Free Huseyin Celil

Huseyin Celil is a member of western China's Uighur minority. He has been a Canadian citizen since November 2005.
He fled persecution in China because of his campaigning on behalf of his community.  The Chinese authorities routinely accuse Uighur activists of "terrorism" without providing credible evidence for such charges.
In March 2006 Huseyin was picked by Chinese police in Uzbekistan while on holiday visiting his wife's family. He was extradited to China to face trial, and was held in secrecy without access to a lawyer, his family, or consular assistance. He was subjected to threats that he would be 'disappeared' or 'buried alive' unless he signed a confession. China does not recognize Huseyin's status as a Canadian citizen, and Canadian officials were barred from attending the trial.
On 19 April 2007 Huseyin Celil was handed a sentence of life imprisonment in a Chinese jail
Background: China's minority Uighur community
Uighurs are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority who are concentrated primarily in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Since the 1980s, the Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. This includes arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention, and serious restrictions on religious freedom as well as cultural and social rights. Uighur political prisoners have been executed after unfair trials. In recent years, China has exploited the international "war on terror" to suppress the Uighurs, labelling them "terrorists", "separatists", or "religious extremists".

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