Engnews October 2015

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RFA Breaking News: Authorities Identify 17 Suspects in Deadly Attack at Xinjiang Mine

by Paul Eckert

Oct. 16, 2015 - Authorities in northwest China’s troubled Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have identified 17 suspects from three families suspected of carrying out an apparent revenge attack that left 50 people dead and injured 50 others at a coal mine, a local official said. The suspects are relatives of the three men who are believed to have been behind the Sept. 18 attack at the Sogan Colliery – Tursun Jume, 46, Musa Toxtiniyaz 47, and Memet Eysa, 60, from Chokatal Meadow, Kanchi township of Bay (in Chinese, Baicheng) County in Aksu (Akesu) prefecture, Eliniyaz Turdi, head of the Chokatal ranch unit, told RFA’s Uyghur Service. Four of the 17 suspects are female, and three of them are children. “I am sure that this incident was the direct result of our county enforcing campaigns [by the Chinese] to promote modern culture and expel extremism,” he said. “I think we harassed them during the campaigns,” Turdi said. “Maybe they could not take it anymore. Based on the fact that they killed not only police officers, but also Chinese bosses and workers, we can say that they might have been poisoned by separatist ideology.” All three Muslim Uyghur families showed signs of religious extremism, he said, noting that the women always wore head scarves and long dresses. Local officials had to force Eysa’s relatives to participate in six campaign sessions, he said. “Every time the family was not only forced to join, but also brought to our offices and educated,” Turdi said. “They were clearly irritated about this.” At one such campaign to expel extremism, all Uyghurs were forced to dance, but one of Eysa’s adult sons refused, he said. “He was grabbed by his neck and pushed to the middle of dance floor by the township’s Communist Party secretary,” Turdi said. “He glared at the secretary with anger and reluctantly danced.” But another event that befell Eysa and his family may have been the breaking point. Eysa had secretly adopted the illegitimate daughter of his hunting apprentice, Turghun Memet, without notifying the local government, Turdi said. When word leaked out, town officials hauled Eysa into their office on Sept. 7 for three days of “political education,” he said. “When the education did not prove to be effective, we fined him 2,500 yuan [U.S. $393] and took him to Kanchi township’s legal and political office to educate him for 15 days.” But because there was no space for Eysa in the township police detention center or county jail, he was let go on a parole on Sept. 10 and carried out the attack eight days later, Turdi said. The three families are some of the wealthiest people in the township and own cars, hundreds of sheep, tractors, motorcycles and large single-family homes, he said. “It is certain they will be captured, but the police did not inform us about the details of case,” he said. “The police have ordered us to give the suspects two minutes to surrender; otherwise, we are to dispose of them.” Still at large Local authorities and farmers have been searching for the suspects and their relatives who are still at large. A local herder spotted the families on the day of the attack around 7:30 a.m., as they walked along a stream heading to the mountains with women and children who were riding horses and donkeys, Turdi said. “Some animals were carrying loads of stuff that might have been their food and other items,” he said. “Some of them were carrying guns, swords and bows and covered with blood. The blood might have been the blood of the Han Chinese workers they killed.” The families knew the mountainous areas with their steep cliffs and vast coverage of pine trees like the “backs of their hands,” he said. “They are hunters and very sharp shooters, and one of them is a veteran,” he said. “So, they can live off deer and other animals if they want to.” Ebey Tomur, chief of Kanchi’s No. 2 village, said the township’s party secretary called it “shameful” that the three main suspects were from Kanchi, during a township government meeting about the attack on Tuesday. “We have to clear our township’s image by helping with their capture or dispose of them during any raid operations by armed forces,” the party secretary said. The families vacated their homes and vanished just after the attack, the party secretary said, adding that anyone who provided information on the whereabouts of the three could receive a reward of 200,000-500,000 yuan (U.S. $31,500-78,800). He also encouraged anyone who had aided and abetted the suspects to come forward voluntarily and report their “mistake.” “This is a good opportunity for anyone who has breached the law knowingly or unknowingly to avoid heavy punishment,” he said, according to Tomur. Round-the-clock watch Tayir Nur, chief of Kanchi’s No. 1 village, said that ever since the day of the attack, at least 20,000 farmers from villages in each of the country’s 14 townships had been taking turns guarding local offices, mosques schools and businesses around the clock. An additional 50,000 farmers are participating in search operations in the mountains and on farmland, he said. “Of course, some farmers complain about losing time that they normally would be devoting to their production operations, but we managed to convinced them that stability in the region overrides everything else,” Nur said. Authorities issued a notice last week that farmers should inspect all abandoned and dilapidated houses and animal pens in the villages, he said. “It seems that the authorities have lost some hope with the mountain and grassland searches,” Nur said. “We also keep telling the Han Chinese immigrants in the villages not to be afraid of the situation and that peace and stability will soon be recovered.” The group of knife-wielding attackers set upon security guards at the entrance to the Sogan Colliery, which consists of three separate coal mine shafts in Terek township around 3 a.m. on Sept. 18. They then targeted the mine owner’s residence and a six-story workers’ dormitory housing 300-400 workers, about 90 percent of whom are Han Chinese, according to official sources. When police arrived at the mine, the attackers rammed their vehicles with trucks loaded with coal, killing at least five officers, including a local police chief, sources said. China has vowed to crack down on the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism in Xinjiang, but experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur “separatists” and that domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012. Rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamajan Juma and Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Rosanne Gerin. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/authorities-identify-17-suspects-in-… Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years

