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Nawaf Smadi and His Family's Contribution

Huseyin Celil, Testimony at the Bishkek High Court in 1998.

Huseyin Celil, Testimony at the Bishkek High Court in 1998.

Essalamu Alaikum we Rahmutullahi we Berakatahu.

Dear elders, emigrant brothers and sisters, travellers, ladies and gentlemen participating in this trial, masters! I
thank Allah for giving me this opportunity to say a few words and I thank you for spending your valuable time
through this trial. I am happy to be able to tell you about my problems, or instead my ill-fated people’s problems.

I am known as Dilaver Güler, my name is Huseyincan Qari Haji. I am a Turkish citizen, with Uyghur descent and I am
a merchant. Before I was arrested, I lived in Istanbul. I have been in Kyrgyzstan prison for 9 months and now I am
on trial with a chance to speak. You have all heard the reason of my incarceration throughout the trial. As I earlier
stated, there are two main reasons for my arrest: the first one is that I recite the Quran and the second is because I
became the voice against oppression because I could not stand the problems of my nation tied with a chain of
slavery. Anyone who has a mind knows that, in today’s world, especially in a democratic country like Kyrgyzstan, no
one can be arrested because of the reasons mentioned above, and no one can be deprived of his freedom.

This arrest is not right for two reasons. The first is that reading and teaching Quran is not a crime. It is true that
Kyrgyz People that make up of the majority population of Kyrgyzstan are Muslim. When I heard that Kyrgyzstan had
joined in International Islam Conference Organization, I thought that Kyrgyzstan regards itself as a Muslim country.
Therefore, it surely means that there is no ban in religion in this country; moreover, it guarantees the democratic
regime, freedom of belief, and freedom of speech. Because of these reasons, I made a test speech on the subject
of jihad through a video cassette which you have seen during the trial. But it was only in this cassette. As you have
heard the cassette, one of the commands of Allah to human being in the Quran, is jihad, as it is interpreted, is
based on surviving humans from being slave to other humans that carries the same meaning with human rights,
and there is an effort to practise it today. Therefore, because of my knowledge, it is my responsibility to inform my
people of that Islam is a modern religion and it already has predicted the principles that today’s modern world has
yet to bring up. It is also my responsibility that because I was a member of a nation, Uyghur, which is under
oppression. In that video cassette, I did not misinterpret the Quran for my personal benefits, and the cassette has
not been copied or distributed and no crime has been committed because of this cassette either.

The second is that our resistance against the government of imperialist colonialist China and the resistance
against colonization and invaders. This is a rightful action. It is not against international laws at all! It is not against
the principles of human rights, either.

Our rightful struggle has another factor directly related to Kyrgyzstan and the other Central Asian Republics: Our
freedom is a gain for our Central Asian Brothers, nothing is wrong at all! Eastern Turkistan has a role of defensive
city wall and bastion between China and the Central Asian Republics, and this could limit the Chinese invaders to
spread to the Central Asia. But now, since there is no such a wall to push back the Chinese, the Chinese invaders
have been expanding towards the Central Asia very fast! It is really very sad that they regard us as enemy, and our
brothers cannot exactly see the genuine threat which will be disastrous for them in the future, because they are
fooled by today’s very little benefits of China.

Just because of this reason, today, I am being interrogated as a criminal in the court of my own brothers! My
situation of today is contrary to the tradition of helping each other as it was used to be in the past, the time of our
forefathers and grand-fathers, and this trial is a proof of an animosity. I think my brothers have forgotten our
history.

First of all, we are the branches of a tree. We are the descendants of the same Turkish ancestors. We have never
been enemies to each other and we should never be! Second, because of the reasons I mentioned above, in the
history, whenever we are in trouble, we have always been a safe haven to each other, helped each other, solved
our problems and our goals have always been the same. For example, in the history, upon the invasion of Czardas
Russia, Kyrgyz, Kazak, Uzbek, Turkmen People who had to immigrate to Eastern Turkistan and had taken shelters
there. However, People of Eastern Turkistan had not surrendered them to the Czarist Russia. On the contrary, we
have provided safe shelters and helped them resettle in Eastern Turkistan. At a later time, our brothers who fleeing
from Bolshevik evil, had again taken shelters in Eastern Turkistan. Our grandparents had embraced them with
open arms. In sum, there had not been a demarcated border between us until the October Revolution. For
“Eastern Turkistan Islamic Republic” founded in 1933, they shed blood and lost their lives together. For example
Kyrgyz Osman Ali was one of the commanders with a high in foundation of this country. He had been attained as
the commander of the commandership in protection of the capital. Uzbek Setiwaldican had served for the
foundation of this country and been a martyr for its sake. If you remember the date of foundation of “Eastern
Turkistan Republic”, 1944, we will see the proofs that we struggled together hand in hand: Alihan Töre, Ishakbik,
Delilkan and many more are among the many of them. Because of the reasons mentioned above and the deep
historical roots of our people, considering all the Turkic People, we devoted the name of “Eastern Turkistan” to our
homeland. Today, the majority of our people are manipulated by the Communist China’s call their motherland as
“Uyguristan” externalizing other Turkish brothers. These so-called “nations” which were brought by separating
Turkish descendants are the findings of only these two Communist Empires! In such a way that; these brothers with
the same destiny are crushed under the iron feet of China in Eastern Turkistan today!

Today, considering our interrogation like an enemy as the Kyrgyzstan state seem to benefit as political factors and
diplomacy may seem to be reasonable in respect to its relations to China. It is not controversial that China is
providing with some little benefits today. But, have our brothers thought of tomorrow? How far can they understand
the Communist China? How much do they understand about the threatening national psychology of the Chinese?
With this opportunity, we caution our brothers to be deeply aware of Chinese Evil.

