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Hüseyincan Celil

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Huseyincan Celil (Chinese: 侯赛因江·贾里力; born in Kashgar in 1969) is an Uyghur-Canadian human rights activist. However, China and Uzbekistan both assert that Huseyincan Celil is merely an alias for Guler Dilaver (born 1953).

Early life

In 1994, before he emigrated to Canada, police arrested and imprisoned Celil in China for his political activities and advocacy for the rights of the Uyghur people. Celil says police tortured him during his incarceration. He escaped from China by way of Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, and sought asylum in Ankara through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. After being granted refugee status pursuant to the Geneva Convention, Canada recognized him as a refugee and accepted him for resettlement. He finally arrived in Canada in 2001 as a Convention Refugee, and later acquired Canadian citizenship and began serving as an imam at a mosque in Hamilton, Ontario. He lived in Canada with his wife and three of his six children; the Chinese government reportedly prevented his other three children from emigrating to rejoin him. As of June 2006, his wife Kamila was also reported to be pregnant again.

Arrest and trial

In early 2006 Celil travelled to Uzbekistan with his wife in order to visit her relatives and to try to get his other three children out of China, a trip that would end in his deportation to China. On March 27, 2006 Uzbek police arrested, detained, and held Celil incommunicado while in Tashkent, attempting to renew his visitor's visa. A statement by an Uzbek government spokesman said Celil and Guler Dilaver are the same person. Dilaver, a man born in 1951, had been placed on the Interpol watch list by the Kyrgyz government in 2002 after he attacked a Chinese delegation from Xinjiang. Despite the Canadian government's request for his release and return to Canada, he was extradited to China, where he had already been convicted in absentia and could face the death penalty. Chris MacLeod, the Celil family's lawyer, criticized Uzbekistan for detaining a Canadian citizen without notifying his respective embassy, and called on the Canadian government to be more forceful in protecting the rights of its overseas citizens.

After his extradition Celil went on trial in China again in August 2006 on charges of terrorism. His name had been mentioned earlier in the sentencing documents of Ismail Semed, another Uyghur who had allegedly been his accomplice in an attack on a Chinese delegation visiting Xinjiang. Embassy spokeswoman Jennie Chen said that at the time the Chinese government offered assurances to the Canadian embassy that they would not apply the death penalty. However, the Chinese government treated him as a Chinese national, and did not recognize Canadian citizenship. Celil began serving a 15-year prison sentence in November 2006.

References

  1. ^ "Canadian citizen extradited to China could be put to death". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  2. ^ "China tries Canadian on terrorism charges". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-08-10. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  3. ^ St. Martin, Romeo (2006-06-15). "Liberal MP takes up cause of Canadian accused of terrorism charges". Politics Watch. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  4. "Harper's tough talk on China not a surprise". Toronto Star. 2006-11-18. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  5. ^ O'Rourke, Breffni (2006-06-30). "Uzbekistan: Family demands release of Uyghur imam extradited to China". Radio Free Europe. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. The Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China does not recognise dual citizenship.
  7. Ditchburn, Jennifer (2006-11-15). "Canada will not sell out values in exchange for dollars in China: Harper". Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved 2007-01-18.

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