DATE=12/2/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-UIGHUR (L-O)CQ
NUMBER=2-256762
BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Chinese authorities have sent the son of a
prominent Uighur businesswoman to a labor camp for
allegedly supporting Uighur separatism. V-O-A's
Stephanie Ho reports the man was sentenced without a
trial to two years hard labor.
TEXT: The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human
Rights and Democratic Movement in China says Ablikim
Abdiryim was sent to a labor camp last week.
Labor camp sentences of up to three years are an
administrative punishment that Chinese authorities can
impose without a trial.
Ablikim Abdiryim is one of the sons of 53-year-old
Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer - who was formally
charged in September with offering state secrets to
foreigners.
News reports say she had been trying to meet with a U-
S congressional delegation when she was detained in
August.
The Information Center says a court in Xinjiang's
capital, Urumqi, last month threw out Ms. Kadeer's
case for lack of evidence and has ordered a fresh
investigation.
Ablikim Abdiryim's younger brother, Alim, confirmed
the reports about his family. He was also detained,
but authorities released him after one month.
/// ALIM CHINESE ACT FADES UNDER ///
Alim says his family is longing for the early release
of his mother and brother.
Ms. Kadeer is a laundress-turned-millionaire, who
gained prominence for encouraging and helping Uighur
women set up small businesses. She was a member of
Xinjiang's top legislative advisory body from 1993 to
1998. She also attended the international women's
conference in Beijing in 1995.
Her husband, Sidik Rouzi, is a former political
prisoner who now lives in the United States. He also
has been highly critical of Beijing's treatment of
Uighurs, an ethnically Turkic group of Muslims.
Uighur militants in Xinjiang have been struggling for
decades to establish an independent East Turkestan.
The large region makes up one-sixteenth of China's
territory and borders three former Soviet central
Asian Republics. (SIGNED)
NEB/HO/FC/gm/RAE
02-Dec-1999 12:47 PM EDT (02-Dec-1999 1747 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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