Now I will mention more in detail about the two points – two crimes thrown on me.

The first one is the matter of religious teaching. Qur’an Al-Karim is the holy book of Islam and it came to show the
righteous way to all human beings as a law of life and behaviour. The proofs of the science today is admirably
among the miracles of the Holy Quran and many scientists recognize and report the existence of Allah, the
righteous of Islam and that Quran is the Holy Book when they go deep in their fields of research in science. The
knowledge in the Quran includes all the phases of life and science. I, with my identity as a student reading this Holy
Book, have the responsibility to inform about the principles of this righteous religion as a mercy and grace of Allah
to human beings, because according to the principles of our principles, whoever has the knowledge of the right has
the responsibility to inform and teach the others. I only tried to perform my duty – duty of a believer, because I have
the knowledge. As submitted to Allah, we need the Quran as a guide to show us the true path. Since we are
Muslims, and further, we are an invaded nation, we had to hold the rope of Allah very tight, therefore I continued to
inform about my religion because we needed to find a way in the Book of Allah to survive as a nation under
oppression.

Our religion is at utmost level against injustice, tyranny, oppression of innocent people, being a slave to other
humans, suppressing others. Accordingly, our political goal is in harmony with the religion and was obligatory. Isn’t
it shocking to regard what I have done as a crime and consider it as an excuse to put me in prison depriving me of
my freedom? This action is also against humanity.

The second one is the crime of my resistance against the government of China’s illegal invasion and my passion of
my motherland.

It is a very simple knowledge that illegal invasion is a crime! It is not a crime to resist the invasion! It is a crime to
attack! It is not a crime to resist the attack! Colonialism is a crime! It is not a crime to resist colonialists! It is not a
crime to love your country! It is a crime to sell your country! If these are true, it is necessary to disregard the
second crime thrown on me!

Even if you do, with this opportunity, I want to go more in detail and share my problems with each of you about the
history and today of Eastern Turkistan.

Among the Turkic People, Uygurs are the people who make the first progress and know to found a state in very old
times. In the history, Uygurs founded countries such as “Uyghur Empire”, “Idıkut Uyghur Khan”, Kharahanlar Khan”,
Saidiye Khan”, “Kashgariya (Seven Region Khan)”, “Eastern Turkistan Islam Republic” and “Eastern Turkistan
Republic”. The surface area of some of these states reached to millions km2. Uygurs are amongst the first people
using the alphabet on the earth and brought paper and printing and press to human being. Although the lands of
Eastern Turkistan were first invaded by Manchu-China Empire in 1759, Chinese people could never live in these
lands. The actual colonization started in 1884 when China gave a name to our country in their own language. Since
then, our homeland has been treated as a colony of China. In today’s map, our land is 1.848.000 km2 and this is
the second largest land after Kazakhstan among the Turkic Republics. The Eastern Turkistan People have been
made slaves despite the fact that they have such vast lands, “the equal size oil reserves as all Arab world” and
furthermore 120 kinds of minerals as well as richness of its natural resources as the most ancient culture! Slavery
has ended and there is no more colonialism in the history. Today, there are international laws and regulations
about human rights and freedom, however, Eastern Turkistan people are forced to be slaves with most primitive
ways, with the most inhumane methods, the most ruthless, and the most brutal ways!

Today, even the wild animals are protected and their rights are defended, nevertheless, Eastern Turkistan People
are made slaves without any lawful defence not respecting their rights. Maybe, Central Asian Brothers compare
this to their own time of being colonized.

No! Do not do that! China cannot be compared to anything! From the old ages to today, there has been nothing
similar to China, and there will never be! Russia brought you new culture and development, but China brought us
poverty, uncivilization, backwardness and barbarous way of life!

The world is just watching silently the most ancient, civilized nation become uncivilized and barbarous day by day.
So-called intelligent authorized people take action for the wild animals which face extinction because of the
pollution in environment and the disorder in ecologic order, however, they stay quiet for the Eastern Turkistan
genocide, extinction moaning under this excessive cruelty! This unhappy people are slowly kicked out of life by the
contagious illnesses brought to artificial creature (by tests of biologic weapons), nuclear radiation, drugs which is
allowed on purpose and even test-practised secretly, children genocide under the name of “birth control”, poverty
and attitudes like masters of slaves, apparent tortures, beating as they beat a dog on the street!

However; the ‘merciful-compassionate’ world who has mercy on the wild animals, noisy for ‘human rights’, so-called
justice defenders ignore to see these disasters!

Is it a crime if the people mentioned above seek to survive and have their freedom? Then, what is the responsibility
of the governments that respect the human rights, and regard themselves as good country with democratic values
where there is freedom of belief - the government of the people, a blood brother to us? Should he help the enemy
and sell his brother? Should he jail his brother? Should he act against democracy and human rights?

Should he sell the peace, stability, the rights and the justice in return for little benefits that has yet to come from
China? Why not speed themselves up to become colonized at the end? Because, this action speeds up China to
invade the Central Asia! It is very sad that our brothers regard us as an enemy and threat to themselves, and
embrace China ignoring its beastly intentions to swallow them. China has green lights on just to expand their lands!
We have always been sincerely pleased with your freedom, unfortunately, you do not realize the worth of your
freedom, and see your enemy as an ally, and your ally as an enemy! We are afraid that this absurdity will shorten
your freedom that is not vouchsafed for us but you who do not know its value, because your happiness is our
happiness.

I will end my words demanding justice from you hoping that you remember my sincere warnings and distinguish
your allies from your enemies clearly. I thank everybody who has participated in this trial everyday spending their
valuable time and the court who has given me the right to defend myself.

May Allah bless my dear people who have broken hearts and great compassion not to have any homelands, and
who help me spiritually, support me with their words and attitudes, and encourage my efforts with their efforts.

