Kadeer's allegations of prison killings groundless: official

• Source: Global Times
• [01:43 August 26 2009]
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By Guo Qiang

Xinjiang authorities yesterday rebuked a “groundless” claim by Rebiya Kadeer that nearly 200 Uygur detainees have been “tortured” to death in prison.

Kadeer, the head of the US-based World Uyghur Organization, is accused by China of orchestrating the riots. She told AFP on Monday that based on a fax sent to her by a Uygur policeman who fled to nearby Kyrgyzstan, “196 Uygurs were detained, tortured and killed in a brutal crackdown in a prison south of Urumqi called Urumbay.”

In the “grim” account provided by the fax, one of the Uygurs, named Erkin, could not stand the “torture” and killed himself, the report alleges.

Kadeer said she could not verify the account, as all phone lines were cut, according to AFP.

Hou Hanmin, spokeswoman of the regional government, refuted the allegations, saying the claim was so groundless that it was not even worth an argument.

“I have no idea where the figure of 196 comes from,” she said. “The number of officially arrested remains at 83.”

Last month, Kadeer also claimed that more than 10,000 Uygurs had disappeared in the wake of the riots, adding that they had been arrested or killed. The local government refuted the claim, saying it was entirely untrue.

The Xinjiang Public Security Department yesterday also dismissed the new AFP report, saying there haven't been any abuse cases or deaths, and detainees' rights have been fully respected.

Li Li, press officer with the department, said she had no information on any policemen that fled to nearby Kyrgyzstan or on the allegations at Urumbay prison.

Those formally arrested are in detention centers in Urumqi, not in prison, as stated by the report, he said.

The official Xinhua News Agency put the number of detained people suspected of involvement in the deadly rioting in the region at 718. Suspects will be announced as “officially arrested” after enough evidence is found to put them on trial, story according to Chinese law.

Calls to the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan for further confirmation went unanswered yesterday.

The Global Times' attempts to reach the Uygur policemen who allegedly faxed the report to Kadeer, in an effort to verify the authenticity of the account, were declined by the spokesman for the WUC in Switzerland, Dilshat Rashit.

Rashit said the WUC would not provide the information, in the interest of protecting sources.

In response to an inquiry about why Kadeer released the report to the media before verifying it, the spokesman said, “We obtained reliable information through various channels. Many Uygurs who fled Xinjiang after July 5 provided their personal accounts.”