People Power

On Sunday, bloody race riots erupted in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region, where the Muslim Uighur population is the biggest ethnic group. Announcing an official death toll of 156, Chinese authorities have blamed the violence between Chinese and Uighurs on leading Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, an elfin grandmother with gray-tinged pigtails who was released from a Chinese prison in March 2005 and immediately whisked into exile. A former millionaire once praised by Beijing as a model businesswoman, Kadeer now lives near Washington D.C. and recently published Dragon Fighter, an autobiography."She is recognized as the leader of the Uighur exile community and heads the Uyghur American Association and the World Uyghur Congress; both groups receive grants from the bipartisan National Endowment for Democracy funded by the U.S. Congress. In an exclusive interview Wednesday with NEWSWEEK's Melinda Liu, Kadeer denied Beijing's accusations, appealed for U.S. support, and wept at the memory of horrors she witnessed in prison. Excerpts:

Chinese officials have blamed you for instigating the riots in Xinjiang by making a phone call to rally supporters there. What did you say in that phone call?
The accusations are false. On July 4 my daughters, who frequently check Web sites related to Uighur issues, told me they saw notices about potential protests on Sunday in Urumqi. As you know, my family has been a target of Chinese government persecution. Whenever something happens, authorities go after my family. My two sons are in prison. Even my grandchildren have been kicked out of school. So I was extremely concerned and called my younger brother. He was under virtual house arrest and couldn't even go out to talk with other people. I asked him, "How are my children?" I told him something was about to happen the next day. I told him to be very careful and to tell other relatives to be very careful and to not go out. It seems the Chinese government has a record of that conversation.

You mentioned your two sons in prison. What were they charged with and what are their prison terms?
In 2006 one was sentenced to seven years and the other to nine years, on charges of tax evasion and separatism, respectively.

And you were arrested in 1999 on charges of revealing state secrets. Is it true that these "secrets" included official newspapers published openly in Xinjiang?
Yes, it's true. I had state-run newspapers with articles stating the numbers of deaths, arrests, and executions of Uighurs and with printed speeches by leaders saying they needed to "strike hard" against Uighurs. I sent these ordinary newspapers to my husband [who was then overseas]. These were openly available publications.

You spent more than five years in prison. Were you tortured?
I was not physically tortured but I was psychologically tortured. Prison officials brought young Uighurs and tortured them in front of me. No human being should see that kind of torture. Two Chinese prison officials brought young Uighur women in and stripped them naked and beat them. Two younger men were brought in by guards and tortured. The brutality cannot be described. I don't want to recall it [wipes tears from her eyes]. I believe they must have died. One was bleeding heavily, especially in the front of his trousers. The guards then said to me, "Why don't you come and save these two?" They always said that to me when I wept. They did it to torture me mentally.

The riots in Urumqi appear to have been sparked by an incident at a toy factory in Guangdong province on the coast, far away from Xinjiang. A Chinese worker spread rumors that Uighur workers had raped two Chinese women; this led to a deadly attack on the Uighur workers' dorm by a Chinese mob. Two Uighurs were killed. Many Uighurs in Xinjiang were upset because Guangdong authorities failed to announce timely arrests. What was your reaction to this incident?
I was very surprised myself. The authorities didn't take action to charge or arrest people involved in the killings. I suppose when Uighurs are killed and beaten, the Chinese government may not care.