May Allah bless us with freedom and a place among the people of the world, AMIN!

Uyghur Activists Picket Uzbek Embassy

BISHKEK, May 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Around 30 protesters today picketed the Uzbek Embassy in Kyrgyzstan to demand the release of Huseyin Celil, a Uyghur activist currently in jail in Uzbekistan and wanted by the Kyrgyz authorities.

Uzbekistan seized Celil on March 27 acting on Interpol warrants issued by Kyrgyz and Chinese police.

Uzbekistan claims Celil, who was carrying a Canadian passport at the time of his arrest, is actually a Turkish citizen named Guler Dilaver.

Beijing believes he was involved in a May 2000 attack on a state delegation in China's western Xingjiang Province, the home region of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs.

Bishkek holds him responsible for the killing, in March 2000, of Nigmat Baizakov, the head of the Uyghur Society in Kyrgyzstan.

Protestors at the Bishkek rally, which was organized by a Uyghur rights group called Democracy, maintain that the charges brought against Celil are fabricated.

New Contributions

S. M. Tora's Contribution

Sheikh Bilal's Contributions

China is driving this

Faces kidnapping, murder charges

Allegations `are not valid": Lawyer

May 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
RICHARD BRENNAN
GTA BUREAU CHIEF

A Burlington Islamic religious leader being held in Uzbekistan has been charged with murder and kidnapping in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan in central Asia, his lawyer confirmed yesterday.
But Chris MacLeod told the Toronto Star the charges against Huseyincan Celil, a local imam, can be easily refuted, saying Celil was a refugee in Turkey when the alleged incidents happened in Kyrgyzstan in March and June 2000.
"We are now compiling our documents to refute those charges and we are not going to have much difficulty at all with that as he was in Turkey under UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) administration at the time," he said. "These charges are not valid. They are as far out there as you can get."
Celil, a human-rights activist jailed for working on behalf of the Uighur population in China's northwest Xinjiang province before his 1998 escape, was arrested in March while trying to renew his visitor's visa in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent.
Celil, 37, was sentenced in absentia to death by a Chinese court for founding a political party to work for the rights of the Uighur people.
MacLeod said he is convinced "China is driving this" and that Kyrgyzstan is acting as an intermediary state. It is believed that even if Celil was transferred to Kyrgyzstan, he would simply be sent to nearby China.
"We've got UNHCR documents that say ... around June 14, 1999, that he is accepted ... as an official refugee in Turkey ... and he was with his wife and disabled son," he said.
The allegations are that Celil killed People's Republic of China delegates while in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in March 2000, and then returned and kidnapped other PRC officials in June, MacLeod said.
"They had to come with something to hold him," he said. "It makes absolutely no sense for him to leave his wife and his newborn son to fly back to Kyrgyzstan, where he already had problems, commit crimes and then fly back," he said.
Celil and his family, who arrived in Canada as refugees in 2001, settled in Hamilton, where he became active in the Muslim community. The family moved to Burlington last year.
MacLeod said he would be providing the federal government with the necessary documentation next week to refute the charges, complete with pictures of Celil in Turkey, as well as statements from other people who were with him in Turkey.
Canadian officials could not be reached for comment.
MacLeod said Celil is getting weekly visits from officials from the Canadian consul in Uzbekistan, "and it is my understanding that he is in good health."
"We continue to request the government to push aggressively for his release and return to Canada," he said.

China 'crushing Muslim Uighurs'

Burlington man accused of terrorism

Family, friends deny charge
By Daniel NolanThe Hamilton Spectator(May 9, 2006)
The Uzbekistan government is accusing a Burlington father of six it is holding in jail of being a terrorist linked to two attacks in Central Asia six years ago.
But his lawyer and a friend say the story has been concocted by the government to back up their detention of Huseyincan Celil, 37, and to try and ease the heat it is facing for his imprisonment.
Celil's detention since March has drawn the attention of human rights groups across the globe, including Amnesty International. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, MP Jason Kenney, has also expressed concern about his fate and Ottawa has dispatched a consular officer from Moscow to keep tabs on the situation.
"We knew they had to come up with something to detain him," said Chris MacLeod, a Hamilton lawyer who is liaisoning between Celil's wife Kamila, and the Canadian government, over his imprisonment.
"It's absolutely not surprising. Whatever the currency of the day is ... if this was the early 1990s, it was the war on drugs. Now, you've got a war on terror. I fully expected them to make some sort of allegation."
Uzbek authorities alleged on the weekend they have proof Celil, a member of the minority Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province, is a Uyghur terrorist wanted by both China and the neighbouring nation of Kyrgyzstan. He came to Canada in 2001 and is now a Canadian citizen.
They say he is really Guler Dilaver, an Uyghur who had Turkish citizenship, and is wanted by Kyrgyzstan for the March 20, 2000, slaying of the head of the Uyghur Society in Kyrgyzstan. China wants him for a May 2000 attack on a state delegation in Xinjiang province.
MacLeod and Celil's friend Burhan Celik, of Ottawa, say the allegations are false because Celil was in Turkey at the time of the attacks, under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. They are compiling documents, including photos, to show he was in Turkey and plan to present them at a press conference in Ottawa today.
Celil fled Kyrgyzstan for Turkey in 1999. He sought shelter there in the mid-1990s from China, where he advocated for the rights of the Uyghur minority. There are fears he could face execution if extradited to China because of his political work within the Uyghur community.
Celil went to Uzbekistan with his wife and three sons. They visited her family and to see if he could get his other three children out of China, where he had to leave them.
MacLeod and Celik say Celil had a passport in the name of Guler Dilaver. Celik said his friend bought it for $1,000 US after he fled China, as protection if he was ever arrested, because there remains strong respect for a Turkish passport in Central Asia. Celil was arrested by Kyrgyzstan authorities in 1998, and released after admitting his real identity. But Celik said his friend never saw the fake passport again.
"They're just trying to make up a scenario," said Celik about the Uzbekistan's terrorist allegations. "I suggest they go with Stephen Spielberg. He's quite good with this type of movie. This is all made up. He has done nothing wrong."
MacLeod said, as far as anyone can determine, Celil remains in prison in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. He is suffering stomach pains, which MacLeod believes is linked to ulcers.
dnolan@thespec.com 905-526-3351

KEEP WRITING LETTERS TO FREE HUSEYIN CELIL

KEEP WRITING LETTERS TO FREE HUSEYIN CELIL

(Ottawa, Canada - 05/04/06) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) is reissuing its action alert calling for Canadian
Muslims to continue writing letters to help free Huseyin Celil, the Canadian
Muslim Imam detained in Uzbekistan.

