempt to label peaceful Uighurs as terror suspects and
indicates intensification in the Chinese authority's campaign
against the Uighur language. Chinese Government does not stop
at the Uighur language. It also openly attacked Uighur culture
and history.
The current Communist leadership in Beijing, taking
Chairman Mao's advice to use the past to serve the President,
has engaged in open and concerted efforts to revise Uighur
nation's history to fit their world view that Uighur homeland
has been part of China since ancient times. As a result,
cultural promotion and research are plainly frowned upon by the
Communist authorities, with historians, cultural leaders,
researchers and activists detained and subjected to long
prisons.
Even writers of fiction have been accused and punished for
advocating so-called splittist thinking. For instance, in 2005,
a young intellectual, Nurmemet Yasin, was sentenced to a decade
in prison for writing allegorical short story comparing the
plight of the Uighur people to that of a caged pigeon. The
assault on Uighur identity has recently escalated to include
the demolition of traditional Uighur buildings in Kashgar.
Uighur home, ancient bazaars and mosques will be destroyed.
Mr. Chairman, I was born in Kashgar. I was born and raised
in Kashgar. It is a serious blow to know that 1,000 years of
Uighur culture and history integrated through the physical
space and architecture of an old city will be destroyed as a
result of China's political motivated policies. It will be
immeasurable loss for the Uighur people. It will also be a loss
for the citizens of the world as the atrophy of the global
cultural heritage sites continues. Before the plans complete, I
urge you to attempt to visit Kashgar, if Chinese will let you,
to see my home one last time before they destroy it completely.
I would like to now talk about how the Chinese Government
has systematically used Uighurs' religious identity to further
their policies. The Chinese constitution, law and propaganda
all insist that ethnic minorities enjoy religious freedom, but
the Uighurs are given significantly less breathing space than
other Muslim minorities. Reason for this is that China sees
Uighurs' ethno-national identity as disloyal to the Communist
state, and Islam is perceived as feeding this Uighur ethnic
identity.
Apparently, even in the United States or in the west the
Uighur religious identity also made them an easy target for
slander and falsehood. Recently, a few pundits have claimed
that the Uighurs' ultimate goal is to establish Sharia Law-
based state. This is patently false and strangely echoes
Chinese propaganda. It is deeply perplexing and equally
worrying that some Western media have helped to further this
perception with reports that include no examination of Chinese
propaganda claims that the Uighurs are not religious extremists
or radicals.
In fact, in the early part of the last century, the
Uighurs' homeland of east Turkistan was the first secular and
democratic republic to be established in the Muslim world
outside of Turkey. The Uighur case is proudly secular and
democratic with guarantees of religious freedom and for
peaceful enjoyment of this and other fundamental human rights.
Mr. Chairman, the Uighurs' domestic and international
travel has been restricted as well, specifically in two forms:
Racial profiling and confiscation of passports. Chinese
Government propaganda campaigns against the Uighur people have
made them subject to racial profiling in Chinese cities.
Uighurs have been easily identified and targeted because of
their appearance and ethnic origin. Basic services, such as
lodging, transportation, even public bath houses, are not
available for Uighurs in Chinese cities.
For example, in 2008 hotels and bath houses in Beijing's
Haidian District were ordered not to allow the Uighurs and
Tibetans to use their facilities. Also, large numbers of
passports belonging to the Uighurs have been confiscated since
early 2007, and that is making it impossible for Uighurs to
travel abroad for business or educational purposes, or to visit
family members abroad as part of family reunification, or for
family and community events, such as wedding, funerals, or to
go to religious pilgrimage, including hadj.
All citizens of China, there is a fundamental difference,
with the exception of Tibetans and the Uighurs can generally
obtain passports through a fairly simple process. In the
foreign countries, specifically for the Uighurs who managed to
flee Communist China by crossing into neighboring central Asian
and south Asian countries, for example, are extremely
vulnerable for being deported back to China under bilateral
agreement that completely ignore and undermine international
refugee laws which are often a result of China's growing
untoward influence upon its country's political and security
structures.
Just recently Pakistan had deported several Uighurs for
suspect of being involved in a Uighur political movement. In
conclusion, let me say this, Mr. Chairman. Discrimination and
restriction of movement, denial of services at hotels and other
establishments, makes Uighurs feel second class citizens within
China. Communist China is using policy which, in my view, are
being used to not marginalize, if not wipe out, the Uighur
identity.
Uighur culture have adopted and thrived for centuries, and
the Uighurs do not seek isolation. The Uighurs must be allowed
to worship, speak, write and think without fear of reprisal.
The Uighur people admire American foundational, American ideals
of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Many Uighurs, we
view the United States as a beacon of hope that will assist
them in their quest for the same fundamental freedom and basic
human dignity.
The Uighur people are fully in agreement with American
beliefs that to end the tyranny in the world and the consequent
spread of true democracy and respect for human rights are best
defense against radical extremism of any kind. Mr. Chairman,
America needs to be Uighurs main source of hope. To accomplish
that, to do that, President Obama should publicly express
serious concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation
in east Turkistan.
Also, a senior State Department official, preferably the
new ambassador, should visit the Uighur region idly to meet
with a dissident and family members of political prisoners.
Finally, United States should allow 17 Uighurs currently
languishing in Guantanamo in the United States. The Uighurs are
the human face of the mistakes made in Guantanamo. There is no
better way to fix those mistakes other than bringing the
Uighurs into the United States and let them restart their lives
and be proud of this proud Uighur-American community here, in
this country. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Turkel
follows:]Nury Turkel deg.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Nury. I am going to ask the vice
chair to take the chair for a moment as I have some calls to
make, but let me call on the ranking member for his questions.
