Rebiya Kadeer (Uyghur: رابىيه قادىر; ) (1947 - ) is a prominent Uyghur businesswoman and political activist from the northwest region of Xinjiang. In 1999 she was detained, tried and imprisoned by PRC authorities on charges of "leaking state secrets", having sent newspaper clippings to her husband Sidik Rouzi , an expatriate living in the United States who works for the Radio Free Asia Uighur service and who is active in protesting Chinese policies towards the Uyghurs. Kadeer was detained in August 1999 while on her way to meet a US Congressional Research Service delegation investigating the situation in Xinjiang at the time, and was alleged to be in possession of a list of 10 people "suspected of having a connection with national separatist activities". In 2004, her sentence was reduced by a year based on citations of good behavior in the women’s prison of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region where she was being held.
On March 14, 2005, Kadeer was released early, nominally on medical grounds, to United States custody. The U.S. had pressured for her release, and the action came in advance of a visit by United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to the region. On March 17, Kadeer flew to America and joined her family in Chicago. In response to Kadeer's release, the United States agreed to drop a resolution against China in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, causing human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to moderate their praise somewhat.
Kadeer was born into poverty but enjoyed a successful career as an entrepreneur, starting first with a laundry service and then expanding her activities to eventually own a trading company and department store in Xinjiang. She was also an active philanthropist within the community, most notably through her foundation of the 1,000 Families Mothers Project , a charity intended to help Uyghur women start their own local businesses.
Kadeer's successes as a businesswoman earned her the local nickname "the millionairess" and also a position at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. She became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, but was barred from re-election in 1998 for failing to condemn her husband's statements in the United States.
Sources
