(Xinjiang – February 28, 2011) ChinaAid has recently learned that the decision on the reconsideration of the case of Alimujiang, the Uyghur Christian of Xinjiang, was made by the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang and a notice was sent in mid-February of 2011 to Alimujiang who is serving his sentence in No. 3 Prison of Xinjiang. The court ruled to uphold the original sentence of 15 years of imprisonment.
Pastor Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, commented, “Upholding the original sentence in the reconsideration of Alimujiang’s case is a serious failure of the ethnic policy of the new leaders in Xinjiang. It has again assaulted the elements of justice that sustain the social stability in Xinjiang and it has aggravated the confrontational sentiments between the moderates in ethnic groups and the government. They have made a serious blunder in politics.
ChinaAid expresses its deep disappointment and regret for the result of the reconsideration and also strongly denounces the persecution of the innocent Alimujiang by the Xinjiang authorities. Alimujiang’s case has already exerted and will continue to exert a deep impact on the ethnic history of Xinjiang. We urgently call on Chinese churches and Christians, especially the powerful churches of ethnic Hans and the many Christians within Xinjiang to not only pray in secret cells at this critical juncture, but to step forward in courage to help the wrongfully imprisoned Alimujiang and his family, uniting in effort to write a new chapter in the history of the churches of various ethnic groups of Xinjiang. It is said in Hebrews 13:6, “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”
Following is a brief review of Alimujiang’s case:
On September 13, 2007, the Kashi Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Xinjiang concluded: “Since 2002, Alimujiang Yimiti has been engaging, in the name of employment, in activities of illegal religious infiltration which include preaching Christianity among the people of Uyghur ethnicity, distributing religious materials and converting Christians.” (See the document issued by the Kashi Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs issued on September 13, 2007)
However, on January 12, 2008, the Kashi Municipal Public Security Bureau placed Alimujiang on criminal detention on the two charges of “suspicion of inciting people to secede from China” and “illegally providing state secrets to foreigners.” On February 20, upon the approval of the procuratorate, he was formally arrested.
On September 12, 2008, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights made a decision and issued Document No. 29 of 2008 and concluded that the fact is tenable that Alimujiang was illegally and arbitrarily detained.
On August 6, 2009, the Kashi District Intermediate Court secretly sentenced Alimujiang to 15 years of imprisonment on the charge of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign nationals” (the sentence was measured on the basis of ‘top classified secret of the state’). It was not until October 27 that the court in Kashi notified Alimujiang’s wife Gulinuer and his lawyer Mr. Li Dunyong of the sentence. Alimujiang appealed, and his new acting lawyer is the renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Mr. Li Baiguang.
On March 6, 2010, the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region tried the case in private, refusing to let the lawyer appear in court. They upheld the ruling from the trial of first instance by the Kashi District Intermediate Court, sentencing Alimujiang to 15 years of imprisonment and depriving him of political rights for five years.
On April 12, 2010, Alimujiang’s wife Gulinuer got a phone call that notified her that Alimujiang had been transferred from Kashi Detention Center to serve his sentence in No. 3 Prison of Xinjiang in Urumqi.
In November 2010, the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang accepted the appeal by Alimujiang’s wife Gulinuer and his mother Wuxiuerhan and decided to retry Alimujiang’s case of “disclosing top state secrets.” As requested by Alimujiang’s family, Gongxin Law Firm of Beijing, which has always been representing Alimujiang, sent its lawyers over who arrived in Urumqi on November 17. The head of this law firm is Dr. Li Baiguang, the prominent Christian lawyer, who has twice met with President George W. Bush.
After Christmas of 2010, the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang told Gulinuer that they had already made the decision through a collegial bench on December 20.
In February 2011, the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang notified Alimujiang, who is serving his sentence, that they upheld the original sentence of 15 years of imprisonment in the reconsideration.
Visit FreeAlim.com and sign the petition to free Alim.
Read the summary of Alimujiang’s case here.
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