Mr. Rohrabacher.
Mr. Rohrabacher [presiding]. Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman. There have been many false statements made about the
Uighurs in the last 6 months to a year, and I think the best
and most effective way to combat falsehood is not to ignore a
charge, but instead, to explore it and talk about it, and so I
am going to be pursuing information from you and ask you
questions based on charges that I certainly do not agree with
but I think they need to be answered in the public so the
public will be able to have that information available to them.
Perhaps the most sinister of the charges about the 17
Uighurs being held at Guantanamo is that these are people who
believe in Sharia Law and that they are radical Islamists who
are tied to al-Qaeda; after all, that is why they were in
Afghanistan, and that thus, on the face of it, that they would
pose a threat to the United States. That is perhaps a
capsulization of the charge that was made or the statements
that were made to justify the continued incarceration of the
Uighurs in Guantanamo. So let me ask that.
Mr. Turkel, you mentioned specifically that Uighurs do not
believe in Sharia Law. First of all, in general, is that
accepted by the panel, that the Uighurs as a whole are not
people who are aiming to try to create a society based on
Sharia Law? We will ask specifically also about those
particular 17 Uighurs in Guantanamo. We will start with Mr.
Turkel and go down.
Mr. Turkel. In order to answer that question, Mr.
Rohrabacher, we have to look at the political history of the
Uighurs, and philosophy of the Uighurs and culture of the
Uighurs. Historically, Uighurs had twice established a secular
republic. First time in 1933, second time in 1944. Both of
those republics were established or led by very religious
leaders. The president of the first republic was the person who
translated Koran into Uighur, and yet, he embraced the
republican system of government rather than establishing a
Sharia Law-based society or country. He thought all the Turks,
Turkey is a good example to follow.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay. Is that what people today, the
leadership and various people in that area, believe today as
well?
Mr. Turkel. I believe that tradition continues because the
vast majority of the Uighurs believe the best way to run a
healthy society or healthy government is to separate religion
from the politics.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay.
Mr. Turkel. They believe in the secular nature of the
society. Also, in the second republic in 1944, the President,
Elihan Tore, himself is a very religious person, and yet, he
formed secular, diverse government which included even Han
Chinese.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay. Yes. What is your reaction to these
charges?
Ms. Gaer. Thank you. Well, first of all, I can't say that
we have any information about the 17 specifically and any views
that they have. I suppose when they get to be released, whether
it is in Palau or elsewhere, we will have an opportunity to ask
those questions. As far as Uighur Muslims, and the Uighur
culture and religious expression, we have a population here
that is trying to express Islam as they know it in a situation
which is very hostile to it.
When you go into mosques and see signs that say who can and
who can't be there displayed visibly, when you see schools
being retreaded by Communist officials who have little sympathy
for religion at all, you understand that they are struggling
for certain basic rights as, really, just people. There was no
discussion whatsoever of Sharia Law as a desire among any of
the imams, religious officials or others that we met with in
Kashgar or in that region.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay. All right. That is a good. Ms.
Kadeer?
Mrs. Kadeer. The Chinese Government has been aggressively
portraying and demonizing as Uighurs displeasure with the
Chinese Government rule as terrorism and also Islamic
radicalism, but in my more than 60 years of life, the only time
I realized about the existence of such terrorism is because of
the 9/11 and the things happen on that tragic day. Later, we
learned some of the Uighurs went to Afghanistan. Then we learn
about the so-called organization called the East Turkistan
Islamic Movement. Recently, we also saw some of the video
footage put out by another organization purporting to represent
the Uighurs.
What is shocking to us is we are not aware of who these
people are, and also, they appear on YouTube at the critical
juncture, especially when there is a serious discussion about
potentially releasing the Uighurs at Guantanamo or when we, the
World Uighur Congress, have something major, important events,
they appear on YouTube. These people appear on YouTube and they
all slander all our supporters in the west and all the people
that support the Uighur people's peaceful struggle.
So Uighur people are very delighted to have the support of
the western democracies. Also, throughout my life I haven't
seen like Uighurs like that who appear on YouTube making that
kind of outrageous claims or statements. So we have questions
about the backgrounds of those people and as to why they are
making those statements.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay. Let me just be very specific about
this. So it is your testimony to us today that the Uighur
peoples are not struggling in order to create a society based
on Sharia Law but more on a society based on freedom for the
people to worship God as they see fit.
Mrs. Kadeer. That is the wish of all the Uighur people, not
to have this Sharia Law-based Islamic state, but rather freedom
of religion for all and a democratic state. That is why the
Uighur people chose a woman like me to be their leader.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Right. Have you ever been asked, have
people insisted that you cover your body in the way that they
insist in Sharia Law countries?
Mrs. Kadeer. No, nobody asked me and they don't even ask me
to wear that. There is no coercion among the Uighur people. The
Uighur people are very freedom loving, they are very jolly,
happy people. They love music, they love singing, and we are
hearing this kind of negative propaganda only because of the
Chinese Government's role in demonizing the Uighur people. Then
we see in some of the western media portraying us as this
fundamental extremist people.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Unfortunately, there have been some anti-
Communists who have been parodying this charge without looking
into it and it is very important that we are on the record
about this today, this specific issue. Ms. Abramson, what about
you? Have you discovered in your studies an intonation toward
establishing a Sharia Law-based state in that part of the
world?