“My children and I fear for Huseyin’s life everyday,” said Kamila
Telendibaeva, Mr. Celil’s wife, when she met with CAIR-CAN Executive
Director Karl Nickner. “My husband is a Canadian citizen and he should be
treated like a Canadian citizen. I believe the Canadian government has a
responsibility to do everything it can to protect his rights and bring him
home safely to Canada.”

Huseyin Celil, a Canadian Muslim who served as an Imam at a Hamilton,
Ontario mosque, was detained last month during a visit to Uzbekistan and is
facing deportation to China for possible execution. He is currently being
held under house arrest, and is in need of medical assistance for a stomach
problem. He has been denied access to a lawyer.

To read more about Mr. Celil’s case please see:
http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/bp/story/3476326p-4016309c.html

CAIR-CAN has written to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and is also
one of the 12 organizations that have signed Amnesty International’s open
letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, requesting he work to free Mr.
Celil from imprisonment in Uzbekistan. That letter can be read here:
http://www.amnesty.ca/archives/open_letter_huseyin_celil2.php

The Canadian government has a responsibility to do everything it can to
protect the rights of all Canadians, even when traveling abroad.

Chris MacLeod, the lawyer for Mr. Celil's family, and opposition MPs have
called on the Prime Minister to personally intervene to help free Mr. Celil
and have him returned home safely to Canada. Please write to the Prime
Minister and urge him to do his utmost to free Mr. Celil.


ACTION REQUESTED:

1. WRITE to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A draft letter has been provided
below.

2. FORWARD this message to your friends and family.

3. ANNOUNCE this action alert at Friday jumu'ah prayers to tell others in
your community to write letters. Please coordinate with your local mosques
for an announcement to be made.

Please send a copy of your letters to CAIR-CAN at canada@cair-net.org

The Right Honorable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario. K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca


DRAFT LETTER:

Dear Right Hon. Prime Minister Harper

RE: Huseyin CELIL; Canadian Citizen Imprisoned in Uzbekistan

I write to you today out of concern for Huseyin Celil, a Canadian Muslim
Imam who has been detained in Uzbekistan and is facing deportation to China
for possible execution. Mr. Celil is a Canadian citizen who had been
traveling on his Canadian passport when he was imprisoned.

I appreciate the efforts to date of the Canadian government in trying to
free Mr. Celil, however I urge you to continue to do your utmost to protect
the rights of this Canadian citizen. Opposition MPs, such as Paul Szabo and
Dan McTeague, have suggested that you, Mr. Prime Minister, should personally
intervene in this case to secure Mr. Celil’s release. This has been done by
previous Prime Ministers and high ranking politicians for other Canadian
citizens in the past.

I urge you to uphold the responsibilities of your office and ask that you do
your utmost to ensure that the rights of all Canadians are protected, even
when abroad. Please help free Mr. Celil so that he can be returned home
safely to Canada.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

