THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

151

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Calling on the People's Republic of China immediately and unconditionally to release Rebiya Kadeer and Urging President Bush to take urgent steps to secure the release of Rebiya Kadeer as soon as possible.

 

 

WHEREAS, Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent businesswoman from Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, was arrested in September 1999, while trying to meet United States congressional staff; and

WHEREAS, the congressional staff were on an official visit to the People's Republic of China organized under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency; and

WHEREAS, Rebiya Kadeer was convicted at a secret trial and sentenced on March 10, 2000, to eight years in prison for "illegally giving state information across the border"; and

WHEREAS, the newspapers she was carrying with her at the time of her arrest were all available to the public; and

WHEREAS, from 1993 to 1998, Rebiya Kadeer was elected as a member of the Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference in Xinjiang; and

WHEREAS, in 1995, Rebiya Kadeer was a delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing; and

WHEREAS, Rebiya Kadeer's health is deteriorating in prison and she is finding it difficult to perform her prison labor due to sickness; and

WHEREAS, Rebiya Kadeer is the mother of ten children; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of State has repeatedly expressed concerns about the continued imprisonment of Rebiya Kadeer; and

WHEREAS, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Lorne Craner, visited Xinjiang in December 2002 with the expectation that she would soon be released; and

WHEREAS, the day before Secretary Craner's visit to Xinjiang, three of Rebiya Kadeer's children were taken into custody and were released later with strict instructions not to talk to anyone about their mother's case; and

WHEREAS, Chinese authorities are ignoring repeated requests from the United States Congress and human rights organizations to release her; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislature:

(1) Condemns and deplores the detention of Rebiya Kadeer and calls for her immediate and unconditional release; and

(2) Urges President Bush to take urgent steps to secure the release of Rebiya Kadeer as soon as possible; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States, and the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Rebiya Kadeer; Release from Prison in People's Republic of China