Ms. Abramson. So what I have seen in looking at Uighur
history and Uighur religious practices, Uighurs have practiced
a form of Islam that has been influenced by Sufi practices. It
contains a lot of features that, say, al-Qaeda would rally
against. So this is the type of religion, type of religious
practice that is very different from the charges, the type that
you described. I do think that the charges that you described
have gained some currency because the Chinese Government has
been so vigorous in painting the Uighurs as ``extremists'' and
people who engage in ``illegal religious activity.''
So I think it is useful for just a second to take a look at
what that means. Basically, that can mean anything outside of
the tightly controlled, narrow space for Chinese Government
state approved religious activity, including, say, holding an
unauthorized religious class for children. So this is what gets
painted as ``illegal religious activity'' or can be described
as ``extremism.''
So that people can get a better sense of what this means, I
would just like to refer listeners, everyone here in the room,
to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's political
prisoner database which contains cases of Uighurs imprisoned
for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of religion.
Mr. Rohrabacher. The charges that are being brought up and
trying to create a false impression are basically that what we
have here is just the making of another radical Islamic state,
and so I find what the panel is saying, that that charge is
just, and correct me if I am wrong, totally wrong, and false
and probably the product of Communist Chinese propaganda.
Ms. Abramson. We certainly haven't seen evidence of it.
Mr. Rohrabacher. All right. With that, I will ask some more
questions later on but I will yield back to my chairman.
Mr. Delahunt [presiding]. We are joined by the gentleman
from Texas, Mr. Poe. Mr. Poe, we will give you your opportunity
now to inquire of the panel.
Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It seems to me that our
foreign policy treats different folks different ways. You know,
the Chinese Government is our economic buddies, so because they
are our buddies, we don't criticize them as much as we will,
you know, the North Koreans, or the Iranians, for God's sake.
Because they control our debt, and who would have thought they
are now going to be making Hummers, we treat them different as
a nation. So personally I am somewhat skeptical about what the
government says about what is taking place in China, our
Government, and I don't trust anything the Chinese Government
says about the way they treat their own people.
So my concern is we have got to cut through the chase and
figure out exactly what is taking place. The Uighurs that are
in Guantanamo Bay prison, it bothers me that since that is
supposedly our prison we let any foreign country come in there
and talk to what now they claim are their nationals, whether it
is China or any other nation. So the President has announced
Guantanamo Bay prison is going to close. What do we do with the
Uighurs? Who wants to tell me what to do with them?
Mr. Delahunt. Would the gentleman yield for a moment?
Mr. Poe. Certainly.
Mr. Delahunt. I don't know if you are aware but there was
an announcement very early this morning that the nation of
Palau, and I know you visited there----
Mr. Poe. That near Texas?
Mr. Delahunt. It is west of Texas. Let me just leave it
like that. Has agreed to take the 17 Uighurs that are detained
there. I have had an opportunity to discuss with my ranking
member where do we go from here? I think you know both of us,
and I think you know that we have very divergent views, but at
the same time, I believe it is important to proceed to
investigate how those who are currently there, and those that
were there previously, arrived there, how they were screened
and what information did the United States rely on in terms of
detaining them?
I have acknowledged that the Bush administration did clear
them, declared them to be noncombatants and not a threat to the
United States, and that was obviously a decision that was
rendered recently by a Federal District Court, but I think that
I am accurate when I say that the ranking member and myself are
concerned that our Government has relied on intelligence coming
from the Chinese to make decisions. Some of our colleagues have
expressed grave concerns about releasing the Uighurs into the
United States. Well, that is not going to happen.
I hope that their statements are not based upon information
coming from the Chinese intelligence services. I am concerned
that some of us have been duped by the Chinese Communists. I
think it is very important that we take the case of the Uighurs
and now that it is moot in terms of what we are going to do
with them that we find out what happened. I don't know if you
are aware, Ted, but both myself and Mr. Rohrabacher did request
to go to Guantanamo and interview the Uighurs detainees.
We had secured the consent of their attorneys. Their
attorneys felt very comfortable in having their clients release
them so that Mr. Rohrabacher, and myself and our staffs could
go and interview them. We were denied, but we have discovered
that in I think it was the year 2003 that Chinese Communist
intelligence agents were allowed access to the Uighur
detainees.
There is also some evidence that indicated that not only
were they interrogated, but they were threatened. That simply
cannot stand. If that is accurate, we should take lessons as we
move forward on the issue of Guantanamo. I yield back. I thank
the gentleman for giving me some of his time.
Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you said, and you may
recall that in one of our Foreign Affairs Committees I
volunteered to accompany you to Guantanamo Bay prison to visit
them as well, and it is unfortunate that our own Government
denies Members of Congress access to those prisoners when they
will let foreign governments come in and interview those
prisoners.
Mr. Delahunt. The gentleman will further yield?
Mr. Poe. Yes.
Mr. Delahunt. I am willing to go to Palau and have a
conversation with the Uighurs somewhere in the South Pacific.
If the gentleman wants to accompany myself and Mr. Rohrabacher,
I think that we can get the truth out because I have had a
conversation with their attorneys and the version that is being
echoed here in the United States right in the halls of Congress
I suspect is absolutely false and is reflective of intelligence
that had been provided to the United States Government by the
Chinese, by the Communist Chinese, not by independent sources.
I yield back.
