トゥール・ムハメッド様
アブドゥワリ・アユプ先生の不法逮捕に対する抗議文を書いてみました。
事情の分からぬ日本人の立場であり、最初の抗議ですので、強い言葉は
あえて避けました。
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
中華人民共和国大使館 御中
私はかつて貴国に旅行し、貴国の広大さ民族の多様さに心打たれた者です。
尊敬する中国人の先生や友人とも、親しく交流しております。
しかし貴国政府のウイグル人に対する扱いには、大いに失望しております。
このたび貴国政府はウイグル人教育家アブドゥワリ・アユプ氏を逮捕しました。
ウイグルの人々が自らの言語と文化を守ることが、なぜ罪にあたるのでしょうか。
貴重な有形無形の文化財産は、どの国においても大切に守るべきものです。
アブドゥワリ・アユプ氏の早急な釈放をお願いします。
また報道によれば、ウイグルの農民や子供まで反逆の危険性ありとの理由で
貴国政府部隊に殺されています。いかなる理由でも許されないことと思います。
動画サイトyoutubeにも残酷な虐待の様子が流れています。痛ましいことです。
貴国は発展著しく、今では世界第二の経済大国に成長されました。
中華の徳を持つ経済大国には、少数民族弾圧はまったく相応しくないことです。
お考え直し下さるよう切にお願いします。世界は貴国を見ています。
東京都港区麻布十番 横山彩 Yokoyama Sai
ウイグルオンライン
匿名を求めるあるウイグル人情報提供者がウイグルオンラインへ提供した情報によると、8月20日、ウイグル自治区で母語幼稚園を設立しようと尽力している知識人アブドゥワリ・アユプ氏、及び彼と共同で『新疆母語国際貿易公司』を創立した総経理のムハンマド・シディック氏、そしてインターネット上で『カヌーン・ヨル（＝法律の道）』というハンドルネームで活動しているディリヤル・オブル氏の3名が、「非法集資（無許可の資金集め）」の罪に問われ警察に拘束された。
ディリヤル・オブル氏は現在天安区公安局に拘留されているという。彼の妻が面会を求めたところ、警察は「弁護士のみしか面会できない」と彼女に伝えた。
『新疆母語国際貿易公司』はアブドゥワリ・アユプ氏、ムハマド・シディック氏、ディチヤル・オブル氏らにより共同設立されたもので、
すでに複数の『母語』ブランドの商品を販売中だという。この会社は中国社会に公開された状態で資金を募り、また母語幼稚園の設立の下準備を終えていた。
このほか、彼らは母語小学校及び中学校、高校の設立も視野に入れていたという。
『新疆母語国際貿易公司』創立者の一人であるアブドゥワリ・アユプ氏はアメリカのカンザス大学を卒業し、帰国後に教職員などの職を探していたが叶わずムハマンド・シディック氏、ディリヤル・オブル氏らと『新疆母語国際貿易公司』を共同設立した。また、彼は『福楽智慧言語訓練学校』（元・ヌルガン訓練学校）の責任者でもあった。
アブドゥワリ・アユプ氏が警察に拘留されたあと、彼の名義である『福楽智慧言語訓練学校』はすでに閉鎖されたという。この学校は9月7日の新学期へ向けて準備中だった。
さらに、『新疆母語国際貿易公司』によるウイグル語のインターネット掲示板も、現在メンテナンス中となっている。
情報提供者は、ウイグル母語幼稚園の設立のため長期に渡り尽力した彼ら3名が警察に不当拘留されてから、同僚や友人たちは外へ向かって情報を発信しないようにされたと明かした。
翻訳者
大矢田 隆
2012-10-19
Uyghurs say Nur Bekri is powerless as a leader of China’s Xinjiang region.
AFP
Nur Bekri answers a question on the sidelines of National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 8, 2011.
Uyghurs in northwestern China are increasingly questioning the effectiveness of Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri, as petitioners find their grievances go unaddressed and see the regional leader’s orders ignored by local officials.
The 51-year-old ethnically Uyghur chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was appointed to his current post in January 2008, replacing Ismail Tiliwaldi, who resigned in December 2007 to become a Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s parliament, the National People's Congress.
