*EPF106 10/06/2003
Text: Senate Passes Resolution Urging China To Release Rebiya Kadeer
(Measure condemns, deplores detention of Uighur businesswoman) (730)

The Senate passed a resolution October 3 calling on China to release immediately and unconditionally Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent businesswoman from China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

According to the measure, S. Res. 230, Rebiya Kadeer was arrested in September 1999 while trying to meet U.S. congressional staff on an official visit to China organized under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency. Rebiya Kadeer was later sentenced on March 10, 2000 to eight years in prison for "illegally giving state information across the border," but "the newspapers she was carrying with her at the time of her arrest were all available to the public," the measure says.

S. Res. 230 "condemns and deplores the detention of Rebiya Kadeer and calls for her immediate and unconditional release." The measure also calls on President Bush "to take urgent steps to secure the release of Rebiya Kadeer as soon as possible," and specifically urges him "to demand Rebiya Kadeer's immediate release when he meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao" at the upcoming APEC Leaders Meeting in Bangkok.

Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the measure on September 23.

Co-sponsors of the measure include Senators Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware), the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chuck Hagel (Republican of Nebraska), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, Export, and Trade Promotion and co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China; and Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Sam Brownback (Republican of Kansas), Paul Sarbanes (Democrat of Maryland), and Christopher Dodd (Democrat of Connecticut).

Following is the text of the resolution, as passed by the Senate October 3:

(begin text)

RESOLUTION

Calling on the People's Republic of China immediately and unconditionally to release Rebiya Kadeer, and for other purposes.

Whereas Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent businesswoman from Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, was arrested in September 1999, while trying to meet United States Congressional staff;

Whereas the Congressional staff was on an official visit to China organized under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency;

Whereas Rebiya Kadeer was convicted at a secret trial and sentenced on March 10, 2000, to 8 years in prison for `illegally giving state information across the border';

Whereas the newspapers she was carrying with her at the time of her arrest were all available to the public;

Whereas from 1993 to 1998, Rebiya Kadeer was elected as a member of the Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference in Xinjiang;

Whereas in 1995, Rebiya Kadeer was a delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing;

Whereas Rebiya Kadeer's health is deteriorating in prison and she is finding it difficult to perform her prison labor due to sickness;

Whereas Rebiya Kadeer is the mother of 10 children;

Whereas the United States Department of State has repeatedly expressed concerns about the continued imprisonment of Rebiya Kadeer;

Whereas United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Lorne Craner, visited Xinjiang in December 2002 with the expectation that she would soon be released;

Whereas the day before Secretary Craner's visit to Xinjiang, 3 of Rebiya Kadeer's children were taken into custody and were released later with strict instructions not to talk to anyone about their mother's case;

Whereas Rebiya Kadeer's case was brought up before a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 11, 2003, by T. Kumar of Amnesty International USA;

Whereas Chinese authorities are ignoring repeated requests from the United States Congress to release her; and

Whereas President Bush is planning to attend the APEC Conference in October 2003, in Thailand and is planning to have meetings with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, at the Conference: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) condemns and deplores the detention of Rebiya Kadeer and calls for her immediate and unconditional release;

(2) urges President Bush to take urgent steps to secure the release of Rebiya Kadeer as soon as possible; and

(3) urges President Bush to demand Rebiya Kadeer's immediate release when he meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the APEC Conference.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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