Xinjiang riot stems from harsh repression of Uyghurs: expert+

BEIJING, July 17 Kyodo -
(EDS: PHOTO IS AVAILABLE FROM 'TREASURE' KYODO PHOTO DATABASE, NUMBERED 2009071300252)
Ethnic unrest in China's Xinjiang region stems from Chinese authorities'
torture of Uyghur political prisoners and destruction of Uyghur culture, as
well as widening economic gaps between Han Chinese and Uyghurs, according to a
Japanese expert on Uyghur affairs.

The July 5 riot in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi was sparked by ''explosion of
frustration'' by Uyghurs over ''destruction of the Uyghur language, religion
and culture'' by Chinese authorities, Naoko Mizutani said in a recent telephone
interview.
The incident left nearly 200 dead and 1,800 others injured, making it China's
worst ethnic violence in decades.
''Chinese authorities recently demolished architecture symbolizing Uyghur
culture and the old town in Kashgar in what they claim was for the city's
redevelopment. The authorities ban local civil servants from worshipping in
mosques,'' said Mizutani, a lecturer at Tokyo's Chuo University who has
conducted hearings on Uyghur exiles abroad.
''In the past few years, (the authorities) have made regulations requiring
(schools) from kindergartens to universities to use Chinese, not Uyghur, for
education,'' she said, adding all such moves threaten the Uyghurs' ethnic
identity.
Mizutani, 43, said she suspects that Chinese authorities are torturing Uyghurs
arrested in connection with the riot.
''My survey has found indescribable forms of torture such as stabbing men's sex
organs with horse tail hair and confining (suspects) in dark prison cells for
days,'' she said. ''It is also not rare to see women who have been raped.''
Mizutani urged the Chinese government to accept inspections from abroad, and
called on the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to stop using
torture to coerce confessions.
The Japanese researcher believed the riot occurred ''spontaneously,'' brushing
aside accusations that self-exiled Uyghur rights leader Rebiya Kadeer
masterminded it.
''Uyghur organizations outside China are not monolithic, and inner situation of
the World Uyghur Congress is complicated,'' she said. ''I know Ms. Rebiya in
person, but she has no power to directly lead protests in Xinjiang because she
finds difficulties even in uniting Uyghurs outside China.''
Being aware of such circumstances, Chinese authorities have denounced the
Washington-based Kadeer and the Munich-based congress to weaken dissatisfied
Uyghur forces in China and exile organizations abroad, she said.
Mizutani dismissed anger among Han Chinese, China's majority ethnic group, at
the protest actions of Uyghurs.
Noting that Han Chinese receive considerable financial support and preferential
treatment from the Xinjiang government, just like in Tibet, she said Han
Chinese often fail to recognize they are ''hurting the feelings of Uyghurs.''
''What the Chinese Communist Party does to minority groups is the same as what
Japan did in former Manchuria (before and during World War II) -- a colonial
policy that deprives people of land and the language,'' Mizutani said, urging
Chinese authorities to alter that policy toward minority ethnic groups.
==Kyodo