But a number of sensitive incidents, including deadly Urumqi violence between the ethnic Uyghurs and the Han Chinese in June 2009 which left 200 dead according to official figures, have marred Nur Bekri’s tenure and called his authority into question, according to sources in the region.
The chairman is now being commonly referred to as “Nol Bekri,” a play on his name which means “Zero Bekri” in the Uyghur language, because of his inability to lead, a female Uyghur petitioner told RFA’s Uyghur service on condition of anonymity.
When asked if she had submitted her grievances to Nur Bekri, the petitioner said she had not, because “he can do nothing at all.”
“People are saying that his grievances are worse than ours. He cannot make anybody do anything,” she said.
“That is why everybody calls him ‘Zero Bekri’.”
Order ignored
Members of a Uyghur family from Yengisar county in western Xinjiang’s Kasghgar prefecture petitioning for compensation from local officials over the death of one of their sons and the severe injuring of another said Nur Bekri’s assistance had done little for their cause.
The young boys had been playing in a local field when they accidentally exploded a grenade left there by Chinese soldiers during a drill in an incident that occurred about 20 years ago, family sources said.
The surviving son, Tursun Ghopur, said he lost one of his eyes in the aftermath of the explosion and maintains that surgeons who treated him at the Chinese military hospital took his eye out and sold it to another patient.
After decades of petitioning regional officials in vain, the family was informed in March that Nur Bekri had personally taken up the case, ordering relevant government officials to award them 1.75 million yuan (U.S. $278,915) in compensation for their loss and suffering.
The family was given a document of the order signed by Nur Bekri and told that the directive had been issued to both Kashgar prefectural officials and officials at the Yengisar county level.
But one of the family members told RFA that when they took the signed document to the Yengisar county petitioners’ office, officials there “laughed in our faces.”
“The head of the petitioners’ office told us that Nur Bekri should be the one to give us the money. He laughed at us and laughed at the document signed by Nur Bekri,” the family member said.
“He also said, ‘Instead of giving you 1 million yuan, we’d rather pay 5 million yuan to party officials to make this case disappear.”
The family member said that Nur Bekri avoided the issue when the family spoke with him after the incident.
Calls to Nur Bekri's office for comment on the claims went unanswered.
Regional ineffectiveness
According to sources in the region, Uyghurs are secretly circulating a poem about the embattled leader called “Salaam, Nur Bekri,” which details his ineffectiveness as a leader, and calling him a “puppet” of Beijing.
The poem laments his failure to protect Uyghur as the official language in regional schools and his support of a policy which sends young Uyghur girls to jobs outside of Xinjiang, high unemployment amongst Uyghurs in the region, and the influx of Han Chinese for resources in Xinjiang under his watch.
Uyghurs in Xinjiang often complain of policies favoring Han Chinese migration into the region and what they call the unfair allocation of resources to Chinese residents.
Members of the Uyghur exile community have called for the removal of Nur Bekri ahead the 18th National Party Congress—a crucial leadership meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist Party—to be held in Beijing next month.
In September, Dolkun Isa, head of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said that for real change to be seen in the region, the current leaders in Xinjiang—regional chairman Nur Bekri and party secretary Zhang Chunxian—would have to be replaced with representatives elected by Uyghurs.
“If a new, more democratic leadership came to power, then Zhang Chunxian and Nur Bekri should be removed and the Uyghur people should have the opportunity to elect the Uyghur representatives they want.”
Publicly questioned
Following the 2009 Urumqi unrest, Nur Bekri delivered a televised address in which he singled out those he believed to have orchestrated the violence, including overseas Uyghur exile groups and outspoken Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti.
Ilham Tohti, who had published several articles critical of the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang on his website Uyghur Online, responded by calling Nur Bekri “unqualified” for his position.
“He doesn’t care about Uyghurs,” Ilham Tohti said at the time. “He’s always stressed the stability and security of Xinjiang and threatened Uyghurs.”
“Xinjiang has developed, but the people are living in poverty, especially Uyghurs. Laws that should have been applied in the Uyghur Autonomous Region haven’t been implemented.”
Nur Bekri had earlier served as the region’s deputy chairman since 2005 and as mayor of Urumqi before that.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
iPhoneからの投稿
Uyghurs say Nur Bekri is powerless as a leader of China’s Xinjiang region.
AFP
Nur Bekri answers a question on the sidelines of National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 8, 2011.
