Beijing needs a change in strategy to stop the violence – imprisoned human rights activists must be set free

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) reports that there are continued mass arrests of Uyghur people in north-western China. "At least 480 Uyghurs were arrested for political reasons since the beginning of April 2014," said the STP's Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Monday. The human rights organization demands a change in strategy to stop the escalation of violence in Xinjiang (East Turkestan). Most recently, terrorists attacked a vegetable market in the city of Urumchi on May 23, killing 43 people. "Peking will only stir up the violence and cause more resentment among the Uyghurs by criminalizing the more than 100 family members of terror suspects and arbitrarily arresting Muslim women and girls who insist on wearing a veil. The detained Uyghur human rights activists must be released in order to prevent a further increase of violence. Only a credible dialogue with the moderate Uyghurs might calm down the tense situation in Xinjiang."

Among the 480 detainees there are 200 Uyghurs who were arrested in May for allegedly causing violence and for "religious extremism", according to the Chinese authorities. "Uyghur human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators regularly face court proceedings for the same reasons," criticized Delius. More than half of the 200 detainees are relatives of terror suspects who are blamed to have committed the knife attack on April 30, 2014, during which three people were killed in an Urumqi railway station. In the city of Gulbagh (Aksu region), the homes of their family members had then been searched systematically. Even several dozen children were seen as a possible threat and therefore taken into custody.

According to the authorities, 232 Uyghurs were arrested for publishing critical texts about violence and human rights violations on the Internet between April 1 and May 12. In the district of Kucha (Aksu region), several dozen girls and women and also protesters had been detained on May 20, 2014, because they demanded the right for Muslim women to wear a veil in public. Also, 39 Uyghurs were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for political reasons in show trials on May 21, 2014.

"China's security forces don't differentiate between peaceful protests of Uyghurs who demand their constitutionally guaranteed rights and indiscriminate violence by extremists who have lost all hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict," Delius. "The only chance to overcome the violence and lack of understanding between the Han Chinese and the Uyghur people would be if the People's Republic were to set an example and release the detained activists, bloggers, writers, students such as the economics professor Ilham Tohti."

At least 340 people have fallen victim to the escalating conflicts in north-western China since the beginning of 2013. At least 125 people died in politically motivated violence between Uyghurs and Han Chinese since the beginning of 2014.