Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of
Abdulghani Memetemin, a writer, teacher, and translator from the northwestern
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. CPJ recently learned that Memetemin,
who had actively advocated for the Uighur ethnic group in Xinjiang,
has been detained since 2002 on charges of "sending secret state information
out of the country."
Police arrested Memetemin in Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang, on July 26,
2002. In June 2003, Kashgar Intermediate People's Court convicted him
of "violating state secrets and sending them outside the country" and
sentenced him to nine years in prison, plus an additional three years
of suspended political rights. Radio Free Asia provided CPJ with court
documents listing 18 specific counts against Memetemin, including translating
state news articles into Chinese from Uighur, forwarding official speeches
to the Germany-based East Turkistan Information Center (ETIC), a news
outlet advocating for an independent state for the Uighur ethnic group,
and conducting original reporting for the center. The court also accused
him of recruiting additional reporters for ETIC, which is banned in
China.
Forty-year-old Memetemin did not have legal representation at his trial
and has not been in contact with his wife or children since his arrest.
His harsh punishment reflects the ongoing and near total suppression
of the spread of information in Xinjiang.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending
our colleagues worldwide, CPJ calls for Abdulghani Memetemin's immediate
release. We respectfully remind Your Excellency that the Chinese Constitution
protects the peaceful expression of political views by people in all
regions, and that Memetemin was doing nothing more than practicing this
right.
Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters. We await your
response.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
