Namayish Uqturishi

Norwégiyede yashawatqan qérindashlar:"Dunya Uyghur Qurultiyining Dunya boyuche Narazliq herketliri elip berish heqide chaqiriqi " gha awaz qoshup Norwégiye Uyghur komitéti 2009-yili 7-ayning 3-küni (Jume küni), saet 4 de Xitay Elchixanisi aldida Xitay hakimiyitining yéqindin buyanqi chékidin ashqan zorluq-zombuluqlirigha qarshi naraziliq namayishi ötküzidu. Norwégiyediki barliq qérindashlarning bu namayishqa qatnishishini özining wijdani burchi dep bilishini we waqtida qatnishishini ümid qilimiz.

Norwégiye Uyghur Komitéti
2009- yili 6-ayning 30 küni

http://www.uyghurcongress.org/Uy/News.asp?ItemID=1246359360

ﺟﺎﺳﯘﺱ ﮔﯘﻣﺎﻧﺪﺍﺭﻯ ﺑﺎﺑﯘﺭ ﻣﻪﺧﺴﯘﺕ ﺭﺍﺑﯩﻴﻪ ﻗﺎﺩﯨﺮ ﺧﺎﻧﯩﻤﻐﺎ 100 ﻣﯩﯔ ﻳﺎﯞﺭﻭ ﻳﺎﺭﺩﻩﻡ ﺗﻪﻛﻠﯩﭙﻰ ﺳﯘﻧﻐﺎﻥ

ﺟﺎﺳﯘﺱ ﮔﯘﻣﺎﻧﺪﺍﺭﻯ ﺑﺎﺑﯘﺭ ﻣﻪﺧﺴﯘﺕ ﺭﺍﺑﯩﻴﻪ ﻗﺎﺩﯨﺮ ﺧﺎﻧﯩﻤﻐﺎ 100 ﻣﯩﯔ ﻳﺎﯞﺭﻭ ﻳﺎﺭﺩﻩﻡ ﺗﻪﻛﻠﯩﭙﻰ ﺳﯘﻧﻐﺎﻥ

2009-06-19

ﺷﯟﯦﺘﯩﺴﯩﻴﻪ ﺩﯙﻟﻪﺕ ﺑﯩﺨﻪﺗﻪﺭﻟﯩﻚ ﺗﺎﺭﻣﺎﻗﻠﯩﺮﻯ ﺗﻪﺭﯨﭙﯩﺪﯨﻦ ﻗﻮﻟﻐﺎ ﺋﯧﻠﯩﻨﻐﺎﻥ ﺟﺎﺳﯘﺱ ﮔﯘﻣﺎﻧﺪﺍﺭﻯ ﺑﺎﺑﯘﺭ ﻣﻪﺧﺴﯘﺕ ﻫﻪﻗﻘﯩﺪﻩ ﺑﯜﮔﯜﻧﻜﻰ ﻣﻪﻟﯘﻣﺎﺗﻠﯩﺮﯨﻤﯩﺰ ﺑﺎﺑﯘﺭ ﻣﻪﺧﺴﯘﺗﻨﯩﯔ ﺷﯟﯦﺘﺴﯩﻴﯩﮕﻪ ﻗﺎﻧﺪﺍﻕ ﻛﻪﻟﮕﻪﻧﻠﯩﻜﻰ ﯞﻩ ﺷﯟﯦﺘﺴﯩﻴﯩﺪﯨﻜﻰ ﺋﯩﻘﺘﯩﺴﺎﺩﯨﻲ ﻫﺎﻳﺎﺗﻰ ﯞﻩ ﺩﯗﻧﻴﺎ ﺋﯘﻳﻐﯘﺭ ﻗﯘﺭﯗﻟﺘﯩﻴﯩﻨﯩﯔ ﻳﯩﻐﯩﻨﯩﻐﺎ ﻗﺎﺗﻨﯩﺸﯩﺶ ﺩﺍﯞﺍﻣﯩﺪﺍ، ﺋﯘﻳﻐﯘﺭ ﻣﯩﻠﻠﯩﻲ ﻫﻪﺭﯨﻜﯩﺘﯩﻨﯩﯔ ﺭﻩﻫﺒﯩﺮﻯ ﺭﺍﺑﯩﻴﻪ ﻗﺎﺩﯨﺮ ﺧﺎﻧﯩﻤﻐﺎ 100 ﻣﯩﯔ ﻳﺎﯞﺭﻭ ﻳﺎﺭﺩﻩﻡ ﻗﯩﻠﯩﺶ ﺗﻪﻛﻠﯩﭙﻰ ﺳﯘﻧﻐﺎﻧﻠﯩﻘﻰ ﯞﻩ ﺑﯘ ﺗﻪﻛﻠﯩﭙﻨﯩﯔ ﺭﺍﺑﯩﻴﻪ ﻗﺎﺩﯨﺮ ﺧﺎﻧﯩﻢ ﺗﻪﺭﯨﭙﯩﺪﯨﻦ ﺭﻩﺕ ﻗﯩﻠﯩﻨﻐﺎﻧﻠﯩﻘﻰ ﻗﺎﺗﺎﺭﻟﯩﻖ ﻣﻪﺯﻣﯘﻧﻼﺭﺩﺍ ﺑﻮﻟﯩﺪﯗ

