Husein Celil : Canadian Imprisoned by Chinese Authorities
Posted on: 01/08/07

Profile

Husein Celil (also known as Huseyin Dzhelil) is a member of China's Uighur minority. In the 1990s, he suffered persecution and detention in China for his work advocating for the religious and political rights of the Uighur people. He fled China and made his way to Turkey, where he was recognized as a refugee by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Celil was resettled to Canada in 2001. He has been a Canadian citizen since November 2005.

In February 2006, Celil was picked up by Chinese police in Uzbekistan, where he was on holiday visiting his wife's family. He was sent to China to face trial, and was held in secrecy without access to a lawyer, his family, or access to Canadian officials. He was subjected to threats that he would be 'disappeared' or 'buried alive' unless he signed a confession. China refused to recognize Celil's status as a Canadian citizen, and Canadian officials were not allowed to attend the trial.

Celil was sentenced to life imprisonment in China after an unfair trial, and he is still there, despite the attempts at intervention by the Canadian government.

Please write a letter calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Husein Celil.

Sample Letter:

Your Excellency,

I urge you to grant Mr. Celil, as a Canadian citizen, access to Canadian consular officials in China, and to ensure that the sentencing appeal process follows international standards for fair trials. Finally, I ask your government to guarantee that Mr. Celil will not be tortured or ill-treated in prison.

Write to:

Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council
9 Xihuangcheng Genbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People's Republic of China

Tips for Letter-Writing: Use the sample letter above or write your own letter if you prefer. You can mention Amnesty International in your letter. Solidarity action for this case is available. 

Amnesty International's Concerns

Amnesty International has been extremely concerned about the longstanding repression of the Uighurs, a Turkic, mainly Muslim people, who make up the majority of the population in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwest China. Since the 1980s, the Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. This includes arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention, and serious restrictions on religious freedom. Uighur political prisoners have been executed after unfair trials. The Chinese government has been using the "war on terror" to justify policies aimed at repressing all forms of political or religious dissent in this region. Other Uighur prisoners of conscience remain in prison.

Amnesty's Involvement

Amnesty International has released repeated appeals on the case of Husein Celil, including Urgent Actions. AI Canada has also sent open letters to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay to urge the Canadian government to intervene in his case. However, Husein Celil is still at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment, and urgent action is still needed on his case.