Uyghurs Hit By Autocratic States' Cooperation With Beijing

Central Asia: Uyghurs Hit By Autocratic States' Cooperation With Beijing By Gulnoza Saidazimova
Uyghurs in China complain of severe repression and discrimination (file photo)
(epa)
An Uyghur political dissident from China, Huseyin Celil, remains in detention in Uzbekistan. Celil -- who is now a Canadian citizen -- was arrested in March in Tashkent at the request of Chinese authorities. Human rights groups fear that Celil might face torture and even death if extradited to China. Meanwhile, two more Uyghur men have been in detention in neighboring Kazakhstan. Observers say Uyghurs are victims of cooperation between the autocratic states in Central Asia and China.
PRAGUE, April 28, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Thirty-seven-year old Huseyin Celil, an ethnic Uyghur originally from northwestern China, was detained in Tashkent on March 27.
Celil was with his wife and three children visiting his in-laws in Tashkent. He was detained while applying for a renewal of his Uzbek visa.
Amnesty International says it has documented several cases of Uyghurs being sentenced to death and executed in the XUAR for alleged acts of separatism and terrorism in recent years.
Held Without Charges
Celil's wife, Komila Telindibaeva, returned to her home in Hamilton, eastern Canada, after several futile attempts to see her husband, who was held by the Uzbek Interior Ministry. She tells RFE/RL that no charges have been brought against Celil so far.
"They (Uzbek authorities) don't say anything, we heard nothing from them," Telindibaeva said. "They don't say what they will do. They haven't said anything to the [Canadian] consul when he phoned them."
Before obtaining a refugee status in Canada in 2001, Celil was a political activist and fought for the rights of Muslim Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where he was arrested and allegedly tortured. In 1996, he fled to Kyrgyzstan where he also spent nine months in jail at China's request, Telindibaeva says. After being acquitted, Celil fled to Turkey before reaching Canada.
Celil's wife says he has not been involved in any political activity since fleeing China.
Canadian Government Involved
Rights watchdog groups and 12 other nongovernmental organizations expressed concern over Celil's fate saying he is likely to face torture and execution if returned to China. They wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking him to intervene personally.
Beth Berton-Hunter, Amnesty International's information officer, spoke to RFE/RL from Toronto.
"That's very much our concern and that's why we've asked the Canadian government to intervene on his behalf as a Canadian citizen and to ensure that he is released and returned to Canada," she said.
Beth Richardson of the Canadian Embassy in Moscow told RFE/RL on April 27 that embassy officials have been in contact with Uzbek authorities about the case. The embassy official is in Tashkent where she met with Celil, Richardson said, but she refused to speak of Celil's current state. Neither did she elaborate on Ottawa's negotiations with Tashkent.
Canadian authorities say they are using all possible diplomatic avenues, including appeals to other countries, to press for the release of Celil from jail.
Prime Minister Harper assigned his parliamentary secretary, Jason Kenney, to personally deal with the case.
Speaking after Celil's wife, Telindibaeva, gave a press conference on April 26, Kenney said it was "outrageous" that the Uzbek authorities detained Celil without any clear explanation as to why or what their interest is in him.
He added that Ottawa is "preoccupied" with Celil's fate and is pressing the case "with full vigor."
Others Also Detained
Meanwhile, two more Uyghur men remain in detention in Kazakhstan.
Thirty-five-year old Yusuf Kadir Tohti and Abdukadir Sidik, aged 30, both originally from the XUAR, were detained in Kazakhstan last month.
Tohti has lived in Kazakhstan since 1996 and worked as a religious teacher. In China, he was accused of promoting separatism.
Sidik fled the XUAR in 1999 after publicly protesting against Beijing's policy on minorities, particularly the family planning policy, which limits the number of children families can have.
Amnesty International's Berton-Hunter says all three men were detained on an extradition request by China.
"There is certainly an arrangement between the different Central Asian countries and China," she says. "What has been confirmed is that they are sending people back to China. What the whole issue is, really, that it's Chinese-driven as far as we can see."
Chinese authorities have accused Uyghurs -- Turkic-speaking Muslims -- of violent Islamic separatism aimed at creating an independent state of East Turkestan in northwestern China.
Official Beijing has labeled separatism, terrorism, and extremism as "three evil forces" and, as many argue, used them as a pretext to crack down on dissent. Experts also say China has used the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to target dissidents.
Notably, the three arrests took place before the SCO defense minister gathering in Beijing on April 26, when the group -- which is comprised of Russia, China, and four Central Asian states, marked its 10th anniversary.
Dilshod Rashid, a Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, tells RFE/RL that Uyghurs have become victims of cooperation between Central Asian states and China.
"When the whole world put diplomatic, political pressure on Uzbekistan after the Andijon events, [Uzbek President] Islam Karimov was [embraced] in Beijing," Rashid said. "This was a demonstration of cooperation between two dictatorial states.
One of the aspects of this cooperation is that in Uzbekistan, Uyghurs and even pro-democratic Uzbeks have been oppressed and thrown in jail. Arrests of people fighting for East Turkestan's freedom and [possible] extradition of them to Beijing is also a result of this cooperation."
History Of Repression In China
Human rights groups say that if returned to China, the three men would be at serious risk, including torture or other ill-treatment, possibly even the death penalty.
Komila Telindibaeva also expressed fear for her husband's future if he would be extradited to China. "I am fearful of China," she said. "He didn't do anything wrong in Central Asia. He was detained only at the request of China."
Amnesty International says it has documented several cases of Uyghurs being sentenced to death and executed in the XUAR for alleged acts of separatism and terrorism in recent years.
The most recent case is Ismail Semed, an Uyghur human-rights activist, who was sentenced to death following deportation from Pakistan to China and was likely executed, the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project said earlier this month.

Huseyin Celil has been moved out of prison to house-arrest. We thank Jason Kenney for his support.

Huseyin Celil has been moved out of the regular solitary confinement to house-arrest in Tashkent. It is controlled by the Uzbeki apparatus. Canadian Consular staff and his mother-in-law met with him. He looked fine physically but he needed medicine for his ulcer.
April 29, 2006
Kyrgyzstan for the very first time, requested his extradition on bogus allegations. He was alleged to commit crimes at a time he was not even in the Continental Asia. We are hopeful that he will exonerate by means of alibi. If you think you have known Mr. Celil in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan or Turkey, please give us a call or write to us.

Celil's family, friends appeal to PM

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government says it is using "all possible diplomatic avenues," including appeals to other countries, to press for the release of Canadian Islamic religious leader Huseyin Celil from jail in Uzbekistan.
Celil, a political dissident who fled his homeland in the mid-1990s before coming to Canada as a refugee and getting citizenship, faces deportation to China and possible execution.
"It is outrageous that the Uzbeki authorities have detained Mr. Celil without any clear explanation as to why or what their interest is in him," the prime minister's parliamentary secretary, Jason Kenney, said Wednesday.
"It is totally unacceptable to the government that it took some three weeks after his initial detention for Uzbeki authorities to permit access by Canadian consular officials.
"We publicly call upon the Uzbekistani government to co-operate fully with Canadian consular officials, which is their international legal obligation."
The statement came after Celil's pregnant wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, held an emotional news conference along with Amnesty International at Parliament Hill on Wednesday, where she read a statement pleading for help.
"We came to Canada (because) we wanted peace and a home to raise our family," she said, stopping repeatedly to fight back tears. "In Canada, we thought that we could speak freely and express our fears.
"Now my husband is facing extradition to the very country he fled from. I ask you, please, don't let them return him to China. . . . I don't want my unborn child or my two boys to ask who their father was or why he can't come home."
The human rights group and 12 other non-governmental organizations have written Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking him to intervene personally to help Celil, who has championed the cause of the Uygur people, an ethnic Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang province.
Kenney said Ottawa is "preoccupied" with Celil's release and has dedicated a full-time consular official out of Moscow to press the case in Uzbekistan "with full vigour."
"We are looking at and using all possible diplomatic avenues to press for his release," Kenney said.
"We have been and will be engaging other countries to assist us in this matter because, quite frankly, Canada has a very modest official presence in the central Asian region. We don't have an embassy or even a consulate in Uzbekistan or in neighbouring countries."
The issue is close to Kenney's heart. He made a controversial departure from a Canadian trade mission in China last year to visit the family of a dissident. He said Wednesday that weaker people suffer continuing, systematic persecution in China, "which is precisely why Canada granted convention refugee status to Mr. Celil in the first place."
Supporters want Canada to ensure legal counsel for Celil.
Celil was arrested in Uzbekistan on March 27 when he tried to renew his visa while the couple and their children were visiting Telendibaeva's family. No charges have been laid.
Telendibaeva returned to Canada last weekend after she was repeatedly denied visits to see her husband in jail. He was apparently arrested on a warrant from China and a ruling ordering his execution.
Amnesty International fears Celil, who escaped prison in China once, will be sent back because of close ties between the two countries and mutual extradition treaties.

