Deadly Attacks in Western China; Myanmar's Pro-Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Detention Extended

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China - An unknown number of assailants jumped off a vehicle passing through a checkpoint in the Xinjiang region in China and stabbed four security officers, killing three of them and injuring the other on Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The attack was the third in eight days in Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and where an Islamic militant separatist group operates.

On Sunday, assailants used home-made bombs targeted police and government offices, as well as public buildings in the other flashpoint in Xinjiang, the city of Kuqa.  One security guard was killed and 11 assailants died in those bombings and ensuing clashes with police, according to Xinhua. Also, sixteen police officers were killed in an attack in Kashgar earlier this month, but Xinhua news agency said there was no evidence linking these attacks.

A Uighur activist has accused Chinese authorities of arresting dozens of people in the wake of the blasts.  Dilxat Raxit, spokesman of the German-based World Uighur Congress, accused Chinese authorities in Kuqa of arresting dozens of innocent people since the blasts.  "This includes women," he wrote in an email, quoting local Uighurs he had talked to by telephone. "They have also been mass detentions in adjacent areas." He urged the international community to put pressure on China to end "inhumane crimes against ethnic Uighurs".  But the Kuqa local government said that Mr Raxit's allegations were untrue.

China said Wednesday that some evidence suggests terrorist groups may have been involved in a series of attacks in the Muslim territory of Xinjiang.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters Wednesday in Beijing, "As to whether the recent violent attacks have any links with terrorist forces, there is evidence to indicate that East Turkestan forces may be behind these events."  Thirty-one people were killed since the assaults began nine days ago.

For more information, please see:

ABC - Political killings rock China's north-west - 12 August 2008

AFP - Three dead as unrest flares in China's restive Xinjiang - 12 August 2008

AP - China: attacks possibly linked to terror groups - 13 August 2008

BBC - Renewed violence in west China - 12 August 2008

NPR - Attacks In Western China Spur Fears, Suspicions - 13 August 2008

Washington Post - Three Security Officials Killed in Western China - 13 August 2008

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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet with her lawyer for the first time since 2004, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, Nyan Win said.  According to Suu Kyi's lawyer, Suu Kyi appeared to be in very good health when they met Friday.  Suu Kyi consulted her lawyer about the detention law under which she has been confined without trial for more than 12 of the past 19 years.  The detention law states that no one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial.  But a commentary in June in the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said detentions are permissible for as long as six years under a 1975 "Law Safeguarding the State from Dangers of Subversive Elements."

Meanwhile, Myanmar's military rulers have extended Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year, a source that spoke to a member of her political party told CNN.  Furthermore, police in Myanmar's western Rakhine state arrested a member of pro-democracy party Tuesday, a party official said.  "Nyi Pu was taken from his home early Tuesday morning," said Thein Naing, a senior official of the National League of Democracy in Rakhine.  "Police said they want to question him but it is not clear what they want to know," he said.

Rakhine has hosted some of the bigger pro-democracy protests held in Myanmar in the past year, while most of the country remains subdued.  Authorities also arrested prominent human rights activist Myint Aye, who has been arrested and imprisoned at least five times in the past 20 years.  No reason was given for the arrest on Friday.

For more information, please see:

AP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi allowed rare visit by lawyer - 10 August 2008

AP - Myanmar police arrest opposition party executive - 12 August 2008

CNN - Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended - 11 August 2008

Radio Australia - Burma's detained pro democracy leader granted meeting with lawyer - 10 August 2008