Exiled leader gets message across despite protesters

Rebiya Kadeer arrives to a large crowd waiting for her to speak at Auckland University. Photo /Greg Bowker

A group of flag-waving Chinese student protesters did not stop exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer from delivering an emotion-filled speech to a packed hall yesterday, on what she said was as "a sad day for the Uighur people".

On the day she arrived in Auckland, Ms Kadeer heard that six of her Muslim Turkic-speaking Uighur people had been sentenced to death for murder and other crimes committed during the ethnic rioting in July, in which almost 200 people died.

China accuses Ms Kadeer of orchestrating the rioting between Uighurs and members of the Han Chinese majority, China's worst communal violence in decades, which erupted on July 5 in the regional capital of Urumqi.

"The Uighur people do not enjoy any kind of freedom of speech, and cannot speak of what is in their heart and cannot express any discontent to any brutal Chinese government policies," Ms Kadeer said through a translator.

"If they do, they will be imprisoned like me. If they do, they will like the six Uighur people, be sentenced to death by the regime in Beijing."

After speaking for about half an hour, Ms Kadeer stopped abruptly - telling the mainly student audience that she was "really saddened" by the news of the sentencing.

The official Xinhua news agency said some of the accused were also convicted of arson or robbery, but the World Uighur Congress, which Ms Kadeer heads, has called the verdicts flawed and said they would likely aggravate tension in the region.

The sentencing was the first of 21 people charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property and Ms Kadeer says there will be more Uighur death sentences to come.

And she said that if she had an opportunity to meet Prime Minister John Key she would ask him to urge the Chinese authorities to stop executing Uighur people, release political prisoners in Xinjiang and appeal to China to respect basic human rights.

"All we want is for the Uighur people to live in peace, with dignity and equality," she said.

Auckland Indonesian student Andy Irawan, a Muslim, said he supported Ms Kadeer's cause because he was concerned at China's labelling of her as a terrorist and a Muslim religious extremist.

Ms Kadeer's delegation, including Green MP Keith Locke, was met by a group of about 20 Chinese student protesters when they arrived for the meeting, which took place under heavy police and security presence.

"Do you know how many people have died due to the terrorist activities of this woman? She should not be allowed in New Zealand," said protester James Sun.

The protest later turned into a heated shouting match between the protesters and Amnesty International about whether Ms Kadeer was a terrorist, which prompted Auckland-based Chinese journalist Hewitt Wang, who writes for skykiwi.com, to stop filming the protest and join in the debate.

"Even her daughter and her son agree she was the woman behind the violence, okay," Wang told an Amnesty representative.

Ms Kadeer also spoke at a second public meeting in central Auckland last night.

She will fly to Wellington today, where she will meet MPs and visit Parliament before speaking at her final New Zealand public meeting.