Uyghurs in northwestern China are increasingly questioning the effectiveness of Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri, as petitioners find their grievances go unaddressed and see the regional leader’s orders ignored by local officials.
The 51-year-old ethnically Uyghur chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was appointed to his current post in January 2008, replacing Ismail Tiliwaldi, who resigned in December 2007 to become a Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s parliament, the National People's Congress.
But a number of sensitive incidents, including deadly Urumqi violence between the ethnic Uyghurs and the Han Chinese in June 2009 which left 200 dead according to official figures, have marred Nur Bekri’s tenure and called his authority into question, according to sources in the region.
The chairman is now being commonly referred to as “Nol Bekri,” a play on his name which means “Zero Bekri” in the Uyghur language, because of his inability to lead, a female Uyghur petitioner told RFA’s Uyghur service on condition of anonymity.
When asked if she had submitted her grievances to Nur Bekri, the petitioner said she had not, because “he can do nothing at all.”
“People are saying that his grievances are worse than ours. He cannot make anybody do anything,” she said.
“That is why everybody calls him ‘Zero Bekri’.”
Order ignored
Members of a Uyghur family from Yengisar county in western Xinjiang’s Kasghgar prefecture petitioning for compensation from local officials over the death of one of their sons and the severe injuring of another said Nur Bekri’s assistance had done little for their cause.
The young boys had been playing in a local field when they accidentally exploded a grenade left there by Chinese soldiers during a drill in an incident that occurred about 20 years ago, family sources said.
The surviving son, Tursun Ghopur, said he lost one of his eyes in the aftermath of the explosion and maintains that surgeons who treated him at the Chinese military hospital took his eye out and sold it to another patient.
After decades of petitioning regional officials in vain, the family was informed in March that Nur Bekri had personally taken up the case, ordering relevant government officials to award them 1.75 million yuan (U.S. $278,915) in compensation for their loss and suffering.
The family was given a document of the order signed by Nur Bekri and told that the directive had been issued to both Kashgar prefectural officials and officials at the Yengisar county level.
But one of the family members told RFA that when they took the signed document to the Yengisar county petitioners’ office, officials there “laughed in our faces.”
“The head of the petitioners’ office told us that Nur Bekri should be the one to give us the money. He laughed at us and laughed at the document signed by Nur Bekri,” the family member said.
“He also said, ‘Instead of giving you 1 million yuan, we’d rather pay 5 million yuan to party officials to make this case disappear.”
The family member said that Nur Bekri avoided the issue when the family spoke with him after the incident.
Calls to Nur Bekri's office for comment on the claims went unanswered.
Regional ineffectiveness
According to sources in the region, Uyghurs are secretly circulating a poem about the embattled leader called “Salaam, Nur Bekri,” which details his ineffectiveness as a leader, and calling him a “puppet” of Beijing.
The poem laments his failure to protect Uyghur as the official language in regional schools and his support of a policy which sends young Uyghur girls to jobs outside of Xinjiang, high unemployment amongst Uyghurs in the region, and the influx of Han Chinese for resources in Xinjiang under his watch.
Uyghurs in Xinjiang often complain of policies favoring Han Chinese migration into the region and what they call the unfair allocation of resources to Chinese residents.
Members of the Uyghur exile community have called for the removal of Nur Bekri ahead the 18th National Party Congress—a crucial leadership meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist Party—to be held in Beijing next month.
In September, Dolkun Isa, head of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said that for real change to be seen in the region, the current leaders in Xinjiang—regional chairman Nur Bekri and party secretary Zhang Chunxian—would have to be replaced with representatives elected by Uyghurs.
“If a new, more democratic leadership came to power, then Zhang Chunxian and Nur Bekri should be removed and the Uyghur people should have the opportunity to elect the Uyghur representatives they want.”
Publicly questioned
Following the 2009 Urumqi unrest, Nur Bekri delivered a televised address in which he singled out those he believed to have orchestrated the violence, including overseas Uyghur exile groups and outspoken Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti.
Ilham Tohti, who had published several articles critical of the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang on his website Uyghur Online, responded by calling Nur Bekri “unqualified” for his position.
“He doesn’t care about Uyghurs,” Ilham Tohti said at the time. “He’s always stressed the stability and security of Xinjiang and threatened Uyghurs.”