http://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tepsili_xewer/xitay-jasus-gumandari-06192009191546.html .

Uyghurene i Guantanamo

Les artikel om Uigurene i Guantanamo og om Abdusamet Abla NUK tallsmanns mening:

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/krigen-mot-terror/artikkel.php?artid=570051

بىز نىمىلەرنى يۇقۇتۇپ ، نىمىلەرنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز؟

1 -دىننى -ئىمانىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،دىنسىزلىق ،ئىمانسىزلىق ،دىنىمىزغا بولغان قارشىلىقنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز .

2-ئۆرۇپ -ئادەتلىرىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،كىشىلەرنىڭ بىزگە بولغان غەزەپ -نەپىرىتىنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز .

3-مىلىتمىزنىڭ دۇنياغا داڭلىق بولغان 2 مۇقامغا ئوخشاش مىللى مۇزىكىلىرىنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،غەرپنىڭ ئەبجەش تولغىما ئۇسۇل - مۇزىكىلىرىنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز . 4-بىز ئاتا -ئانىمىزنىڭ بىزگە بولغان ئارزۇ -ئارمان ،گۇزەل -ئىستەكلىرىنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،قايغۇرۇش ،ئازاپ چىكىش،پۇشايماندا قېلىشنىڭ سەۋەپلىرىنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز . 5-بىز ئۈزىمىزنىڭ ئەنئەنىۋى بايراملىرىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ، چەتنىڭ مەنىسى يوق ،دىنىمىز ، مىلىتىمىز، چەكلەيدىغان بايراملىرىنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز . 
6-ئۆملۇك ، بىرلىكىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ، چېچىلاڭغۇلۇق ،ئايرىمىچىلىقنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز . 7-ئۆز -ئارا كۇيۇنۇش ، ياردەمدە بۇلۇش ،قوللاش،مىھىر -ۋاپا يەتكۇزۇشكە ئوخشاش ئىسىل ئەخلاق -پەزىلەتلىرىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،بۇنىڭ دەل ئەكسچە بولغان بىر - بىرىگە ئورا كولاش ، كۇرەلمەسلىك ،سەخسىيەتچىلىك ،بۇنىڭدىنمۇ جىق سەلبى ئىشلارنى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز . 8-تۇنۇگۇنكى ئاتا -بۇۋىلىرىمىزنىڭ بۇگۇنىمىزنى قانداق يارتىپ بەرگەنلىكىنى ئۇنتۇپ ،ئەتىمىزنىڭ قانداق بولدىغانلىقىنى يۇقۇتىۋاتىمىز . 9-ئۈزمىزنىڭ ئانا -تىل يېزىقىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ،ئۇزمىزنىڭ ئانا -تىلمىزغا بولغان ئىشەنچىمىزنى يۇقۇتىۋاتىمىز . \ 10-بىلىم ئېلىش ،ئالغا ئىلگىرلەش،پۇرسىتىمىزنى يۇقۇتۇپ ، چۇشكۇنلۇك ، جىنايەتنىڭ مەنبەسىى قۇبۇل قىلۋاتىمىز .

