The Uyghur pawn
Beijing's dictatorship sentences a Canadian to life in prison without evidence to support their charges. The question remains, why?
Kevin Steel - May 21, 2007
He calls it a "basket charge." That's the term Hamilton-area lawyer Chris MacLeod uses when describing "split-ism," or seeking "to divide the motherland." This is the charge his client Huseyin Celil has been convicted of in Communist China. On April 19, Celil--a Canadian citizen and ethnic Uyghur by birth--was sentenced to life in prison. "It's a basket charge for anyone who is either a Tibetan or a Uyghur," MacLeod says. In other words, if they want to throw someone in prison, all they have to do is allege split-ism, and since the Communist Chinese are pretty much detested in both regions and just about everybody wants them out, they don't have to do much to make it stick.
Since 1949, China has occupied both Tibet and East Turkistan, the homeland of the Uyghurs, which the Chinese call Xinjiang province. A vague, broad catch-all charge like "split-ism" might explain why the Chinese felt there was no need
to show evidence at Celil's trial. He was also convicted of "organizing, leading and participating in terrorist groups." For that he received 10 years. Again, no evidence was presented.
But the Chinese Communist party doesn't do this type of thing without its reasons. So, in the absence of evidence, perhaps there might be an explanation that fits the facts.
MacLeod is willing to offer one. "I think [Celil's conviction is] for activities he's done in Canada. This is the Chinese government sending a message to the Uyghur diaspora that if you speak up and speak out in a foreign country for the Uyghur population, that is a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even death," MacLeod says. And he says it's now a matter of "message sent, message received"; Uyghurs abroad are fearful of speaking out.
The problem with this theory is that Celil wasn't known for being a particularly vocal member of the Uyghur community in Canada, which only numbers in the low hundreds. Mehmet Tohti, president of the Toronto-based Uyghur Association of Canada, says Celil simply wasn't that visible. "He is not an extraordinary man in our community. He's a real family man, an ordinary man. We arrange protest rallies sometimes in front of the Chinese Consulate. Sometimes he comes, sometimes not, because he has three kids and his oldest son is handicapped," Tohti says. However, Tohti does agree with MacLeod that the "Chinese government is simply trying to send a message to all Uyghurs outside of China: 'Just watch your step.'"
Tohti believes the Chinese kidnapped Celil simply because they could. In March 2006, Celil traveled to Uzbekistan with his family to visit his wife's relatives. Uzbekistan, friendly with the Beijing government because of business ties and Chinese aid, detained Celil when he tried to renew his visitor visa. They concocted a story that he was in fact a wanted terrorist named Guler Dilaver on Interpol's watch list. Eventually, the Uzbeks spirited him to China without informing his family or Canadian authorities. He continued to be held incommunicado until February this year, when he made a one-day court appearance in the city of Urumchi.
The Chinese initially maintained that because Celil was on an international terrorist watch list, consular agreements didn't apply--and so China didn't have to deal with Canadian diplomats regarding his arrest. When it became apparent that this was too weak a pretext to maintain, the Chinese then said they didn't recognize Celil's Canadian citizenship, and on that basis have consistently denied him Canadian consular services. But even this latest explanation shows how rickety the rule of law is in China. Tohti is emphatic on this point: "Chinese nationality law is very clear and cut, without giving any room for other interpretations. Chinese nationality law, Article 3, says China does not accept dual citizenship. And Article 9 says if anyone becomes a foreign national, becomes a citizen of any other country except China, he or she will lose Chinese citizenship automatically," he says. In other words, Celil cannot legally be a Chinese subject.
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