Mr. Poe. Reclaiming my time. That is really my biggest
concern is that we are basing American foreign policy decisions
upon what the Chinese Government tells us. That should be
highly suspect, but because they are our trading partners, you
know, we will accept their word when other people who don't
have an economic tie to the United States, we reject what they
say.
The only way we are going to get to the truth about all of
this is I think Congress has an obligation to find out exactly
what is taking place. China's history of human rights is a
problem when their now young people deny that even Tiananmen
Square took place 20 years ago because their own country is
telling them that never happened. I think human rights, if we
are for human rights, we ought to be concerned about human
rights, even with our economic buddies. So I will yield back
the remainder of my time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. I thank the gentleman. There has been a
reference to a purported act by one of the Guantanamo detainees
that that individual smashed a TV set because the presentation
on the television involved a woman with bare arms. Now, I give
you that because that appears to be some evidence that is being
offered by some here in Washington that the Uighurs represent
an extreme version of Islam. I put the question to the panel.
Let me start with Mr. Turkel. Is that something that the
version of Islam that is practiced by the Uighur community
would find so repugnant that an individual would throw a TV set
against the wall?
Mr. Turkel. Congressman, I appreciate that question. First
of all, that incident is not what it is being described in L.A.
Times. That is an almost 3 years old incident. It has nothing
to do with, as far as I know, a woman bare arm. I wasn't at
Guantanamo when that story broke out 3 years ago. The thing
about the Uighur person not being tolerant for a woman in the
modern attire is absurd at best. The Uighurs are very secular,
open and modern people.
The Uighur woman plays a dominant role in the Uighur
society, and family, and business. Even politics. We have a
Uighur female leader sitting with us in here. So that story
does not have any factual backing, as far as I know, for a
couple of reasons. One, the Uighurs don't have such a culture
of not being tolerant to a woman who is in modern attire. The
second is the TV is still there. It is not a real TV, it is a
combo.
If it is still the same TV, I have seen that TV. It is a
combo. It does not hook up with cable. They play some Animal
Planet or some Harry Potter movies. It is not a regular TV that
you watch and flip channels. That does not reflect the true
nature of the Uighur people.
Mr. Delahunt. You mentioned, Nury, and I am just want to
have repeat because Mr. Rohrabacher elicited the answer but I
think it is worth repeating because there is so much
misinformation that exists because it gets repeated again, and
again, and again and it gets amplified. It is the technique, if
you will, of the big lie. I will start with you and ask
everyone else again the question, and you mention it in your
statement, that the Uighur people do not seek to create a state
based on Sharia Law. Is that accurate, and is that your
opinion? Let me proceed down the line.
Mr. Turkel. That is not an accurate description of the
Uighurs' ultimate goal. It is not only false, but it is
invented just because the Uighurs happen to be Muslim and they
should carry the hat of others who wanted to fighting for that
goal. Uighurs wanted to be treated like a human being. Uighurs'
struggle is one for national existence and national survival.
It has nothing to do with setting up or establishing a Sharia
Law-based society. There is no historic probe, there is no
cultural support or no philosophical support to prove that
invented claim.
Mr. Delahunt. Ms. Gaer?
Ms. Gaer. Well, I have said before that our understanding
is that the basic aim of most Uighur Muslims is to try to
practice religion peacefully and normally. Now, we don't know
the particulars of this television case or anything else like
that. I don't think people should be destroying government
property or even threatening to do that, but we don't know the
particulars of that case or not. Individual, what a particular
individual does or doesn't espouse doesn't necessarily mean a
whole people espouse it.
So whether or not there is anything to it, to make the
claim from that that all Uighurs therefore want some form of
radical Islam seems to me to be a gross leap, at a minimum,
logical and factual.
In that context, however, there has been a lot of
discussion among experts about the fact that repression breeds
radicalization, and that Chinese repression of religion to the
degree that we have described to you--where everyone is
watched, where you can pray, what you can say, where you can go
and when is so carefully monitored that in a situation like
that, repression breeds radicalization. That is one of the
worries we have to be watching for. That is one of the
strongest reasons for the Chinese to ease up.
Mr. Delahunt. Ms. Kadeer?
Mrs. Kadeer. First of all, to clarify is the Uighur
people's struggle between the Chinese state, this is not based
upon religion. It is also a fact that after China's military
takeover of east Turkistan in 1949 and the establishment of the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in 1955 the Uighur people
have really not enjoyed a day of peace under CCP rule.
One thing I would like to cite is that Xinjiang's Chief
Justice, his name is Rozi Ismail, on January 18, 2008, he
declared at one of the judicial conferences that during the
previous 5 years the local authorities actually arrest more
than 15,000 people relates on security and terrorism charges.
Also, during pre and after Olympic period, the Chinese
authorities also arrest more than 1,300 Uighurs. So as result,
so many Uighurs suffering. In fact, many of us here, our
relatives, are languishing in Chinese prisons or suffering in
many ways.
This kind of suffering continues. As you know, there is no
due process. Uighurs can never hire attorneys to defend the
charges under Chinese judicial system, and the Chinese
authorities imprison detainee and execute Uighurs for simply
expressing their wish. So we just happen to be a people who
believe in Islam.
Unlike other groups, we suffer under the same authority and
regime in Beijing, but it is just because of our religious
affiliation where our peaceful struggle, legitimate
aspirations, have been demonized successfully by the Chinese
authorities and to some extent, unfortunately, accepted by some
countries, and even the media, to be very cautious about the
way we peacefully struggle for our freedoms and rights. Just as
Tibetans, we are struggling in the precise same thing.