Uyghur Men Sentenced

Uyghur Men Sentenced

(Original reporting by Mihray Abdilim Abral for RFA's Uyghur service )

2009-06-05Court documents offer a rare glimpse of Chinese legal proceedings against 12 men sentenced for alleged separatism.AFPPolice check the identity cards of Uyghurs in the city of Kashgar, Aug. 8, 2008.HONG KONG—A court in China has sentenced 12 men from the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, detained in a crackdown before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to jail terms ranging from three years to life for alleged separatist crimes, court documents show.Ili Intermediate Court in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) convicted all 12 men in November 2008, months after they were detained in a so-called “Strike Hard” campaign against ethnic separatism before the August 2008 Olympics, according to a knowledgeable source who asked not to be identified.The court handed down sentences to the men, all in their 20s and 30s, on March 24, 2009, the source and court documents indicated. Whether they would appeal or had appealed their sentences wasn’t clear.Experts said that while all were convicted of “splitting the country,” they are likely to have drawn such disparate sentences, ranging from three years to life, based on whether the court perceived them as instigators, organizers, or followers in pursuing separatist aims.Defendants accused of separatism typically face great difficulty in securing defense lawyers, who regard such cases as all but impossible to win and likely to incur official retaliation, experts say.We’re not satisfied with this verdict...and we are all so surprised."Seyitakhun, father of defendantClosed trialSeyitakhun, whose son Merdan Seyitakhun was the only defendant to draw a life sentence, said only one person from each defendant’s family was allowed to attend the trial.He also disputed the charges against them, saying the men—none of whom has more than a middle-school education—were teaching Islam rather than fomenting unrest.“It was a closed trial. All the parents demanded to be there and then the court allowed one person per family to attend,” he said in an interview.“The government accused them of teaching religion, engaging in illegal religious activities, of ‘splitting the country ’... We’re not satisfied with this verdict ... and we are all so surprised. They should be punished like this for teaching religion?”“They weren’t establishing an anti-government organization or using weapons to engage in terrorist acts or blow up buildings—they were teaching morality and religion to youths who had been on the street and teaching them to do good deeds,” Seyitakhun said.All 12 defendants were identified in the court document as self-employed Uyghur males detained in Ili prefecture’s Gulja county, Gulja city, and Nelka county in 2008. They were identified in court documents as follows:1—Merdan Seyitakhun, Uyghur, male, from Tokhyuz township in Gulja county, with a middle-school education; born Nov. 23, 1973. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Ili city police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to life in prison for “splitting the country.”2—Ahmetjan Emet, Uyghur, male, from Arzu village in Gulja county, with an elementary-school education; born April 18, 1985. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 15 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”3—Mewlanjan Ahmet, Uyghur, male, from Hudiyeryuz village in Gulja county, with a middle-school education; born March 10, 1987. Arrested March 29, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country."4—Kurbanjan Semet, Uyghur, male, from Nelka county, with a middle-school education; born Aug. 27, 1985. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”5—Dolkun Erkin, Uyghur, male, from Kashgar Street in Gulja city, with a middle-school education; born Feb. 22, 1989. Arrested April 16, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”6—Omerjan Mehmet, Uyghur, male, from Kashgar Street in Gulja city, with a middle-school education; born Nov. 15, 1986. Arrested May 7, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”7—Seydehmet Awut, Uyghur, male, from Islamyuz township of Gulja county, with a middle-school education; born July 12, 1971. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”8—Erkin Emet, Uyghur, male, from Arzu village of Gulja county, with an elementary-school education; born March 3, 1973. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”9—Abdujilil Abdughupur, Uyghur, male, from Yengiyer village in Gulja city, with a middle-school education; born July 2, 1988. Arrested April 14, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to six years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”10—Abdulitip Ablimit, Uyghur, male, from Arzu village in Gulja county, with a middle-school education; born July 1, 1972. Arrested June 5, 2008, by Gulja county police and now held at Gulja county prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to six years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”11—Mutelip Rozi, Uyghur, male, from Karadong village of Gulja city, with an elementary-school education; born March 7, 1979. Arrested April 16, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to six years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”12—Ubulkasim, Uyghur, male, from Tokhuchiyuz township of Gulja county, with a middle-school education; born Aug.10, 1980. Arrested April 23, 2008 by Gulja county police and now held at Ili prefecture prison. Sentenced March 24, 2009 to three years’ imprisonment for “splitting the country.”Pre-Olympic crackdownIn the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, officials called publicly last year for a harsh crackdown on what the authorities describe as the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism, and extremism.China has accused Uyghur separatists of fomenting unrest in the region, particularly in the run-up to and during the Olympics last year when a wave of violence hit the vast desert region.The violence prompted a crackdown in which the government says 1,295 people were detained for state security crimes, along with tighter curbs on the practice of Islam.XUAR Party Chief Wang Lequan was quoted in China’s official media as saying the fight against these forces was a “life or death struggle,” and he has spoken since of the need to “strike hard” against ethnic separatism.In March this year, XUAR Governor Nur Bekri warned in a speech to the National People’s Congress, China’s annual session of parliament, of a “more fierce struggle” against separatist unrest in the region.Activists have reported wide-scale detentions, arrests, new curbs on religious practices, travel restrictions, and stepped-up controls over free expression.Long-simmering resentmentMany Uyghurs, who twice enjoyed short-lived independence as the state of East Turkestan during the 1930s and 40s, oppose Beijing’s rule in Xinjiang.Beijing has long blamed Uyghur separatists for sporadic bombings and other violence in the Xinjiang region. But diplomats and foreign experts are skeptical.International rights groups have accused Beijing of using the U.S.-led “war on terror” as a pretext to crack down on nonviolent supporters of Uyghur independence.