“Xinjiang has developed, but the people are living in poverty, especially Uyghurs. Laws that should have been applied in the Uyghur Autonomous Region haven’t been implemented.”
Nur Bekri had earlier served as the region’s deputy chairman since 2005 and as mayor of Urumqi before that.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
iPhoneからの投稿
2012-10-12
A Uyghur man drives his motorcycle into a border guard base.
A Uyghur man has killed an undetermined number of people after driving his motorcycle into the wall of a border guard base in China’s restive northwestern Xinjiang region in a suicide attack on Chinese National Day, police and residents in the area told RFA this week.
The motorcycle crash caused an explosion at the People's Armed Police facility in a rural area of Kargilik (in Chinese, Yecheng) county in Kashgar prefecture on Oct. 1, sources said, though the exact number of casualties was unknown.
The police station chief at nearby Besheliq village, Abdurahman Abdusattar, confirmed an attack had occurred shortly before 12:00 p.m. at a border guard base located between Wahpi and Chasamechit villages in Kokuruk hamlet.
“When we were informed about this it was around noon and we were on our way to the flag-raising ceremony for National Day.”
“We were told that some people died and some were injured. But because it happened on the base, we were not given the details,” he told RFA’s Uyghur service.
One resident in Chasamechit village speaking on condition of anonymity said a total of 20 people had died or been injured in the incident, but police have not confirmed the figure.
Domestic media have silenced news of the incident because the political sensitivity of an attack occurring on the national holiday—the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949—could heighten tensions in a region where ethnic Uyghurs chafe under Chinese rule, a local official in another nearby village said.
Before the attack, a group of two or three young Uyghur men on motorcycles had ridden into Kargilik from neighboring Guma (Pishan) county and driven around the base, surveying the location, a local resident said, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity.
Around 11:00 a.m., the group stopped in Besheliq, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the base, where one or two of them stayed while the remaining rider drove on alone to attack the base, the source said.
The man is believed to have died in the explosion.
Arrest warrants
Police have arrest warrants and are searching for two Uyghur men around age 21 or 22, Abdurahman Abdusattar said.
“From what we can see from their pictures they are modern-looking Uyghur boys with unshaved heads and without beards,” he said.
He said local authorities had tightened security, setting up checkpoints around the county and putting police stations on alert.
“We have set up checkpoints at every entry point to the county and are checking every person and vehicle coming and leaving Kargilik,” he said on Thursday.
“Right now even the village cadres are working at the checkpoints. We were told from the top to protect local police stations with extra vigilance in case of an attack,” he said.
He added that county officials were holding a meeting to discuss the incident and could release information later. “Maybe soon we will receive more information about it,” he said.
Revenge attack
A local official in a nearby village, speaking on condition of anonymity, said news of the incident had been kept out of the media in order to quell fears among the Han Chinese living in Kargilik, where 20 people were killed in a stabbing incident in February.
Last week’s attack could have been a reaction to the shooting in December of a group of Uyghurs in Guma county last December, the official said.
The group of seven Uyghurs, including women and children, had been traveling to the Pakistani border in an attempt to flee the country, but were killed in a confrontation authorities described as a “terrorist” attack.
Chinese authorities often link Uyghurs in Xinjiang to violent separatist groups but experts familiar with the region have said China has exaggerated the threat and cited a “war on terror” in attempt to redirect criticism of domestic policies that cause unrest.
Uyghurs say they are subjected to political control and persecution for opposing Chinese rule in Xinjiang, which has been gripped by persistent ethnic tensions between Muslim Uyghurs and the rapidly growing Han Chinese population.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
iPhoneからの投稿
A Uyghur man drives his motorcycle into a border guard base.
A Uyghur man has killed an undetermined number of people after driving his motorcycle into the wall of a border guard base in China’s restive northwestern Xinjiang region in a suicide attack on Chinese National Day, police and residents in the area told RFA this week.
The motorcycle crash caused an explosion at the People's Armed Police facility in a rural area of Kargilik (in Chinese, Yecheng) county in Kashgar prefecture on Oct. 1, sources said, though the exact number of casualties was unknown.
The police station chief at nearby Besheliq village, Abdurahman Abdusattar, confirmed an attack had occurred shortly before 12:00 p.m. at a border guard base located between Wahpi and Chasamechit villages in Kokuruk hamlet.