So our struggle is not religious struggle. We are not
seeking a religious state. Our struggle is precise, like the
Tibetans, all the other people who are suffering. We want
freedom. Yes. We did talk about religious persecution and our
demand for religious freedom, but that is not what inspires us
to peacefully struggle.
Which groups of their, you know, unmarried young woman,
ages from 15 to 25, could be just easily transferred to eastern
part of China like hundreds of thousands of them? Which people
wouldn't, you know, express displeasure to that kind of policy?
So who and which people wouldn't stand up for their rights
under this kind of six decade long repression? So thank you for
listening to what I had to say. With regard to Guantanamo, just
one comment. As long as the Uighurs at Guantanamo are released
and relocated, resettled in a western democracy, we are happy.
As long as they are not sent back to China. Thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. Ms. Abramson?
Ms. Abramson. Well, the other panelists, I think, have
articulated it quite nicely. I would simply add in terms of the
question of Islam as how it is practiced in Xinjiang and the
role of women, women have played a prominent role, of course,
in the social life of the Uighurs, and Ms. Kadeer is of course
strong evidence of that, as others have noted, but also, women
have played a prominent role in the religious life of the
Uighurs, and so I think that can help answer the question as
well.
Mr. Delahunt. What would the view be, Ms. Abramson, of
those who are followers of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in
terms of the form of Islam practiced by the Uighurs in China?
Ms. Abramson. Yes. The form of Islam as practiced inside of
Xinjiang contains a lot of features that al-Qaeda would, I
think, be opposed to, would rally against. So it is, for
instance, traditional forms of Islam in the region have been
influenced by Sufi mysticism, by pre-Islamic traditions, and so
these are things that would be opposed by al-Qaeda and similar
groups.
Mr. Delahunt. They would consider the form practiced by the
Sufis of the Uighur community as being an apostate practice, if
you will.
Ms. Abramson. I think that could certainly be likely. Yes.
Mr. Delahunt. Right. So there is no connection?
Ms. Abramson. None that I have seen. None that our
commission has observed.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr. Chairman, if you would indulge me one
moment?
Mr. Delahunt. Of course.
Mr. Rohrabacher. You made several points today about the
influence that China, the Chinese dictatorship, is having on
American policy. I think that may be, there are two elements
coming out of this hearing that I think are of great concern to
moral people. Number one is the treatment of the 17 individual
Uighurs at Guantanamo. That is number one. That is a moral
issue. The second issue that I think is being raised is perhaps
their plight is reflected in a manipulation of American policy
by the Communist Chinese dictatorship.
Let me just note for the record that one of the witnesses
that was called for this hearing and that we would hope would
have appeared bowed out of an agreement to come here to testify
today for fear of retribution by the Communist Chinese.
So this threat to freedom and this threat that we are
trying to recognize today to America, and development of our
own policy can be felt right here in this hearing room today as
we give our foreign policy about Korea over to the Communist
Chinese regime, as we make sure that we don't say anything
about Tibet and repression of their people in Tibet, we
hesitate to do that because of fear of alienating the regime in
Beijing. We have felt that same type of influence right here in
this hearing room.
Mr. Delahunt. Reclaiming my time. I think it is important
to note that until today's announcement, and I am not sure,
again, that it has been confirmed fully by our own Government,
but the difficulty that the United States had in terms of
finding a suitable venue for the resettlement of the Uighurs,
who, according to our system of justice are free to go, was
extremely difficult because other nations, including western
democracies, were profoundly concerned about the reaction of
the Communist Chinese Government.
I think what we are learning is the influence and the power
that goes far beyond just this simple issue, Mr. Rohrabacher,
and it is not a simple issue. Let me pose a question to Mr.
Turkel and Ms. Kadeer. If Speaker Gingrich had his way and the
17 Uighurs had been returned to China, what would their fate
have been in your opinion?
Mr. Turkel. I appreciate that question. It will be
equivalent of giving a one way ticket to death. As I stated in
my testimony, the Uighur region according to various human
rights reports, the only region in China where people would
face death penalty for political offenses. The Guantanamo
Uighurs ultimately stated that they have a philosophical
animosity toward communism. That itself is a crime. It is a
punishable crime.
Second thing, in relation to that Guantanamo saga that we
been working the last several years, I would like to say this
on the record, that the Uighurs in Guantanamo not for the
danger that they posing against the Americans but for the
danger China causes them. The Bush administration State
Department publicly stated that it reach out to over 100
countries and asked them for help and most of them, from what
we know, refused or declined to help because of possible damage
to its relationship with Communist China.
It looks like the American diplomats trying to book a lunch
with the European allies. China has already arranged a fancy
dinner with the countries. So that is one possible reason.
Speaking of that academic, harassing American experts who
specialize in Uighurs, I have been disturbed and very
disappointed by our Government's apparent action or silence,
not protecting American academics who specialize in Uighur
issue.
A few years ago there was a book published by Johns Hopkins
University Society School and more than 10 American scholars
authored that book and most of them categorically blacklisted
by Communist China and they cannot travel to China. Exception
to two of them. Any time they were invited to speak at any
event, whether it was related to Uighurs or China, they got
phone call, from what I know, from the Chinese embassy. You
know, they are academics. They need to continue their academic
life. The U.S. Government should step up and protect the
American academics' freedom of research.
Ironically, United States Government does not apparently
bother Chinese Communist academics coming to here and sitting
in a classroom writing and criticizing the government.
