TORONTO—At an Amnesty International press conference in Toronto on Friday the wife of Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen imprisoned in China, asked the Canadian government to step up efforts to secure her husband's release from jail in China.
"It's time to take strong action to convince the Chinese government to release my husband," she said.
Celil, who was a community leader among China's Uyghur minority, moved to Canada in 2001 and became a Canadian citizen. In February 2006, he was kidnapped by Chinese police while visiting his wife's family in Uzbekistan. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in China and labeled a terrorist for his activism on the plight of the Uyghur people.
The Uyghur people have suffered a fate similar to Tibetans after their region was taken over by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949. Thousands were killed, their religious institutions were destroyed, their language banned and recent policies have seen families coerced to send their children to inland schools and their young women to work in inland cities. Few of the women ever return and some activists say they are forced into prostitution.
Celil's wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, said she has had no word from her husband and told reporters she has no idea what condition he is in but hopes he can get some food supplements and fresh clothes. The couple hasn't spoken since March 27, 2006, just after he was arrested away from his pregnant wife and four children. Celil has three other children in China that he was unable to get out of China, according to reports.
During the press conference, Amnesty Secretary General, Alex Neve said the Canadian government needed to appoint a well-connected senior envoy to focus on Celil's case. Neve said in recent months it looks like Celil's case has been getting more attention from the U.S. government than from the Canadian .
"The interest should be greater than anywhere here in Canada," he said, adding that it should be a wake up call if other countries are perceived as doing more to secure the freedom of a Canadian citizen than his own country.
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