RFA Launches Umbrella Revolution Anniversary E-Book

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 14, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org RFA Launches Umbrella Revolution Anniversary E-Book WASHINGTON - <http://www.rfa.org/english/> Radio Free Asia (RFA) today released an e-book commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong. Walking with a Yellow Umbrella: Bearing Witness to a Revolution is available for free in English and Cantonese on RFA's <http://www.rfa.org/english/bookshelf> website. It includes original RFA on-the-ground reporting, photographs, timelines, and analysis of the pro-democracy mass demonstrations that took place over a 79-day period last fall in the former British colony. "The Umbrella Revolution shook Beijing's assumptions that the people of Hong Kong were unwilling to stand up and fight for the promised right of determining their future," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "Withstanding tear gas, threats, arrests, and Chinese authorities' PR smear campaign, the movement's leaders, participants and supporters - coming from all generations and walks of life - demonstrated the resilience of the call for democracy. "RFA's journalists documented the historic demonstrations from the beginning, from the streets of Hong Kong and inside China. With this e-book, we hope to share insights about this remarkable episode and contemplate its complex and enduring legacy." Through RFA's coverage, the e-book documents the early spontaneous student-led demonstrations and Occupy Central protests that grew into the Umbrella Movement in September 2014 and lasted until December. Protesters, incensed by restrictive electoral guidelines issued by Beijing's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, first gathered at Hong Kong government headquarters calling for universal suffrage and then occupied sites throughout the city, including Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, and Tsim Sha Tsui. As tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents began to participate in the demonstrations, the movement gave rise to new political voices like that of Joshua Wong, the then 17-year-old leader of student group Scholarism, which played a major role in the protests. It also sparked solidarity rallies in Taiwan and cities around the world as messages of support via social media poured in. RFA's e-book collects many of these messages and images that were featured on a <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/hkwall/home.html> virtual solidarity wall. While Chinese state-run media covered the demonstrations selectively, if at all, RFA was able to reach audiences inside China, bringing them accurate news along with global messages of support and information on banned social media hashtags. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

9 years

Radio Free Asia Announces New Managing Director, Northeast Asia

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 7, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org Radio Free Asia Announces New Managing Director, Northeast Asia WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia (RFA) has announced that distinguished journalist and former diplomat Bay Fang will serve as RFA's new Managing Director, with responsibility for Northeast Asia. "Bay's experience as a Beijing-based correspondent who also reported from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to her diplomatic career, make her an asset to RFA in advancing our mission of gathering news in some of the world's toughest media environments," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "Her knowledge, expertise, and leadership will help to expand RFA's capacity for covering critical developments in China and North Korea, as well as enhancing audience engagement. We are delighted to have Bay on our team." "I have long admired the work of Radio Free Asia journalists, and am thrilled to be joining an organization with such an important mandate," Fang said. "Bringing objective, accurate, and timely news to people in countries that restrict free press is a cause that is more critical than ever. I hope to help RFA continue to break stories and deliver impactful journalism in some of the most challenging regions of the world." As Managing Director, Northeast Asia, Fang will work closely with the directors of five language services to manage the daily and long-term operations of RFA Mandarin, Tibetan, Cantonese, Uyghur, and Korean. She will oversee a year-long investigative series across all the language services, and help to increase the impact of RFA's programming. Prior to joining RFA, Fang was a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, where she worked on China issues, focused on the new generation and technological change. Before that, Fang served at the U.S. Department of State as a Deputy Assistant Secretary overseeing public affairs and public diplomacy for Europe and Eurasia. With more than a decade of journalism experience, Fang was most recently the Chicago Tribune's Washington-based diplomatic correspondent after an eight-year stint with U.S. News and World Report that began in Beijing as the Asia bureau chief before taking her to Afghanistan and Iraq as a war correspondent. She won a Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for her article "China's Stolen Wives," about kidnapped women in China. Also during her tenure in Beijing, Fang wrote about Chinese underground house churches and the spread of HIV/AIDS in China and traveled widely in the region, including twice to North Korea. Fang obtained a bachelor's degree with honors in Social Studies and East Asian Studies at Harvard University. She received a Fulbright Scholarship and was based at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, where she published a project on the democratization of Hong Kong and its handover from British rule. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

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Engnews October 2015