Original reporting by Mihray for RFA's Uyghur service. Translation by RFA Uyghur service director Dolkun Kamberi. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.Copyright © 1998-2009 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/sentence-06052009123936.html

Uyghur Children's Identities Changed

Uyghur Children’s ‘Identities Changed’

(Original reporting by Mihray for RFA’s Uyghur service )

2009-05-22They're well cared for, staff say, but ethnic Uyghur children are required to assume Chinese identities in a Xinjiang orphanage.AFPUyghur children sit inside the barred window of their home in Xinjiang, Aug. 18, 2000.HONG KONG—Children belonging to the ethnic Uyghur minority at an orphanage in northwestern China routinely undergo changes of identity in which they assume Chinese names, according to current and former employees.“When I started working in this institution in 1998, there were about 30 Uyghur children,” Amangul, a former teacher at the Urumchi Welfare Institution for Abandoned Children, said.“At least 10 of their names and file details were all changed to Chinese,” she added.She said a Uyghur boy of 10 had his name changed from Turghunjun, denoting his Muslim, Turkic ethnicity, to Wang Bin, a Han Chinese name.We use only the Chinese language here, and we rename Uyghur children with Chinese names in the case of those who have no family records."Orphanage workerA seven-year-old called Alim had his name changed to Xin Xia, while Arzigul, 10, was forced to answer to Li Li.“There is a record in the archives that shows where they came from,” Amangul said. “The surname represents which province the child is from, while the given name represents which region the child is from.”An employee who answered the phone at the orphanage confirmed Amangul’s account.“We use only the Chinese language here, and we rename Uyghur children with Chinese names in the case of those who have no family records,” she said.She said the orphanage was home to around 400 children, most of whom were Han Chinese.“Most of them are mentally challenged. There are many Han Chinese children,” she said. “We have only a few Uyghur children.”Social crisisChinese curbs on the traditional Muslim culture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are creating a social crisis among Uyghur youth, according to experts and Uyghurs at home and overseas.According to exiled Uyghur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, for many years the Uyghur people were able to preserve their identity and way of life under Chinese rule, which began after the demise of a short-lived East Turkestan republic in the late 1930s and 40s.But she has accused Beijing of “brainwashing” Uyghur youth by forcing them to adopt Han Chinese ways, mostly through the education system and other institutional means.Children well looked afterAn office director at the orphanage surnamed Xu said the children at the orphanage ranged from infants to 20-year-olds, with some of them “mentally challenged.”“We only have a few Uyghur children here, and they speak their own language among themselves,” Xu said. “But in general, everyone uses the Chinese language here.”“You are asking very sensitive questions. For more detailed questions you should ask higher level officials,” he added.The officials said the children were well looked after and healthy, which was confirmed by former teacher Amangul.“They were brought to this institute from different parts of Urumchi city,” said Amangul, who said she was disciplined with night-shift and mental-health related assignments for protesting the name changes.“Yes, they are very healthy. Most of their parents are in jail for political offenses,” she said.Children were also frequently transferred to foster homes in the rest of China, where they lived in a Han Chinese environment, and were fed pork and dog meat as part of their diet, she said. Both meats are forbidden to Muslims.Those who protested were severely punished, Amangul added, who said Arzigul, 10, was disciplined for refusing to eat the food served to her.“After she came back she was criticized, not allowed to talk to the other Uyghur children or Uyghur teachers, forced her to use her Chinese name Li Li, punished without food, and put in solitary confinement for two days,” Amangul said.The female orphanage employee also confirmed that it was possible for Uyghur children to be fostered by Han Chinese families.Muslim cookMeanwhile, Amangul said the orphanage had once paid a Muslim to cook for the Uyghur children, but had later served only Han Chinese-style food, which contains forbidden meats such as pork.“There are seven cooks. All of them are Chinese. When I started working here in 1998, there was one Chinese Hui [Muslim minority]. After he left, they didn’t hire any more Muslims to replace him,” Amangul said.She said her husband, Mutallip, also a member of staff at the orphanage, was punished for suggesting separate dining halls for Muslims and Han Chinese.“I opposed changing Uyghur names to Chinese, and I was petitioning to establish a Muslim dining hall and bring in a Muslim cook,” Mutallip said.“They said that my Uyghur nationalistic feeling was too strong, and sent me to work in the furnace room for hard labor from October 2001 to April 2002."Mutallip, who is a university graduate, said he also had to work for six weeks in the kitchen.He added that Amangul was allocated the night-shift and work with mentally ill children, for which she was untrained, for expressing sympathy for Arzigul.Curbs on religionUyghurs constitute a distinct, Turkic-speaking, Muslim people living in northwestern China and Central Asia.China has accused Uyghur separatists of fomenting unrest in Xinjiang, particularly in the run-up to and during the Beijing Olympics in August last year when a wave of violence hit the vast desert region. The violence prompted a crackdown in which the government says 1,295 people were detained for state security crimes.Many Uyghurs resent Chinese rule in the region, and they, along with rights groups and Western analysts, accuse Chinese authorities of taking heavy-handed aim at their unique ethnic identity, notably by suppressing Islam and mores associated with it such as beards worn by men and headscarves by women.In its 2008 annual report, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) described the regional government in Xinjiang as "[maintaining] the harshest legal restrictions on children's right to practice religion.""Regionwide legal measures forbid parents and guardians from allowing minors to engage in religious activity," the report said."Local governments continued to implement restrictions on children's freedom of religion, taking steps including monitoring students' eating habits during Ramadan and strengthening education in atheism, as part of broader controls over religion implemented in the past year.

