[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 22, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E373-E374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CHINA: THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS CONTINUE--REBIYA KADEER SENTENCED TO 
                            8 YEARS IN JAIL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN EDWARD PORTER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 22, 2000

  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to highlight on yet another 
incidence of the Chinese Government's blatant violation of human 
rights. 1999 was one of the worst years yet in recent Chinese history 
for arbitrary detentions, arrests, and human rights violations, and it 
is looking like 2000 will be no different.
  This time the victim is a 53-year-old Uighur businesswoman, Rebiya 
Kadeer. On March 10, 2000, Ms. Kadeer was sentenced to 8 years in jail 
for ``giving information to separatists outside the country.''
  Ms. Kadeer is a well respected businesswoman who was once officially 
touted as an inspiration to her fellow members of the Uighur ethnic 
group. Her efforts to business enterprises have been recognized by 
Chinese authorities as contributing to the overall economic and social 
development of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. So respected was 
she by the Beijing establishment that she was chosen in 1995 as part of 
China's official delegation to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on 
Women in Beijing.
  However, in 1997, Ms. Kadeer was stripped of her passport, and with 
it the right to freedom of movement as well as subjected to continual 
police harassments. These actions were clearly aimed at silencing her 
husband, Mr. Sidick Rozi, a former political prisoner who has been an 
outspoken critic of China's treatment of the Uighur minority in western 
China. Mr. Rozi, now living in the United States, has made numerous 
statements on Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and testified last July 
before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus concerning the extremely 
harsh discriminations suffered by the Uighur minority. Ms. Kadeer was 
made a hostage in her own country, unable to join her husband and a 
number of her children in the United States, simply because of the 
political activities of her husband.
  On August 11, 1999 Rebiya Kadeer was arrested while she was on her 
way to meet with a group of Congressional Staff visiting China. She was 
charged in September with ``providing secret information to 
foreigners.'' Ms. Kadeer does not have access to ``state secrets'', she 
is a businesswoman, not a political

[[Page E374]]

activist. After seven months of detention and the arrest and subsequent 
arbitrary sentencing of her secretary and one son, Ms. Kadeer was given 
a 4-hour trial. During this trial, neither she nor her lawyer were able 
to speak, none of her children were allowed to attend and the 300 
Uighurs who had gathered at the courthouse were dispersed by Chinese 
police.
  This was not a trial. It was a farce. If China wants to be a full 
partner in the international arena, it has to start abiding by 
international norms and living within the rule of law. Seven months of 
arbitrary detention and a trial where the defendant's lawyer is not 
allowed to speak is not an accepted practice within the international 
community and should not be an accepted practice in China.
  Ms. Kadeer was traveling to meet with congressional staff, official 
representatives of the U.S. Government, when she was detained. This did 
not seem to matter to the Chinese and it appears to be one of the 
factors for the timing of her arrest. Clearly, the Chinese were sending 
a signal: Any citizen who meets with or talks to United States citizens 
is risking detention, arrest and a prison sentence.
  I call on the Chinese Government to immediately and unconditionally 
release Rebiya Kadeer, her son, Ablikim Abyirim and her secretary, 
Kahriman Abdukirim. They have not committed any crimes. Further, I call 
on the Clinton administration to do everything in its power to secure 
these releases.
  Incidences like this prove that this is not the time to ease the 
pressure on China. We in the United States, and around the world must 
never give up our ideals and belief in human freedom, and need to 
pressure dictators, oppressors and abusers around the world that lack 
the respect for the rule of law and for human life. Only if Ms. 
Kadeer's case is brought to the highest level of our Administration and 
the Chinese Government is there any hope that Ms. Kadeer will not spend 
the next 8 years of her life in a Chinese prison--8 years she should be 
spending with her husband and 10 children--and for speaking up for the 
most basic human rights of her people, the Uighurs.

                          ____________________