Apparently the Chinese Government another way been very
successful harassing and bullying around our academics. I don't
think that should be allowed.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Nury. Ms. Kadeer, if the Uighur
detainees whom some suggested be sent back to China, what do
you believe their fate would have been?
Mrs. Kadeer. If those Uighurs were returned to China, the
first thing I believe the Chinese authorities would do is to
torture them until they sign a confession that they committed
acts of terrorism, they are terrorists. When I was imprisoned
for the first 2 years at the solitary confinement they
basically said I had to sign that I did steal China's national
and state secrets. They also forced me to appear on a video to
state that I stole China's state secrets.
I believe that I was spared from physical torture by the
Chinese authorities because of international intervention and
involvement of my case, but I did see Chinese prison guards
torture Uighurs in front of me in prison. If those 17 Uighurs
were returned, they would be tortured and forced to sign a
confession, they would be videotaped and shown on TV, then
taken for execution. Then they will show the tapes to the U.S.
Government and to United Nations to prove that those were
terrorists.
Then the Chinese Government will claim now United States is
their buddy and ally in the war on terror. If the Uighurs, you
know, legitimately stand up to the Chinese Government, they are
also enemies of the United States and they will be sent back by
the U.S. to us so we can do whatever with the Uighurs
ourselves. So I would like to thank the U.S. Government and
international human rights groups for saving my life, otherwise
I would be long dead in a Chinese prison myself. Thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. I would like to pose, and I don't want to go
too far astray from the focus of this hearing because, as I
said, there will be other hearings, but we are talking about
the 17 that have, and are currently, detained. I would like to
know if any of you have any information in terms of the five
that were previously released and were resettled in Albania.
Have they been a source of concern to the Albanians?
Because I have discussed with Mr. Rohrabacher it would be
interesting to hear from them via video link from Albania so
that the American people, not just pundits and commentators and
people who have a particular political agenda, but unfiltered,
can hear from them in terms of their experience, and why they
fled to begin with and why they were apprehended. I think we
ought to explore the issue or the program that I call the
bounty program where there is evidence indicating that they
were not captured, as the ranking member indicated, on the
battlefield by American military but were bought from
Pakistanis and Afghanis that received $5,000 in cash.
That would be a princely some, I dare say, in that part of
the world. Does anyone have any information regarding those
five that went to Albania? By the way, I understand that again
the Chinese Communist Government exercised considerable
pressure on the Albanians because of that, and I think the
Albanian Government ought to be acknowledged for a courageous
act.
As I indicated, I think it would be very, very informative
for the American people, for Members of Congress to interview
those individuals. Let the sun shine in. Let us find out what
the facts are. Let us pursue the truth. Nury?
Mr. Turkel. Yes. I personally have met with all of the five
Uighurs who were released into Albania both in Guantanamo and
Albania. I visited them several times in prison and went to
help them with the settlement matters in Albania. While they
were in prison they are strikingly supportive American
Government and expressed their support and continues to talk
about their admiration.
In fact, one of them, Abu Bakker Qassim, in 2006 wrote an
op ed for the New York Times and expressed his admiration for
American Government, and American ideals and democracy,
particularly for this institution, the United States Congress.
For their current life, Abu Bakker is trying to reestablish his
life by getting into restaurant business, and the youngest of
those five, Ayoub Haji, is currently attending a university
which is funded I believe by the State of New York. He speaks
fluent English. Sometimes I chat with him on Facebook.
He recently sent me pictures with a group of young ladies
bare armed holding them, their arms. As for Adil Hakimjan, that
is the gentleman who recently granted asylum in Sweden, Swedish
Government, Swedish security officials, issued a testimony
affidavit stating that Adil Hakimjan posed no security threat
to Swedish society, and thereby, his asylum application has
been accepted. These stories speaks deg. volume and
disproves all invented claims that the Uighurs, whether they
are in Guantanamo or in Albania, poses security threat, which
is false.
Mr. Delahunt. Ms. Kadeer?
Mrs. Kadeer. Actually, I got a call from Abu Bakker in
Albania recently and during our conversations he basically
said, you know, the 17 at Guantanamo are just like us because
of their long-term incarceration there, their unjust
incarceration there. Of course they are very frustrated, but
once they are released we will explain to them how because of
the United States that our lives are saved, we were not
returned to China so that we can explain to them, you know,
what is a situation that now we are alive and working in
Albania.
Also, the vice president of the World Uighur Congress, Mr.
Askar Jan, he visits them in Tijuana and talked to them, had a
very nice conversation as well some time ago. During the
conversation the Uighurs in Albania basically told him that. At
the moment there are hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, innocent
Uighurs are being imprisoned in Chinese prisons. Most of them
cannot defend their charges. Many of them are being taken out
and executed by the Chinese authorities.
For them, their incarceration is illegal and unjust, and of
course they are not happy. Nobody is going to be happy if that
person is unjustly imprisoned by any government. If it was not
the United States, they may long be sent back to China for
execution and they wouldn't be----
Mr. Delahunt. They would prefer to be in Guantanamo than in
China.
Mrs. Kadeer. In a way, yes.
Mr. Delahunt. Ms. Gaer?
Ms. Gaer. Thank you very much. I have no specific
information about the Uighurs who are in Albania but you
mentioned in your very kind and generous introduction that I am
a member of the U.N. Committee against Torture and its follow-
up rapporteur. In a case where individuals are not sent back to
a country that is seeking them for prosecution and another
country sends them to a third country, it is quite common for
the committee to expect the government concerned to do its own
follow-up monitoring.