"Original reporting by Mihray for RFA’s Uyghur service. Director: Dolkun Kamberi. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.Copyright © 1998-2009 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/orphans-05222009142223.html

Uyghurs Protest Orchard Sales

(Original reporting by Mihray Abdilim Abral for RFA's Uyghur service )

2009-05-08

In a new twist on land development tensions in China, authorities in Xinjiang are reclaiming orchards farmed by ethnic Uyghurs.AFPBuyers haggle over apricot prices with a fruit-seller at the Sunday Bazaar in Kashgar, June 15, 2008.HONG KONG—Authorities in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang have confirmed a plan to buy back orchards from ethnic minority Uyghur farmers two decades before their contracts expire, saying they will auction them off to Han Chinese farmers instead."We leased these orchards to the farmers for 50 years with a contract," Abdusamet, head of the township government of Turpanyuz in Gulja [in Chinese Yining] county, Ili prefecture, in the northern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, said."Right now it still has 25 years remaining, but we will buy it back. For one year per mu (approx. 0.17 acres or 0.07 hectares) of orchard, we will pay 200 yuan (U.S. $30)," he said.Turpanyuz has 14,676 residents, more than 95 percent of whom are Uyghurs. The area has around 2,620,000 mu (approx. 43,141 acres or 17,467 hectares) of tillable land, with an average of 2.2 mu (approx. 0.36 acres and 0.15 hectares) tillable land per person.Orchard farmers have strongly protested the plan, saying government compensation takes no account of years of labor put into the orchards to make them profitable."We suffered a lot to build these orchards, but at the same time, we also enjoyed working on them," a Turpanyuz farmer identified as Umgulsum said."Now it is time for us to enjoy the orchards, but they want to rob us and give us no peace," Umgulsum said.Local peasants say they leased the orchards at issue—former wasteland—in 1983, on condition that they raise fruit trees on it.“The county and the village governments are forcing us to sell the orchards to them,” she said. “Then they will be able to sell them at auction to Chinese immigrants. We have only the contracts in our hands, but we don’t know what to do.”Another orchard farmer, identified as Nuri, said his village chief had approached him last month with an offer of one million yuan for his orchard."The labor I put in with my family is worth at least two million yuan," he said. "With the other costs, we have spent at least four million yuan.""In fact, this orchard is worth at least five million yuan. But they said they could only offer I million! I was really upset. So I told them I would not sell it," Nuri said.'Better managed'A woman works in her family's vineyard in Turfan, May 9, 1997. AFP Township government chief Abdusamet said the orchards would be better managed if they were bought back."The farmers are unable to manage their orchards well," he said. "That is why the township government will take it back—we will manage it better.""We will auction the orchards to Chinese businessmen from the rest of China," Abdusamet said."The Uyghur farmers are unable to benefit from these orchards, and our township government needs income," he said.The head of a village in the region, Pahirdin, declined to comment on the plan, though he didn't deny its existence.Land scarceArable land remains one of China's most precious nonrenewable resources, and the amount available is shrinking fast as a result of urbanization and the conversion of farmland for industrial use.Numerous clashes have erupted in China in recent years over the appropriation of residential property for commercial development, with authorities often paying below-market prices for land.A new law, the Urban and Rural Planning Law, has meanwhile brought rural land within China's land-planning system, so that all rural land use must comply with official planning department plans.Uyghurs, a distinct Muslim ethnic minority, twice enjoyed short-lived independence after declaring the state of East Turkestan during the 1930s and 40s, and many oppose Beijing's rule in the region.They often complain of heavy-handed repression and economic policies that benefit Han Chinese immigrants to the region, while unemployment and poverty among Uyghurs remain rampant.Original reporting by Mihray for RFA's Uyghur service. Director: Dolkun Kamberi. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.Copyright © 1998-2009 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.