The Chinese government is using the US "war against terrorism'' to intensify its decade-long crackdown against ethnic Uighurs in the far-western region known as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Amnesty International said Friday.
Beijing has detained several thousands of people over the past six months, closed mosques, and required key community leaders, including some 8,000 imam , to attend political education classes, the rights watchdog said in a 33-page report.
"The Chinese government has claimed that 'ethnic separatists' are linked with international 'terrorists' and has called for international support for its crackdown," the London-based group said.
"However, the yardstick of 'terrorism' has been used to detain a broad range of people, some of whom may have done little more than practise their religion or defend their culture," it added.
The new report highlights fears expressed by a number of human rights groups and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson immediately after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, that repressive governments would use Washington's anti-terrorist campaign as a pretext for cracking down against their domestic opposition or ethnic or religious minorities
Thus, rights activists have watched in dismay as the United States and other Western countries have reduced their public criticism of Russia for its brutal counter-insurgency campaign in Chechnya; welcomed the president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov to the White House just last week; and provided stepped-up military and security assistance to a number of Arab governments that face opposition from Islamic groups.
Alleged ties with Osama
China has similarly been eager to link its Uighur opposition in Xinjiang to Islamist extremism.
Two months ago, for example, it released a report alleging close ties between Uighur separatists and Osama bin Laden who it said promised Uighur recruits a ''fabulous sum'' of money to finance their operations. It claimed scores of Uighurs have been trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, which shares a small border with Xinjiang.
Uighurs, who refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan, are an ancient Turkic-speaking people who only came under Chinese rule in the mid-19th century. As recently as 50 years ago, they made up almost 90 percent of the region's population.
But steady in-migration by ethnic Han Chinese, attracted in part by Xinjiang's oil resources, has dramatically transformed the demographic balance. Now, Uighurs make up about 40 percent of the XUAR's total population.
The collapse of the Soviet Union 10 years ago inspired hopes among the Uighur population, with significant ethnic and clan ties to groups in the new Central Asian states, that a similar result was possible in Xinjiang.
The resulting tensions, which have been compounded by discrimination against the Uighurs in both education and employment, have occasionally exploded into violence, the worst of which was a riot in the city of Yining five years ago, in which at least nine people were killed.
Since then, Beijing has tried systematically to tighten its grip on the province, detaining tens of thousands of Uighurs for varying lengths time, many of them held incommunicado for months at a time during which they were subjected to torture, according to the report.
Imprisoned, tortured, executed
If anything, these efforts appear to have accelerated sharply since Sept 11, it added, as paramilitary police have intensified their patrols and surveillance of the region and particularly its capital, Urumqi where, for example, the arrest of at least 166 ''violent terrorists (and) other criminals'' was reported in the Chinese media in a two-month period last fall.
''Although hardly any 'terrorist' acts have been committed in the XUAR over the past few years,'' it said, ''the authorities have detained thousands of people over the last six months, and imposed new restrictions on freedom of religions and cultural rights.''
Of those detained, scores have been prosecuted in "grossly unfair'' trials and sentenced in front of large crowds during ''mass sentencing rallies,'' according to Amnesty. In one such rally last October, 10 people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms and two more received a death sentence which was carried out immediately after.
In addition, China has successfully pressed Central Asian governments to return Uighurs, including asylum applicants, to China where they have been imprisoned, tortured, and in some cases executed, the report said.
The group also pointed to recent amendments in China's Criminal Law that make it much easier to prosecute suspected dissidents and to put them to death. They not only expanded the number of crimes for which the death penalty may be applied, but they also criminalised certain kinds of peaceful activities and associations.
The amendments also outlaw membership in a ''terrorist organisation'' without defining what such an organisation is, opening up the possibility that members of non-violent political, cultural, or religious groups may be prosecuted under the law.
Fasting banned, mosques closed
Alongside these efforts, the government has clamped down on the institutionalised practice of Islam in Xinjiang as well, according to the report.
Islamic clergy, for example, have been forced to attend political education classes aimed at giving them ''a clearer understanding of the party's ethnic and religious policies,'' while some clerics have been detained simply for teaching the Quran.
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, which began in mid-November, was banned in schools, hospitals and government offices, while mosques located near schools have been closed due to their presumed bad influence on youth.
Targets expanded beyond the mosques earlier this year when academics, artists, and others active in cultural affairs were forced to attend special ''study classes''.
''All potential dissent and opposition activities, including peaceful expression of views via poems, songs, books, pamphlets, letters or the Internet have been targeted,'' according to the report.
