Uigur emigrant leaders accuse China of repression

Jul 21, 2008, 14:53 GMT

Munich - Uigur emigrant leaders in Germany charged Monday that China was stepping up a crackdown against militants of the Turkic-language minority in advance of this summer's Olympic Games.

China has described the Uigur autonomy movement and Rabiya Kadeer, leader of the Uigur World Congress, as terrorist.

In Munich, where there is a permanent Uigur community of 600, Kadeer said recent violence had included the shooting deaths of five Uigur students on July 9 during the search of homes in the town of Urumqi, and the public execution the same day of two Uigur.

He said armed troops compelled 10,000 people to witness the execution by gunshot.

He said there were 1,500 arrests two days later during raids on homes in the town of Yining, with more raids in Kashgar on July 19.

'This is state terrorism,' he said. 'Since 1999, the Chinese government has sought to destroy us by claiming we are terrorists.'

He said the conflict had become sharper with the approach of the Games. The Muslim Uigur mainly live in China's Xinjiang autonomy region.

A German pro-minorities group, the Society for Endangered Peoples, called for the German government to offer homes to 17 Uigurs detained in the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp in Cuba.