Wife of man arrested in Uzbekistan returns alone

Burlington man could be facing death`Canada needs to be very vocal': Lawyer
Apr. 24, 2006. 01:00 AM
NAOMI CARNIOL
STAFF REPORTER
Huseyincan Celil's Burlington townhouse is full of voices. The voices of friends, children and his wife. One voice is missing. His.
After the Canadian citizen's arrest in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent on March 27, his wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, visited Uzbeki authorities begging for his release before she returned to Canada on Friday evening.
Celil, a Burlington imam, was once imprisoned in China and Kyrgyzstan for working on behalf of the minority Uyghur population in China's northwest Xinjiang province.
His family fears he will be sent to China and killed.
China and Uzbekistan have strong ties. Both belong to the Shanghai Co-operation Organization and the leaders of both countries take a hard stance against political opposition.
The Uzbeki authorities were waiting to see if Celil's fingerprints matched those on file in China and Kyrgyzstan before deporting him. The prints have been matched, Telendibaeva said.
As far as she knows, her husband is still in Tashkent. She knows which detention centre he's being held at.
But the authorities wouldn't let her visit him. "I was allowed to send a letter," she said in Turkish through a translator.
She misses her husband. "We've been married for six and a half years and never had a major argument," she said.
The couple's recent trip was supposed to be a vacation. Telendibaeva hadn't seen her parents, who live in Uzbekistan, in more than six years.
The Celils and their three young children flew to Kyrgyzstan in February to see an ill relative of Telendibaeva's before heading to Uzbekistan. After a month in Tashkent, the family decided to extend their trip.
On March 23, Celil visited Uzbeki authorities to renew the family's visitors' visas. He was told to come back in five days.
On March 27, Celil left for the visa office with Telendibaeva's father and brother at noon. At 10 p.m., Telendibaeva's father and brother returned without Celil.
China re-activated Celil's file in 2002, the family's lawyer, Chris MacLeod said. By that time, Celil had already been living in Canada for a year.
He often led prayers at the Ebu Bekir Islamic Centre in Hamilton. He also gave lectures on religious topics. But he rarely spoke publicly about the struggles of the Uyghur people, his family and friends say.
Three of his children from an earlier marriage remain in China. He was worried if he spoke out they would be punished, MacLeod says.
From time to time, Celil spoke on the radio. Once he attended a conference in Ottawa. That seemed to be enough for China to re-open his file. "The risk of harm he faces in China ... is a direct result of exercising freedom of expression," MacLeod says. Canada needs to be very vocal to the Uzbeki authorities, he says.
Telendibaeva just wants her husband where he belongs, she says. In Burlington. On the chair next to her.

Brother Celil's Wife Returned

Yesterday around 06.30 pm, Mrs. Kamila Telendibaeva arrived in Toronto International Airport. A Group of her friends, Celil's family lawyer, and media were there to support Mr. Celil's Wife and her children.
As we understood, from her comments, that Brother Celil's situation remains same condition and the help of those who speak and claims for his safe return have not been showing up.

Canadian Government and Officials are being slow at this moment and media’s interests for this subject are not serious.

We pray for Brother Husyincan Celil for his safe return…

One of the regular Letter from President's Office yet...

Dear S.M. Tora:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to thank you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which fallswithin the portfolio of the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister ofForeign Affairs. The Prime Minister always appreciates receiving mail on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Please be assured that the statements you made have been carefully reviewed. I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail toMinister MacKay so that he too may be made aware of your comments. I am certain that the Minister will give your views every consideration. For more information on the Government's initiatives, you may wish tovisit the Prime Minister's Web site, at www.pm.gc.ca.

L.A. LavellExecutive Correspondence Officerfor the Prime Minister's OfficeAgent de correspondancede la haute directionpour le Cabinet du Premier ministre

