August 5, 2024
Authorities in Xinjiang have sentenced a 24-year-old Uyghur to five years and four months in prison for attending a gathering where the arrest of a friend was discussed.
On May 10, Quddusjan Abduweli from Bortala, or Bole in Chinese, was tried in a closed-door trial in Qumul, or Hami in Chinese, where he was detained,
An official at the Qumul court said Abduweli’s trial took place May 10, as indicated in their files, but he did not disclose the length of the sentence.
An officer who attended Abduweli’s trial but declined to be identified told Radio Free Asia that the Uyghur had been sentenced to five years and four months in prison.
‘Disturbing social order’
Abduweli was at a gathering of friends where the arrest of another friend was discussed, though he didn’t comment on the matter, the officer said.
However, authorities determined Abduweli had an ideological problem because he stayed at the gathering which gave cause to the court to charge him with “disturbing social order.”
Abduweli had been previously implicated in a “major case” involving the arrest of 50-60 Uyghur students at the Qumul Provincial Pedagogical College, from which his friend Intizar graduated, an area police officer told RFA.
Intizar, who is also from Bortala, is scheduled to go on trial this week, according to a source who declined to be identified out of fear of retaliation by authorities.
Some of the students were arrested for using a virtual private network to bypass internet firewalls so they could access material deemed illegal by Chinese authorities, but the reasons for the arrests of the others remain unknown.
Source: Radio Free Asia
