Apr 18, 2014

East Turkestan: Chinese Police Shoot Uyghur Minor At Checkpoint


On Saturday 12 April 2014, Chinese police shot down a 17-year-old Uyghur boy in East Turkestan for allegedly driving through a security check-point on his motorcycle. According to local officials, he snatched a firearm and assaulted a police officer, but the World Uyghur Congress claims China had distorted the events.

 

Below is an article published by the Global Post:

 

Police in China's far-western region of Xinjiang have shot dead a man who drove through a security checkpoint, the local government said on Thursday [17 April 2014], the latest violence to hit the troubled area with a large Muslim population.

The man, Abdul Basiti Abdulimiti, was a "terrorist" from Keping county in Aksu prefecture, the Aksu government said on its website. It did not identify him as one of the mainly Muslim Uighur people who call the region home, but his name suggests he was.

Abdulimiti was killed on Saturday [12 April 2014] after he stormed two security checkpoints on a motorcycle, ignoring warning shots fired by officers, the Xinjiang government said on its local news portal, Tianshannet. He snatched a firearm and assaulted a police officer, the government said.

The Xinjiang government spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, did not answer calls to her mobile phone.

Xinjiang, strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been dogged for years by violence, which Beijing blames on Islamist militants and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.

But exiles and many rights groups trace the cause to China's policies, including curbs on Islam and the Uighur people's culture and language, charges the government denies.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the main Uighur exile group, the World Uyghur Congress, said the motorcyclist was 17 and accused China of "distorting the events by alleging terrorism".

"I once again urge China to strictly punish the armed personnel who opened fire to ease the deterioration of the situation," he said in an emailed statement.

In the wake of the incident, "hostile external forces maliciously distorted facts" and fabricated rumours, the Xinjiang government said.

Local authorities have detained a resident from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, for 15 days for "spreading rumours", the government said.