United Nations must investigate torture allegations - Unfair trials against Uyghurs in China fuel violence

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has warned of renewed violence in the People's Republic of China following the announcement of the death sentence for four members of the Uyghur minority. "These unfair trials and arbitrary death sentences will further fuel the tensions between Han Chinese and Uyghurs in northwestern China," warned Ulrich Delius of the STP's Asia section on Friday in Göttingen. The human rights organization called on Juan E. Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, to investigate allegations that the four defendants were tortured before the trial began.

The four Uyghurs, Memetniyaz Tursun, Ablikim Hasan, Muhtar Hasan and Abdugheni Yusup, were condemned to death on Tuesday by courts in Kashgar and Hotan because they allegedly killed 17 people in attacks in the cities of Kashgar and Hotan in July 2011. Two other defendants were sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Naturally the Chinese authorities must order judicial investigations of violent crimes and bring those responsible to justice in a court of law, said Delius. But at the same time it is essential that recognized international rules for fair trials be observed. "When the defendants - as in this case - are permitted to meet with their attorneys only a few minutes before the trial begins, and furthermore when they report that they were tortured in prison, then the trial is unfair and arbitrary."