So while you said that you would like to go and see what
the situation is in Albania, and that would be a good thing to
do, I would submit that the United States Government has an
obligation to do its own follow-up and to be prepared to be
reporting on that, because for sure they will be asked that the
next time they are at the U.N. on this issue.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you. I think it was Nury Turkel that
indicated, and maybe it was Ms. Kadeer, that just recently
Pakistan returned two Uighur individuals to China.
Mr. Turkel. Actually, Congressman, it is 10.
Mr. Delahunt. Ten.
Mr. Turkel. Yes, 10 Uighurs. Uighar-American Association I
believe issued press release. I would be happy to provide a
copy to your office with specific information about that
deportation which has been a practice, actually, by Pakistani
authorities.
Mr. Delahunt. Because of pressure by the Communist Chinese
Government?
Mr. Turkel. Yes. They have very intimate cooperation and
working relationship when it comes to Uighurs.
Mr. Delahunt. I wonder if the Chinese are providing
billions and billions of dollars of support for Pakistan.
Mr. Turkel. The irony is that the Uighurs pay price, both
domestically, internationally, for being a Muslim, and yet,
none of the Muslim countries ever speak up against Chinese
regression, particularly on the religious freedom issue. On the
other hand, they help collaborate. They are an accomplice.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr. Chairman, I think that is a very
significant point because let us just note that so many
countries that just say horrible things about the United States
of America, and here we have an example, that the prisoners
would rather stay in prison in Guantanamo than go back to
China, but these other countries that so harshly criticize the
United States don't speak up against the brutal repression that
is going on in China, even to the point where these people
would rather stay in prison than go back to that. Yes. And
Muslim countries.
Mr. Turkel. Specifically, Saudi Arabia. It has huge
leverage in its dealing with a Communist state. They put quotas
and make it difficult for even Uighurs to go to hadj----
Mr. Rohrabacher. That is very significant.
Mr. Turkel [continuing]. Who are physically and financially
capable of doing so.
Mr. Rohrabacher. That is very significant. Thank you for
bringing that up.
Mr. Delahunt. Do you believe that is as a result of
internal concerns because clearly Saudi Arabia has its unique
brand or its unique version of Islam? Saudis are Wahabis?
Mr. Turkel. No, not because of the version of Islam that
they practice, but because of the economic and diplomatic
influence that----
Mr. Delahunt. Of China. Of Communist China.
Mr. Turkel. Yes. Ms. Kadeer, would you wish to respond?
Mrs. Kadeer. Yes. There is a Uighur association in
Pakistan. We communicate with them all the time. They basically
told us like with regard to the Uighurs recently deported to
China by the Pakistani authorities it was more like a tradeoff.
It is Uighur association people knew some of the Uighurs were
deported back to China.
They said they were just students, some business people
here for whatever reason, you know, wanted by the Chinese
authorities, put pressure on Pakistan, then Pakistan detained
them and deport them to China in exchange for some $700 million
military aid. The Uighurs there said it was on their newspaper
as well. The Pakistani, in order to get military aid from
China, basically upon Chinese demands deporting all those
Uighurs back. Thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. Well, thank you for that answer. I think, Mr.
Rohrabacher, that we should invite the Pakistani ambassador to
our office to have a discussion about this particular practice.
Ms. Gaer?
Ms. Gaer. Well, I just wanted to add to that that when the
U.N. Committee against Torture has reviewed Kyrgistan,
Uzbekistan, Russia, even other countries in the region, we have
found in many cases people have been returned rather casually,
when it was clear the individual would be in the hands of the
security police in prison and likely to be subjected to
torture. These countries haven't followed-up. So if you are
going to have a conversation with the Pakistanis, I could give
you a few other names to add to that list.
Mr. Delahunt. Well, Ms. Gaer, Mr. Rohrabacher and I are
part of a congressional delegation going to Moscow at the end
of this month. We will raise that issue with the Russian
authorities and ask them to review their own practices, as well
as to communicate with other governments in the region. Ms.
Kadeer, you talked about, and we will have a hearing in front
of this committee on the ETIM, the so-called terrorist group.
We find it interesting that all of a sudden they appeared out
of thin air.
Now, you are the leader not just within the diaspora, but
among Uighurs worldwide. I think it was your testimony that
indicated you had never heard of ETIM until just recently,
within the past 6 or 7 years. Can you tell us something about
the ETIM? Because we have colleagues that are convinced, and
there are scholars, alleged scholars, maybe they get their
information from the Chinese intelligence services as well, who
speak about the ETIM with some certitude?
Mrs. Kadeer. The first time I heard about ETIM was after my
release into the United States. It seems the Chinese Government
also put this name, aggressively pushing this name,
organization on other countries, including INTERPOL. We know
some people now on YouTube making outrageous claims, real
simply. I really want to investigate who these people are, why
they are saying or doing what they are saying, but because we
don't have the capacity or the manpower to find out. I am
really interested in finding out who these people are.
We have some 51 organizations in the diaspora. We know all
of them. We have close working relations with them. All of
those organizations, none of them knew who these people are or
what is ETIM. We are aware that it seems the Chinese Government
linked all the Uighur dissidents overseas, you know, peaceful
dissidents, with ETIM and put their names on INTERPOL list so
that those people cannot travel in different countries.
