Remembering the victims of police brutality in Gulja, Xinjiang, on 5-6 February 1997
Автор: HRWF ()
Дата публикации: 04/02/2007
Категория: Новости
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Table of contents
Remembering the victims of police
brutality in Gulja, Xinjiang, on 5-6 February 1997
Uighur Demonstration at the Embassy of China in Brussels
03 February 2007
Editor-in-chief: Willy Fautrй
Email: info@hrwf.net
Website: http://www.hrwf.org
CHINA - BELGIUM
Remembering the victims of police brutality in Gulja, Xinjiang, on 5-6 February
1997
HRWF (03.02.2007) - Website: http://www.hrwf.org
- Email: info@hrwf.net On Saturday 3 February,
about 50-60 Uighurs organized a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy
in Brussels to remind the Chinese authorities of the massacre that was perpetrated
on 5-6 February 1997 against their community in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonamous
Region of China.
Dozens of people were killed or seriously injured and hundreds, possibly thousands,
more lost their lives or were seriously injured in the unrest that occurred
on the following day. Large numbers of people were arrested during the demonstration
and its aftermath. Many detainees were beaten or otherwise tortured and at least
two have since died in custody. An unknown number of people remain in prison
in connection with these events.
To date, there has been no investigation into the actions of the security forces
and no one has been brought to justice for these abuses. The Chinese authorities’
failure to address the impunity surrounding this incident sharply contrasts
with the message that the implementation of human rights is improving in their
country.
The victims of this crackdown were members of China’s mainly Muslim Uighur
community living in the XUAR. Over the last eight years, Amnesty International
has obtained numerous eye-witness testimonies of the demonstration and its aftermath,
building a picture which conflicts with official interpretations of the incident.
Amnesty International Report (*)
"According to local sources, the demonstration was sparked by growing
levels of repression of Uighur culture and religion in and around Gulja. This
included the banning of traditional Uighur social gatherings, called meshreps,
which were organised from 1994 in an attempt to revive cultural and Islamic
traditions and to counter social ills such as drinking, smoking and drug-taking.
Uighur community leaders in and around Gulja also organised local Uighur football
teams in an unofficial league, but these were also closed down by the authorities
and sports facilities were destroyed. Large numbers of Uighurs were arrested
on suspicion of being so-called "separatists, terrorists or religious extremists",
particularly during a "Strike Hard" campaign against crime in 1996,
including alleged meshrep leaders as well as religious students and imams.
On the morning of 5 February 1997, several hundred young Uighurs, including
women and children, took to the streets of Gulja holding banners, shouting religious
slogans and calling for equal treatment for Uighurs. They were blocked by the
security forces, including units of the People’s Armed Police and riot police.
Some sources have testified that a number of police then opened fire into the
crowd causing serious injuries; others have stated that the police reportedly
shot at the ground in the direction of the demonstration and that several people
were injured - and some children killed - by ricocheting bullets. The police
then rounded up and detained hundreds of people, who were loaded into trucks
and taken to Yining City Police Detention Centre, also known as Yengi Hayat
("New Life") Prison. According to one eyewitness, the trucks were
packed so tightly that people had to lie on top of each other. Police officers
reportedly sat on top of the detainees beating them with sticks. Some of those
lying on the bottom reportedly died of suffocation.
"When the trucks arrived at the prison, the police threw the people out
causing injuries like broken legs and hands. I saw one woman with an ear hanging
off." (Eyewitness testimony).
In the afternoon, a second demonstration was started by friends and relatives
of those who had been detained in the morning. Some of the protesters were carrying
stones and threw them at the police. The police reportedly beat the protesters
with large wooden clubs over one metre long and used tear gas in an attempt
to break up the protest. Around 100 people were injured and some children reportedly
died from the effects of the tear gas. Around twenty children are believed to
have died as a result of the actions of the police in the morning and the afternoon
of 5 February 1997 - some on the spot and others some days or weeks later as
a result of injuries sustained.
Hundreds of protesters were again detained and taken to various detention centres
across Ili prefecture, where Gulja is situated. The numbers were reportedly
so high that all detention facilities across the district were full. In Yengi
Hayat Prison, around 40-50 detainees were reportedly crammed into each cell,
designed to hold no more than 10 people, leaving no space to sit down. There
were not enough police to conduct interrogations and process the detainees,
so other government officials, including procurators and court officials, were
brought in to assist.
Many detainees were reportedly beaten in detention. In one incident in Yengi
Hayat Prison, around 40 people were reportedly forced to kneel on the ground
and were beaten from behind by police wielding wooden batons. On another occasion
reported by several eyewitnesses, a group of between 300 and 400 demonstrators
and residents detained on 5 February were hosed with icy cold water by some
soldiers or riot police in an open place, possibly a stadium. The group, including
children, were reportedly kept there, wet, for two hours in the freezing February
temperatures. Some young men and women among the detainees were forced to run
barefoot in the snow. Eventually those among the detainees who were suffering
from severe frostbite were taken to hospital - some allegedly had to have their
feet, fingers or hands amputated. The rest of the group were taken to prison.
Disturbances continued the next day, when thousands of people reportedly took
to the streets to protest. By this time large numbers of extra police had been
brought into the city. They reportedly went through the streets arresting and
beating people, including children. In some areas, protesters reportedly attacked
police or Chinese residents and shops and set fire to some vehicles, while the
security forces reportedly opened fire on protesters and bystanders. The exact
number who lost their lives remains unknown.
The Chinese authorities have officially described the unrest as an act of "terrorism".
In a report published in the People’s Daily in January 2002, the authorities
attributed the incident to the "East Turkestan Islamic Party of Allah"
(ETIPA) which was later named as the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement"
(ETIM). At China’s behest, ETIM was listed as a "terrorist organization"
by the United Nations in 2002, although the evidence that forms the basis for
this conclusion remains unclear. In February 2003, Amnesty International wrote
to the Chair of the XUAR government, Ismail Tiliwaldi, asking him for further
information to substantiate official claims of the involvement ETIPA/ETIM in
the incident. The letter also requested that the authorities make public information
about those who remain in detention in connection with the incident and to conduct
an independent inquiry into all reports of killings, torture and other serious
human rights violations which reportedly took place during the demonstration
and the unrest that followed. To date, Amnesty International has received no
response to this letter.
On the eighth anniversary of the demonstration and the brutal crackdown that
followed, Amnesty International once again reiterates its calls for accountability,
transparency and justice on behalf of all those who lost their lives, sustained
injuries or remain behind bars in connection with these events.
For more information on the human rights situation in the XUAR, please
see the following Amnesty International reports, all available at www.amnesty.org:
- People’s Republic of China: Uighurs fearing persecution as China wages
its ‘war on terror’ (ASA 17/021/2004)
- People’s Republic of China: China’s anti-terrorism legislation and repression
in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (ASA 17/010/2002)
- People’s Republic of China: Gross violations of human rights in the Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region (ASA 17/018/1999)
(*) Public Statement, AI Index: ASA 17/005/2005 (Public), News Service 027,
4 February 2005
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