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Rebiya Kadeer, Mother of the Uyghur People, introduces the Uyghur community

February 23, 2009 at 7:00pm
American University Ward Hall (Ward 1, T Floor, Room 1)

Rebiya Kadeer is universally recognized as the most prominent Uyghur leader and the "Mother of the Uyghur People."

Witness Against Torture’s 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End Torture has invited Rebiya Kadeer to discuss the situation of the Uyghur people in China and to introduce DC to the thriving Uyghur community in its midst. The event is co-sponsored by the American University chapter of Amnesty International.

The 17 Uyghur prisoners at Guantanamo belong to a persecuted Muslim ethnic minority in China. Ordered released into the U.S. by District Court Judge Urbina in October, 2008, they remain imprisoned because the Bush administration appealed his decision. The vibrant DC Uyghur community, led by Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, was ready to open their homes to these men and work with refugee agencies to settle them here.

Rebiya Kadeer, political activist, philanthropist, and businesswoman, represents the Uyghur people suffering under China’s authoritarian rule. Ms. Kadeer spent 6 years in prison for criticizing China’s human rights violations and has actively campaigned for the Uyghur people since arriving in the U.S.

The 100 Days Campaign is urging the Obama administration to drop the Bush administration’s appeal of Judge Urbina’s decision, allowing the 17 Uyghurs to be released into the U.S. They cannot return to China, where they would be persecuted, and the Chinese government has pressured other countries not to accept them. The U.S. government has determined that these men were never enemy combatants or enemies of the U.S. Judge Urbina ruled that they are being unlawfully detained -- a breach of the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions.

The Uyghur American Association (UAA), led by Ms. Kadeer, has been working for the release and resettlement of the 17 Uyghur detainees. UAA promotes the preservation and flourishing of Uyghur culture, and supports the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, democratic means to determine their own political future.