Then they can be detained or arrested and deported back to
China. So now our concern is the Chinese Government, in
addition to the so-called ETIM member list, put our names onto
the INTERPOL list as well. So I have deep profound suspicion on
this ETIM and what it wants to do.
Mr. Delahunt. I want to recognize my friend from the
Pacific where it would appear that the Uighurs are heading, to
Palau, but what I want to do is, and I don't want to appear to
be a conspiracy theorist but the more I am hearing, is it
within the realm of possibility that the ETIM is a fiction of
the Chinese intelligence services to use as a mechanism to
defame Uighurs and, in particular, the detainees at Guantanamo?
Mr. Turkel?
Mr. Turkel. Mr. Chairman, in late summer 2002 I received an
email from a friend who is a senior official at the U.S.
Embassy in Beijing asking me what do I make of this
designation. My response was shock. I said I never heard of
this organization. My friend did not believe me because he
thinks that I know every single Uighur organization around the
world. That shows, I am not signifying my knowledge of the
Uighur organization, but that response was pretty common for
vast majority of the Uighurs when Deputy Secretary of State
Armitage made that announcement in summer of 2002.
To this day, I haven't heard a persuasive reasoning or
explanation why ETIM was designated as a terrorist
organization. I cannot say that that organization is a
fictional or created by the Chinese Government, but its
existence, its goals is questionable. I never doubt China
Government's ability to create something like that for their
own propaganda purposes.
Mr. Delahunt. I am going to just go--my colleague is going
to leave us. He wants to make a final observation.
Mr. Rohrabacher. I have to run to the floor for this vote
and I have some business down there as well, but let me just
thank the chairman, thank the panel today. This has been a
fascinating and provocative hearing. I would suggest to the
chairman that we have criticized certain people who have been
on the other side of this issue, both of us have criticized
them, for example, former Speaker Gingrich.
I would recommend, and I believe the chairman would be
supportive, of perhaps having some of those critics who we
criticized here to have an exchange of views and putting them
on the record on this issue. So, with that said, let us invite
former Speaker Gingrich here to defend some of these things he
has been saying.
Mr. Delahunt. Mr. Gingrich is always welcome in front of
this committee.
Mr. Rohrabacher. All right.
Mr. Delahunt. I thank my friend. Let me yield to the
gentleman from the Pacific, Mr. Eni Faleomavaega, for any
questions he might have. We have got about 8 minutes left.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Mr. Chairman, my apologies for being
late. I had a mark-up at another committee. I do want to
commend you for your leadership in bringing this hearing before
our Subcommittee on Human Rights, and especially to have our
guests here to testify concerning the status of the Uighur
people. I notice with tremendous interest Ms. Kadeer appears to
me as some person of strong character, and certainly with that
kind of leadership as the mother of the Uighur people, I want
to say that I have nothing but admiration and respect for all
that she is trying to do on behalf of her people.
I know we have a vote, but I do want to say for the record,
Mr. Chairman, I look forward in working with you closely to see
what we can do to be of assistance to the Uighur people. In my
capacity as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee, which
also covers this issue, I think we are both members of that,
dealing with the officials in the Government of China, I do
want to say for the record that I look forward in working with
you and also with the leaders and members of the Uighur
community concerning this. Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Eni. Since it looks like we are
running out of time let me express my gratitude for your
presence here, for informing us, for educating us. I suspect
that we will be inviting each of you back on different
occasions because this is something that should not just be
dismissed because hopefully the early reports are accurate and
the Uighur detainees will leave Guantanamo. I believe there is
a lot to learn, and I think it is important for the American
people to understand fully the story of the Uighurs and the
Uighur 22 detainees, how they arrived there and what has
happened since.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. Delahunt. I do.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I have been to the island of Palau a
couple of times. It is a beautiful group of islands. I am very
dear friends with the President of Palau, by the way.
Hopefully, Mr. Chairman, and maybe at some time in the future
we could have a joint hearing.
Mr. Delahunt. I think we should. I think we should do a
field trip, in fact.
Mr. Faleomavaega. In fact, we are going to be there. In
about 2 months I will be traveling to Palau. So please.
Mr. Delahunt. Earlier, Eni, I quoted the words of George
Washington who stated that America should always welcome the
virtuous and the persecuted, that part of mankind, to our
shores. Maybe your friend, President Toribiong, is a new George
Washington.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Well, I must say--will the gentleman
yield?
Mr. Delahunt. Of course.
Mr. Faleomavaega. When you said something about liberty, I
always think of that statue in New York City. I think it is
probably the most classic statement about our country welcoming
anybody from any part of the world.
Mr. Delahunt. Particularly the oppressed.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Yes. So with that, Mr. Chairman, thank
you. I look forward in meeting with our friends from Uighur.
Mr. Delahunt. I see Ms. Gaer wants to make a quick comment.
We are running out of time.
Ms. Gaer. It was on your question, Mr. Chairman, about
whether ETIM existed or didn't. When we visited China I asked
that question. I asked it of State Department officials and I
asked it of the Communist Party leadership in the Xinjiang
Province that we met with. The answer from the State
Department--well, you can ask the State Department. I think it
would be very valuable if there were a formal request to the
State Department.
Mr. Delahunt. You can reveal to us what they said to you.
Ms. Gaer. They said there is a serious problem with
bombings and terrorism in China, specific organizations. They
were not in a position to comment on specific organizations. I
think they might comment to you on specific organizations.
Mr. Delahunt. Well, thank you. Again, thank you all. It has
been an excellent hearing.
[Whereupon, at 11:51 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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