UNPO Condemns Chinese Death Sentences without Fair Trial
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) strongly condemns the decision of the Chinese court to sentence six Uyghur men to death without fair trial.
The men were not permitted any form of legal aid and suffered as a result of discriminatory decisions and a complete lack of transparency throughout the process. The death sentences are further proof of China’s unwillingness to abide by the United Nations Global Moratorium on the Death Penalty, adopted in 2007, which establishes a suspension on executions with the view to abolish the death penalty.
“This goes against all international standards of human rights, most notably the universal right to equality before the law”, Marino Busdachin, Secretary General of UNPO, stated in immediate response to the Chinese decision.
Dolkun Isa, Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress and prominent human rights activist, expressed the need for the international community to respond. “An independent investigation must be carried out, to impartially determine what has truly taken place”, he said. “These men were neither granted their right to a lawyer, nor to a fair legal process, thereby violating both international law and the Chinese constitution.” He continued by stating that “[t]his was not a legal, but merely a political decision”.
Immediate involvement of the international community and an independent investigation are urgently needed. “If no response comes”, Mr. Isa said, “the Chinese government has no reason to stop the discriminatory sentencing of the Uyghurs still up for trial.”
Update: Since the UNPO's last statement on the matter [Tuesday 13 October], the Chinese government has sentenced three more individuals to death, both Han and Uyghurs, for their involvement in the Urumqi riots. This brings the total to nine people sentenced to death this week alone.
China’s government currently sentences more people to death each year than any other nation in the world. The UNPO condemns the executions of both Hans and Uyghur and this display of violence will only beget more violence. The UNPO urges China to show restraint and to grant its citizens fair trials and to abide by the basic human rights of all of its peoples, regardless of their ethnicity.
Below is an article published by the BBC on the topic:
Death sentences for China rioters
A Chinese court has sentenced six people to death for murder and other crimes during ethnic riots in Xinjiang region in July, state media have said.
Nearly 200 people were killed during the riots between ethnic Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han group.
A seventh person received a life sentence, the official Xinhua news agency said.
These are the first convictions relating to the riots - the worst ethnic clashes in China for decades.
The six sentenced to death at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi - Xinjiang's capital - were reported to be Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, and Alim Metyusup.
As well as murder, state media reported that they were convicted of other crimes ranging from arson, leading mobs and causing "economic loss".
Rising tensions
Tayirejan Abulimit was given the lesser punishment of life imprisonment because he admitted to charges of murder and robbery and helped the police capture Alim Metyusup.
The government says most of those killed in the riots were Han Chinese, but the exile activist group the World Uighur Congress (WUC) claims many Uighurs were also killed.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the WUC, said the trial had been a sham.
"The whole process lacked transparency and was unfair. They were not given any kind of legal aid," he told Reuters news agency.
Death sentences for China rioters
A Chinese court has sentenced six people to death for murder and other crimes during ethnic riots in Xinjiang region in July, state media have said.
Nearly 200 people were killed during the riots between ethnic Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han group.
A seventh person received a life sentence, the official Xinhua news agency said.
These are the first convictions relating to the riots - the worst ethnic clashes in China for decades.
The six sentenced to death at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi - Xinjiang's capital - were reported to be Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, and Alim Metyusup.
As well as murder, state media reported that they were convicted of other crimes ranging from arson, leading mobs and causing "economic loss".
Rising tensions
Tayirejan Abulimit was given the lesser punishment of life imprisonment because he admitted to charges of murder and robbery and helped the police capture Alim Metyusup.
The government says most of those killed in the riots were Han Chinese, but the exile activist group the World Uighur Congress (WUC) claims many Uighurs were also killed.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the WUC, said the trial had been a sham.
"The whole process lacked transparency and was unfair. They were not given any kind of legal aid," he told Reuters news agency.
"Uighurs have no protection under the law."
A protest by Uighurs in Urumqi erupted into violence on 5 July, leaving at least 197 people killed and another 1,700 injured.
Shops were smashed and vehicles set alight and passers-by set upon by rioters.
'Heavy police presence'
Hundreds of people were detained after the violence and, according to Xinhua, 21 people have been charged.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville says 14 people are still waiting to be tried.
"It is a very long way from Beijing but it is one of the most heavily policed parts of the country," our correspondent says.
"The security forces are really keeping the peace between these two ethnic populations in that part of China."
Further ethnic unrest in Xinjiang was provoked in August by a wave of attacks with hypodermic syringes that many Han blamed on Uighurs.
Growing tensions
The initial protest in July was over an earlier fight in a toy factory in Guangdong province - on the other side of China - that left two Uighurs dead and 14 others seriously injured.
On Saturday a court in Guangdong sentenced Xiao Jianhua to death and Xu Qiqi to a life sentence for their roles in the factory brawl.
Nine others were jailed for sentences of between five to eight years for the violence at the Xuri Toy Factory.
Tensions between the mainly-Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang and Han have been growing in recent years. Millions of Han have moved to the region in recent decades.
Many Uighurs want more autonomy and rights for their culture and religion - Islam - than is allowed by China's strict centrist rule.
According to a government white paper on Xinjiang, released last month, the July riots were caused by Uighur separatists promoting an independent "East Turkestan".
It also noted that during the violence 331 shops and 1,325 motor vehicles were destroyed or burned with many public facilities also attacked.
