Xinjiang - Two Condemned, But What Happened?

December 17 – According to Xinhua news agency China's Supreme People's Court has confirmed the local court’s sentencing of two ethnic Uyghurs to be executed for an attack on a border security post which took place four days before the start of the Olympics in Kashgar which reportedly killed 17 paramilitary officers and wounded 15. The news agency provided no other details. The same local court sentenced five other ethnic Uyghurs to death last month.

The Intermediate People's Court in Xinjiang's Kashgar district found the two local men, Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, one a taxi driver, the other a vegetable vendor, guilty of "intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives." Chinese officials said the attackers were carrying documents advocating "holy war."

The Communist party secretary of Kashgar, Shi Dagang, on the day after the attack stated that the two suspects were "bent on jihad," and claimed that they were members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). (No further information has been presented on their affiliation with this group. Some question if the group even exists.)

The Supreme Court statement reports that the two men, previously identified as Uyghur Muslims, were influenced by "religious extremism" and that "the two conducted the terrorist attack to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games." A spokeswoman for the city of Kashgar where the attack took place said she was not aware of the sentencing. Foreign reporters are not permitted to reach many areas of Xinjiang's, and authorities often refuse to comment.

The official version of the event is that one of the two men drove the truck into 70 officers who were jogging and the other ran to the scene with weapons, that they had each thrown an explosive and were in possession of nine unused explosive devices, machetes, daggers and a homemade gun. Nothing was said by the government or the press about the men being in uniform. It is said that they were immediately arrested.

But three foreign tourists, one of who took 27 photographs and who all spoke with the New York Times on condition of anonymity, heard no explosions. One of the three heard a crash and saw a large truck hit a group of officers after having hit a short pole. The truck then hit a telephone or power pole and crashed into the front of the hotel across the street. One man fell from the driver’s side. "He was pretty injured. He fell onto the ground after opening the door. He wasn’t getting up. He was crawling around for four or five seconds."

Another said: "The first thing I remember seeing was that truck in the wall in the building across the street. I saw a pile of about 15 people. All their limbs were twisted every which way. There was a gentleman whose head was pressed against the pavement with a big puddle of blood." They report that one or two men in green uniforms took out machetes and began hacking at others lying on the ground who were dressed in the same uniforms.

They reported that men wielding machetes were wearing the same uniforms as the men being attacked. One of the tourists explained, "It seemed that the policeman was fighting with another policeman." They report that the men with machetes mixed freely with other officers on the scene.

Why were paramilitary carrying machetes? Had the paramilitary been infiltrated? Were both victims and assailants members of the paramilitary?

The tourists reported that the paramilitary dispersed onlookers, locked down the hotel and went room to room questioning hotel guests about photographs and checking their cameras.

According to the police, they have arrested 82 suspected "terrorists" and have dismantled five terror groups in Xinjiang province during the first six months of 2008. According to official propaganda, Uyghur activist are one of the biggest threats to the "stability and unity of the Motherland."

Chinese accusations of terrorist acts performed by Uyghurs are seen by many as excuses to continue the crackdown on any expressions of Uyghur identity and rights, as authorities cite the threat of terrorism when imposing police and military control of the region.

Uyghur democracy leader Ms. Rebiya Kadeer made the following statement "Abdurahman Azat and Kurbanjan Hemit never received a fair hearing. They were condemned before they had even seen a courtroom. This sentencing shows that the rule of law does not exist for Uyghurs in their homeland. We can also see from this case that Chinese government authorities view all Uyghurs as terror suspects, and that the Chinese government is following through on its threat of a 'life or death struggle' in East Turkestan."

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/world/asia/29kashgar.html?_r=3&sq=uighur%20tourists&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=all
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/17/content_7315393.htm
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37074720081217
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200812171855.htm
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24817171-1702,00.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/17/asia/AS-China-Death-Sentence.php
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Two_terrorists_sentenced_to_death_f_12172008.html http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-OsXoiGZD0Xo6lowTh5gUIbFN-gD954DU280
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hvu9P_lFf44jnsA9i9ZhfmjS7LtQ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/17/2449555.htm?section=justin http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1448942.php/China_sentences_two_to_death_for_terrorism_in_far-western_region
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/9035/107/

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