Huseyin Celil's fingerprints matched

April 17, 2006
We have communicated with Mrs. Celil in Tashkent. She is on her way to Toronto, most probably will arrive on April 21. She could not get sufficient assistance from Canadian officials in Tashkent and she has indicated that Canadian diplomats change so often, neither she nor Consular affairs staff becomes familiar with each other or the case.We sincerely thank Amnesty International's kind efforts for the case. AI Canada brought the issue in front of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as other pertinent officials and institutions.We have received telephone calls from supporters from many locations across Canada. Despite the divergent locations we have received telephone calls, they most often converge on an issue as to whether there are levels of Canadian Citizenship -depending on race, ethnicity, place of birth or naturalized/citizen by birth. As advocates of the case, we thought it may be prudent to raise this question on our website. Because we do not really know if there are tiers of citizenship and different denotations. We have conducted a research on the citizenship issue on the Parliament website. It may help you better understand the concept. There are different accounts for the concept. The discussants could not deny existence of different tiers of citizenship. Mr. Lorne Waldman, an expert lawyer on immigration and citizenship has stated"I just want to say that the major concern I have about the legislation in general is what I see as a significant erosion in the rights of certain categories of citizens. We're going to create in Canada two classes of citizens: those who acquire citizenship by birth, either because they are born in Canada or they are born of Canadian parents, in which case they are immune from the revocation proceedings, and those who are naturalized."
April 19, 2006
We communicated with Mrs. Celil in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She stated that the fingerprints were matched with Kyrgyzstan and China. Further to that, she was informed that both China and Kyrgyzstan have requested Mr. Huseyin Celil be extradited to them. As we know, Uzbekistan requested an Interpol clearance on Huseyin Celil and China and Kyrgyzstan responded positively to the request.She said she was given some of the personal items such as her purse, credit cards and ID's for the children. The Consular staff in Tashkent helped her to get them back.
RFA Correspondent Kamil Tursun conveyed Rabeeya Kadeer's speech to us. She urged the Government of the United States to act immediately to save Huseyin Celil and other human rights activists. She also reiterated that China pressures even most democratic western societies to hand over political dissidents to China as in the case of Ismail Samad and possible Huseyin Celil. She emphasized that despite UNHCR's clear-cut guidelines and regulations, Uzbekistan does not follows the rules and bows to Chinese pressures. This also indicates that it is time to globally caution Uzbekistan for their non-UN-compliant activities and possible referral to UN Security Council where China also holds a permanent seat.
Morteza Jafarpour, SISO's Executive Director, emphasized their commitment to refugee and immigration issues as well as human rights activism. Therefore, he stated that they will help Mrs. Celil as much as possible such as translation services and transportation in Hamilton-Burlington area. He also stated that they are in close contact with Chris MacLeod.

We hope the same result for our Brother Huseyincan Celil

Canadians win freedom for Chinese dissident

After years of punishment for defacing Mao portrait, Lu 'grateful' to be here

ROD MICKLEBURGH

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — Lu Decheng, who spent nine years in a Chinese jail for splotching the famous portrait of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square, is safe and sound in Canada after Canadian authorities secured his release from a Thai detention centre.

The 43-year-old former bus driver, smiling broadly, was greeted upon his arrival at Vancouver International Airport yesterday by a relieved group of pro-democracy activists who had been at the forefront of efforts to bring him to Canada.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Lu said he was exhilarated to be in a country "with a civil society where I can breathe the air of freedom. I am very grateful."

Activists credited behind-the-scenes diplomacy by the federal Conservative government for winning Mr. Lu's freedom, after Thai officials, acting on pressure from China, kept him locked up despite the fact that he had a valid immigrant's visa to Canada.

"The government got involved and that was probably the reason he was released in such a short time," said Cheuk Kwan, chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.

"It's a refreshing change [from the Liberals] to have a government putting emphasis on human rights over pure trade and business. They did a good job."

Mr. Lu was one of three boyhood friends who travelled from Hunan province to the mass student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The trio decided to make their own protest by hurling egg shells filled with coloured dye at Chairman Mao's huge portrait. But students quickly corralled the three young men and turned them over to police.

All were treated far more severely than any of the student protesters, receiving prison sentences from 16 years to life for "counter-revolutionary" activities.

Yu Dongyue, the last of the three to be released, was not freed until Feb. 22 this year. Family members have said he is now like a child, driven mad by years of solitary confinement and beatings.

Although he was paroled in 1998, Mr. Lu said Chinese authorities continued to hound him, making it impossible for him to earn a living.

He slipped out of China in late 2004, he explained yesterday, seeking to escape Chinese harassment and to publicize the prison plight of Mr. Yu.

"One of us had to get out and tell the world how the Communist regime treated us in prison," Mr. Lu said.

But when Chinese authorities learned that Canada had granted Mr. Lu refugee status earlier this year, they put pressure on Thailand to keep him in custody while seeking his return to China.

"China . . . does not have any so-called 'political refugees,' " a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared. "Lu Decheng left China in violation of Chinese laws."

Mr. Lu already had a March 14 plane ticket to Vancouver when the Chinese intervened and the date passed.

Now, he is free, on his way to Calgary to finally begin his new life in Canada.

The case was considered an early test of the Conservatives' pre-election pledge to place a greater emphasis on human rights in China than past Liberal governments have done.

Kim Girtel, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, shed few details on how Mr. Lu's release was arranged.

"We did see reports alleging that Mr. Lu was having difficulty exiting Thailand, and we communicated our concern to Thai authorities," she said, declining further comment.

Citing weariness from 22 hours of travel, Mr. Lu declined to go into a lot of detail about his youthful, anti-Maoist escapade. "It's a very long story, and my mind is kind of muddy right now."

But at one point, he smiled at the recollection of putting the oil-based dye into the egg shells.

"The worst thing was that it was not the Chinese police who caught us. It was the students who took us to the police," Mr. Lu said. "Of course, it was a very regretful incident."

Nearly 2000 Petition Letter to the President signed yet we need more...

Started by Friday with the help of our community, we have claimed that our concern on the issue is a prior. We have urged our brothers to sign a petition letter to the President. Our brothers who contributed in the distribution and organization have set an example of a strong character of our community, which has to be strong and dynamic. From Mississauga, Anatolia Islamic Centre to ISNA, Halton Mosque in Burlington, Downtown and Mountain Mosque, Ebu Bekir Islamic, Omar Mosque Centers in Hamilton petition letters were distributed.

However, we need more support from our community for our brother Celil. We have to take this issue seriously with a sincere concern.

