It could have been an easy life for this comfortable, wealthy woman. Kadeer didn’t have to walk the path to become a ‘public enemy;’ she could have enjoyed her money and watched her eleven children grow up, taking care of her business activities.
But the situation of her people, some nine million Muslim Uyghurs in China´s Xinjiang region, didn’t allow her to keep a low profile. As a member of the Chinese Communist Party and also member of the People’s Congress, in 1997 Kadeer dared to openly criticize Beijing’s “Iron Fist Policy” in Xinjiang.
Two years later, she would be squeezed by this iron fist herself, imprisoned under inhumane conditions for “spreading state secrets.” During her five years in prison, she witnessed cruel torture methods that she describes in her book The Stormer of the Sky.
Since the end of 2006, the now 61-year-old Kadeer has been President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) headquartered in Munich and Washington, DC.
In an interview with the Epoch Times, Kadeer uses dramatic words to describe the situation of Uyghur people in Xinjiang, words like “concentration camp” and “genocide.” She says that the iron fist is not the solution. “It has never been and never will be,” Kadeer is convinced.
ET: What is the situation in East Turkestan like at the moment, especially in Urumqi?
RK: The situation in East Turkestan is horrible. It is like a police state flooded with Chinese security forces. Urumqi is like a concentration camp for Uyghurs who live in absolute fear. The Uyghurs are afraid of their life from both Chinese security forces and the Chinese mobs.
ET: How high is the death toll of Uyghurs since July 5, according to the World Uyghur Congress?
RK: The death toll of the Uyghurs on July 5th is more than 400, according to a number of sources in East Turkestan. The number has certainly increased greatly after the Chinese mobs took to streets since July 6th to take revenge on Uyghurs by killing and wounding them. Some unconfirmed reports put the actual number close to one thousand. We will not know how many Uyghurs killed or wounded until China allows an independent international investigation team goes to East Turkestan and investigate.
ET: It is said by the Communist Regime that you incited the protests on July 5. Is that true?
RK: It is completely false. It is a common practice in China to blame me for anything that happens in East Turkestan and to blame His Holiness the Dalai Lama for anything in Tibet, just like last year. What sparked the July 5th protest was the mob attack, beating and killing of innocent Uyghur workers at a toy factory in Shauguan city in Guangdong province on June 26th.
ET: What relationship exists between the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghurs in China?
RK: The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) represents the collective interest of the Uyghur people in East Turkestan and abroad. The WUC does not have any direct contact with Uyghurs in East Turkestan but we are aware of the situation there and closely following the Chinese government’s brutal rule in the region.
