China has executed two Uighurs and sentenced 15 others to prison in its Central Asian region of Xinjiang after a court convicted them of terrorism, US-based Radio Free Asia reported yesterday.
Mukhtar Setiwaldi and Abduweli Imin were executed on Wednesday shortly after a public sentencing rally organized by the Intermediate People’s Court in the far western city of Kashgar, the broadcaster quoted local sources as saying.
Three other Uighurs were given death sentences, suspended for two years, and the remaining 12 were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life, it said.
All 17 Uighurs were charged with belonging to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which the US and China list as an international terrorist group.
East Turkestan is the name still given to Xinjiang by Uighurs seeking an independent state.
The 17 Uighurs were arrested in a raid on a suspected terrorist camp in the Pamir Mountains in Xinjiang’s Aktu County in January last year, when the government said its forces shot dead 18 others.
The Uighur American Association said yesterday that the sentencing in Kashgar showed that China was “ratcheting up already intense terror claims to crack down on Uighurs on an unprecedented scale.”
The Chinese Communist Party has chosen to “exploit the ‘war on terror’ and Uighurs’ Muslim faith to suppress peaceful Uighur dissent while gaining international sympathy for their cause,” the group said in a statement.
“In light of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] documented pattern of the persecution of the Uighur people in the name of terrorism, extremism and separatism, its recent terror allegations and alleged terror raids warrant the intense scrutiny of the international community,” said Rebiya Kadeer, the group’s president.
Police in Xinjiang on Thursday said they had arrested 82 suspected terrorists in five groups this year after they “allegedly plotted sabotage against the Beijing Olympics.”
US lawmakers on Friday “strongly condemned” what they called Beijing’s harsh pre-Olympic crackdown.
The bipartisan leadership of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in a statement cited “credible” reports about the convictions and executions on terrorism charges.
These are “abuses of due process and rule of law,” said caucus co-chairmen Democrat Jim McGovern and Republican Frank Wolf.
The same day, police in Urumqi reportedly killed five Uighur men who authorities claimed were part of a 15-member criminal gang allegedly trained for “holy war.”
“The Chinese government should not be permitted to use the ‘war on terror’ or Olympic security as a front to persecute the Uighurs,” Wolf said.
“These trials appear to be no more than a ploy to oppress religious freedom and ethnic minority groups,” he said.
He called on Beijing to uphold the commitments made to the international community when awarded the right to host the Games and improve its human rights record.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS