Dharamsala, July 24 – China has sentenced a Uyghur journalist to 15 years’ imprisonment Friday for “endangering state security”, his wife has told the New York based Human Rights in China.
Gheyret Niyaz a 51-year-old journalist working for the website uighurbiz.net was accused of criticizing the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang in an interview in the Hong Kong news weekly, Yazhou Zhoukan. In that interview, Niyaz discussed his efforts to alert the authorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) about the possibility of trouble the day before the outbreak of the violent ethnic conflict in Urumqi on July 5, 2009. In the interview, Niyaz said that the authorities took no action to prevent the outbreak, despite Niyaz’s repeated warnings.
Reshalaiti, Niyaz’s wife who attended the trial, said her husband maintained that he was performing the duty of a citizen and journalist in talking to the Hong Kong weekly.
Niyaz speaks and writes mainly in Chinese, and is widely regarded as a moderate voice who advocates greater understanding between the Han and Uyghur people. Niyaz has worked at two state-controlled publications, as a former director of Xinjiang Legal Daily and a journalist at the Xinjiang Economic Daily.
“In the context of the prolonged news blackout and strict information control in the XUAR following the violence in July 2009, Niyaz’s draconian prison sentence raises serious concern about the authorities’ respect for freedom of expression, and capacity and commitment to protect fundamental rights and freedoms,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.
