Uyghur Activist Executed by China

An ethnic Uyghur Muslim activist, Ismail Semed,
has been executed by China in Urumqi, capital
of Xinjiang province, for "attempting to split the
motherland", for possesion of firearms and
explosives and for being a founder-member of
the outlawed separatist group East Turkestan
Islamic Movement (unsurprisingly considered
a "terrorist" organisation by China and the US).

He was convicted of the above offenses, none
of which have been proven according to rights
groups, in October 2005.
Semed's wife, Buhejer, who was only allowed
10 minutes with her husband before he was
executed, said: "When the body was transferred
to us at the cemetery I saw only one bullet hole
in his heart".
She also said her husband had told the court
during his trial that he had been forced to
make a confession.

The World Uyghur Congress said: "His trial, like
most Uyghur political prisoners' trials, was not
fair". So far the Chinese authorities have
remained silent on the execution.
And the EU and the UN??

Uyghurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims, and live
mainly in Xinjiang province in North-West China,
8 out of its 19 million inhabitants are Uyghurs
whose first language is Turkic.
Attempts to re-establish an independent state in
the 1930s and 40s were successful but short-lived
and there has been sporadic violence since around
1990 in Xinjiang (which means "New Territory" in
Chinese!), where some Uyghurs still want to form
an independent Islamic state, aspirations which
are perfectly reasonable given the history of the
region, aspirations which China invariably sees
as a threat to the coherence of the country and
therefore suppresses brutally.

We all recognise the scenario: From Chechnya
to Aceh to Yala to Jolo to Somalia to Kashmir to
Palestine - political Islam is simply not tolerated.

Muslims of the world unite!!!