What We're Doing

• ACTION FILE: Demanding a Fair Trial for a Political Prisoner in China

Amnesty International Group 297 is advocating on behalf of Jelil Aval, who is serving a harsh sentence after a grossly unfair trial. We urge the Chinese authorities to carry out a full review of the case and trial proceedings, and to grant a new, fair and open trial, in accordance with international standards, failing which he should be released.

He was detained in October 1992 in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China (XUAR). He was accused of trying, with others, to re-establish the disbanded "Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party," whose leaders had been accused the authorities of leading a rebellion in Baren township in April 1990. In July 1993, eight men were tried (and subsequently convicted) for "organising and leading a counter-revolutionary group." Some were also charged with "counter-revolutionary sabotage" for allegedly buying arms, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment. Four of the men are presumed to have served their sentences and been released. The other four, including Jelil Aval, remain in detention and their sentences range from 10 years to life imprisonment.

Over the past few years, thousands of people in the XUAR have been victims of gross human rights violations. These violations include arbitrary detention or imprisonment, unfair political trials, torture, and arbitrary and summary executions. The victims are mainly Uighars, the majority ethnic group in the region, most of whom are Muslims. In addition, Uighars are suffering unemployment, discrimination, and restrictions on their religious and cultural freedoms, which has led to exacerbation of ethnic tensions between the Uighur people and the Han Chinese in the region, whose migration to the XUAR has increased of late.