9 February 2005

JAILED UIGHUR DISSIDENT WINS NORWEGIAN HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD


A jailed dissident from China's remote Xinjiang province, who is seen as a prominent symbol of the Uighur ethnic minority's struggle for human rights, has been awarded a major prize by Norway's Thorolf Rafto Foundation for Human Rights.

On 26 January 2005, the foundation held an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., where it presented the 2004 Rafto Memorial Prize to the family of Rebiya Kadeer.

Kadeer, who has criticised the Chinese government's repressive treatment of Uighurs, is serving an eight-year jail sentence in China on charges of "providing secret information to foreigners." In August 1999, she was arrested while attempting to meet with US congressional staff to talk about human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Amnesty International has adopted Kadeer as a prisoner of conscience and expressed grave concern about reports that her health is deteriorating. A businesswoman, Kadeer founded the "Thousand Mothers Movement" in 1997 to promote job training and employment for Uighur women. Kadeer also established evening schools for Uighurs who did not have the opportunity to go to ordinary school.

Previous winners of the Rafto Memorial Prize include Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shirin Ebadi and Aung San Suu Kyi.

For more information, see:

- Rafto Foundation: http://www.rafto.no
- Amnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/kadeer.html
- Backgrounder on Human Rights in Xinjiang: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170212004
- US to Push for Release of Kadeer: http://tinyurl.com/4h5a9
- Uighur Human Rights Project: http://www.uhrp.org


Stay on top of free expression news.

Sign up to receive the weekly IFEX Communiqué.


Also from the Communiqué, 9 February 2005

NEPAL: JOURNALISTS TARGETED IN INFORMATION CLAMPDOWN 9 February 2005 PAKISTAN: TWO JOURNALISTS KILLED 9 February 2005 COLOMBIA: FEWER ATTACKS AGAINST MEDIA MASK CULTURE OF SELF CENSORSHIP 9 February 2005 INTERNATIONAL: NEPAD IGNORES PRESS FREEDOM CONCERNS, SAY IFEX MEMBERS 9 February 2005 INTERNATIONAL: CPJ SURVEY IDENTIFIES WORLD'S LEADING JAILERS OF JOURNALISTS 9 February 2005 CHINA: CHINA: RSF LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO FREE JAILED JOURNALIST 9 February 2005 INDONESIA: Radio 68H Helps Rebuild Media in Tsunami-Devastated Aceh 9 February 2005 INTERNATIONAL: KURT SCHORK AWARDS IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM 9 February 2005 INTERNATIONAL: CNN MULTICHOICE AFRICAN JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR AWARDS 9 February 2005

China

Senior newspaper staff fired for reporting inflation concerns 6 February 2012 IFJ urges authorities to uphold post-Olympic press freedom promises 3 February 2012 Authorities urged to refrain from using excessive force against protesters 27 January 2012 PEN protests charges against Zhu Yufu, insisting "poetry is not a crime" 19 January 2012 Cyber-dissident gets long jail term for "subversive" articles 3 January 2012 See all alerts: China


Asia and Pacific

TIBET (CHINA): PEN American Center concerned over "virtual lockdown" on freedom of expression 9 February 2012 MALDIVES: New government must guarantee safety and rights of journalists 8 February 2012 SRI LANKA: FMM voices concern over allegations in "Dinamina" newspaper article 7 February 2012 INDIA: Danish journalists refused visas 7 February 2012


 
The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) is a global network of 95 organisations working to defend and promote the right to free expression.
Permission is granted for material on this website to be reproduced or republished in whole or in part provided the source member and/or IFEX is cited with a link to the original item.