“When we were informed about this it was around noon and we were on our way to the flag-raising ceremony for National Day.”
“We were told that some people died and some were injured. But because it happened on the base, we were not given the details,” he told RFA’s Uyghur service.
One resident in Chasamechit village speaking on condition of anonymity said a total of 20 people had died or been injured in the incident, but police have not confirmed the figure.
Domestic media have silenced news of the incident because the political sensitivity of an attack occurring on the national holiday—the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949—could heighten tensions in a region where ethnic Uyghurs chafe under Chinese rule, a local official in another nearby village said.
Before the attack, a group of two or three young Uyghur men on motorcycles had ridden into Kargilik from neighboring Guma (Pishan) county and driven around the base, surveying the location, a local resident said, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity.
Around 11:00 a.m., the group stopped in Besheliq, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the base, where one or two of them stayed while the remaining rider drove on alone to attack the base, the source said.
The man is believed to have died in the explosion.
Arrest warrants
Police have arrest warrants and are searching for two Uyghur men around age 21 or 22, Abdurahman Abdusattar said.
“From what we can see from their pictures they are modern-looking Uyghur boys with unshaved heads and without beards,” he said.
He said local authorities had tightened security, setting up checkpoints around the county and putting police stations on alert.
“We have set up checkpoints at every entry point to the county and are checking every person and vehicle coming and leaving Kargilik,” he said on Thursday.
“Right now even the village cadres are working at the checkpoints. We were told from the top to protect local police stations with extra vigilance in case of an attack,” he said.
He added that county officials were holding a meeting to discuss the incident and could release information later. “Maybe soon we will receive more information about it,” he said.
Revenge attack
A local official in a nearby village, speaking on condition of anonymity, said news of the incident had been kept out of the media in order to quell fears among the Han Chinese living in Kargilik, where 20 people were killed in a stabbing incident in February.
Last week’s attack could have been a reaction to the shooting in December of a group of Uyghurs in Guma county last December, the official said.
The group of seven Uyghurs, including women and children, had been traveling to the Pakistani border in an attempt to flee the country, but were killed in a confrontation authorities described as a “terrorist” attack.
Chinese authorities often link Uyghurs in Xinjiang to violent separatist groups but experts familiar with the region have said China has exaggerated the threat and cited a “war on terror” in attempt to redirect criticism of domestic policies that cause unrest.
Uyghurs say they are subjected to political control and persecution for opposing Chinese rule in Xinjiang, which has been gripped by persistent ethnic tensions between Muslim Uyghurs and the rapidly growing Han Chinese population.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
iPhoneからの投稿
2012-10-11
Land is often taken at a low price and resold at greater value to new Chinese owners.
AFP
Uyghurs walk on a street in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, July 3, 2010.
Authorities in China’s ethnically troubled northwestern Xinjiang region have bulldozed a Uyghur family’s home and taken their land after the family rejected offers of compensation as inadequate, according to Uyghur sources.
The property, located in Koktatchiliq hamlet of the Igerchi village outside Aqsu city in Xinjiang, had been targeted by the city government as part of a larger site chosen in 2008 for the construction of a middle school.
The project involved the relocation of 51 households, only two of them belonging to Han Chinese, sources said.
Uyghurs in Xinjiang often complain of policies favoring Han Chinese migration into the region and the unfair allocation of resources to Chinese residents.
“We did not agree to the government’s terms,” Rebiya Yusup, whose family home was bulldozed, told RFA last week after petitioning for more than three years for their property’s return.
“We asked them to appraise our house fairly, but they did not listen and simply bulldozed our home,” Yusup said from Beijing before breaking off contact and disappearing, possibly into police custody.
'Forcibly removed'
Imama Qeyu, former village secretary for the ruling Chinese Communist Party, confirmed Yusup’s account, saying that he was present at the July 2009 demolition of the family home of Yusup and her husband, Yasin Qurban, and their children.
“One day, I was asked to come to Yasin Qurban’s home. Local and city police and court security personnel were already there, along with the head of the municipal public security bureau.”
“Yasin Qurban’s family were forcibly removed from their home,” he said.
“The family resisted and began to curse everyone while the bulldozers worked on their walls. They were not allowed to take anything from their house.”