Please try to urge and organize your community or friends to make this petition stronger.

Writing and sending a letter to the President is easiest and effortless thing with no cost-no need to stamp-.

You can find an example letter below or contact us we can send you a copy of the letter.

Beijing tightens control on Uyghurs

Analysis Diplomats fear Ontario man could be deported to China and executed.

Apr. 16, 2006. OLIVIA WARDFEATURE WRITER

China's spectacular northwestern region of Xinjiang is burgeoning. Its population has increased by 9 per cent in the past five years, and every month brings the announcement of another industrial mega-project.
But, experts say, Xinjiang's success conceals — and also contributes to — the underlying tensions between China and its population of Muslim Uyghurs, who have been denounced as dissidents, rebels and even terrorists.
Huseyincan Celil, a Burlington Muslim religious leader arrested March 26 in Uzbekistan after working for the rights of Xinjiang Uyghurs, is feared to be in danger of deportation to China, where he might face execution.
According to human rights groups, more than 190 Uyghurs (pronounced wee-girrs) have received the death penalty since 1995, and the total could be far higher. Celil has already been sentenced to death in absentia by a Chinese court for founding a political party that works for Uyghur rights.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says extensive research has revealed "a multi-tiered system of surveillance, control and suppression of religious activity aimed at Xinjiang's Uyghurs. At its most extreme, peaceful activists who practise their religion in a manner deemed unacceptable by state authorities or Chinese Communist party officials are arrested, tortured and at times executed."
Beijing has denied repressing the Uyghurs, and it insists that their rights and religion are respected. But since 1990, when a major Muslim uprising took place in Baren, northwest of Kashgar, China has tightened its control over the frontier territory. Tensions escalated again in 1997, when a peaceful protest near the Kazakhstan border was brutally suppressed and thousands of Uyghurs were arrested.
For years, the Chinese government kept ethnic problems quiet, in the face of Western criticism. But it reversed that policy dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by Muslim extremists. A "strike hard" campaign to root out suspected separatists is ongoing, and China has announced that 1,000 Uyghurs were trained by Al Qaeda in a bid to link the 7 million-strong community with international terrorism.
Beijing also has denounced the "three evil forces" of separatist, terrorist and religious extremism" in Xinjiang and declared the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — named for the Uyghurs' title for their homeland, Eastern Turkestan — as a terrorist organization. Western analysts have pointed to "pockets of militancy" in the region, but most have concluded that these groups have little strength or influence.
Although Islam is one of the major religions officially permitted in China, human rights groups say a thicket of regulations and intrusive scrutiny by the Chinese authorities has made it difficult for Uyghurs to practise their faith, most often a moderate Sunni brand of Islam.
"China genuinely believes the Uyghurs are in league with Islamist groups," says a European businessman who has worked with Beijing for more than 10 years. "It is also convinced that countries like the United States are trying to undermine its economy by funding extremists. The government feels that an outbreak of terrorist attacks would put an end to new investments in Xinjiang."
Suspicions escalated after Washington established military bases in Central Asia to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda, writes Joshua Kurlantzick in the journal Foreign Affairs. "Xinjiang suddenly found itself at the centre of a battle between China, Russia and the United States for control of Central Asia."
China is well aware of the economic element of the struggle.
In spite of its jagged mountains, deserts and punishing climate, Xinjiang is potentially one of the wealthiest parts of China, which formally integrated it in 1884 — an event the Uyghurs never accepted.
But with its vast land mass, oil and gas deposits and mineral riches, China has kept Xinjiang from seceding with an iron hand.
Now, notes Christian Tyler in Wild West China: The Untold Story of a Frontier Land, Xinjiang is also a valuable prize for China's flagging Communist Party.
"Only too conscious of what happened in Soviet Russia, the Party will go to any lengths to maintain its control, and especially to control the natural resources of Xinjiang."
With the development of natural resources has come environmental devastation, along with the migration of millions of Han Chinese. They now officially represent 40 per cent of Xinjiang's population — but have been reported to outnumber the Uyghurs.
Writes Tyler: "The Han have the pick of the high-paid jobs; they can readily get the permits which allow them to run private businesses; they are treated preferentially when it comes to raising a bank loan; and they can obtain a city residency permit, while a Uyghur who may have lived in the city for years is refused."
Furthermore, says researcher Ben Carrdus of the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, "there are signs every day of consolidation of Chinese control. Huge amounts of money have gone into the extractive industries, and they haven't got it back yet. The idea is to fill Xinjiang with people and build a big tax base. But the Uyghurs get much less than their fair share of the benefits."
Since 2001, he says, China has also been strengthening its ties with neighbouring Central Asia under the umbrella of the Shanghai Co-Operation Organization — including despotic countries such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan that ruthlessly crack down on minorities and political dissidents.
Carrdus says Canadian fears that Celil may be removed to China are well founded: under the SCO charter, calling for "a new security concept anchored on mutual trust, disarmament and mutual security," Central Asian countries have allowed Beijing officials to remove suspects, without lengthy review procedures.
Pakistan, too, has co-operated with China by deporting suspected separatists and terrorists. According to Amnesty International, Ismail Semed, an ethnic Uyghur who was deported from Pakistan in 2003, "is at risk of imminent execution" after being sentenced to death on political charges.
Even before 2001, however, Pakistan bowed to Chinese pressure by expelling young Uyghurs studying at Pakistani colleges. Some were reportedly executed.
China has also asked the U.S. to turn over more than 20 Uyghur Chinese citizens held in Guantanamo Bay, but found to have "no intelligence value." The men were in legal limbo after Washington said it would not repatriate them, but other countries would not step forward to give them asylum. China has named them "East Turkestan terrorists" and continues to ask for them back.
Meanwhile, the fate of others in custody, like Canadian Celil, hangs in the balance.