Qeyu said that Qurban had refused to sign a compensation agreement offering 29,000 yuan (U.S. $4,578) per mu of land for the family’s parcel and orchard of 10.9 mu (1.8 acres).
The offer did not include payment for the value of the house, though, and authorities rejected a counteroffer by the family for three million yuan (U.S. $473,578).
Qurban refused to sign, and “the school accused Yasin Qurban’s family of obstructing the work,” Qeyu said, adding, “Force was [then] used in Yasin Qurban’s case.”
Beatings and detention
The Qurban family’s 14 members now live in rented space in different homes in Igerchi village and have been petitioning local and regional governments for the last three years for the return of their land, Rebiya Yusup said.
Family members have suffered beatings and periods of detention as a result, she added.
In July, police detained a son of the family who had been petitioning in Beijing, and Yusup traveled to Beijing last week to continue the petition. She was reported to have “left Beijing” shortly after speaking with RFA, and sources believe she is now also in police custody.
The takeover of Uyghur farmland near Aqsu is proceeding at a rapid pace, with most of the land later resold to private Chinese companies at a higher price than the price offered in compensation, a local official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Around 3,000 farmers have lost their land in towns near Aqsu city, and most of them are now unemployed or have hired themselves out for cheap labor in the city,” the official said.
Reported by Mamatjan Juma for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Richard Fin
Land is often taken at a low price and resold at greater value to new Chinese owners.
AFP
Uyghurs walk on a street in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, July 3, 2010.
Authorities in China’s ethnically troubled northwestern Xinjiang region have bulldozed a Uyghur family’s home and taken their land after the family rejected offers of compensation as inadequate, according to Uyghur sources.
The property, located in Koktatchiliq hamlet of the Igerchi village outside Aqsu city in Xinjiang, had been targeted by the city government as part of a larger site chosen in 2008 for the construction of a middle school.
The project involved the relocation of 51 households, only two of them belonging to Han Chinese, sources said.
Uyghurs in Xinjiang often complain of policies favoring Han Chinese migration into the region and the unfair allocation of resources to Chinese residents.
“We did not agree to the government’s terms,” Rebiya Yusup, whose family home was bulldozed, told RFA last week after petitioning for more than three years for their property’s return.
“We asked them to appraise our house fairly, but they did not listen and simply bulldozed our home,” Yusup said from Beijing before breaking off contact and disappearing, possibly into police custody.
'Forcibly removed'
Imama Qeyu, former village secretary for the ruling Chinese Communist Party, confirmed Yusup’s account, saying that he was present at the July 2009 demolition of the family home of Yusup and her husband, Yasin Qurban, and their children.
“One day, I was asked to come to Yasin Qurban’s home. Local and city police and court security personnel were already there, along with the head of the municipal public security bureau.”
“Yasin Qurban’s family were forcibly removed from their home,” he said.
“The family resisted and began to curse everyone while the bulldozers worked on their walls. They were not allowed to take anything from their house.”
Qeyu said that Qurban had refused to sign a compensation agreement offering 29,000 yuan (U.S. $4,578) per mu of land for the family’s parcel and orchard of 10.9 mu (1.8 acres).
The offer did not include payment for the value of the house, though, and authorities rejected a counteroffer by the family for three million yuan (U.S. $473,578).
Qurban refused to sign, and “the school accused Yasin Qurban’s family of obstructing the work,” Qeyu said, adding, “Force was [then] used in Yasin Qurban’s case.”
Beatings and detention
The Qurban family’s 14 members now live in rented space in different homes in Igerchi village and have been petitioning local and regional governments for the last three years for the return of their land, Rebiya Yusup said.
Family members have suffered beatings and periods of detention as a result, she added.
In July, police detained a son of the family who had been petitioning in Beijing, and Yusup traveled to Beijing last week to continue the petition. She was reported to have “left Beijing” shortly after speaking with RFA, and sources believe she is now also in police custody.
The takeover of Uyghur farmland near Aqsu is proceeding at a rapid pace, with most of the land later resold to private Chinese companies at a higher price than the price offered in compensation, a local official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Around 3,000 farmers have lost their land in towns near Aqsu city, and most of them are now unemployed or have hired themselves out for cheap labor in the city,” the official said.
Reported by Mamatjan Juma for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Richard Fin