page_title: Rebiya Kadeer
section_title: Release and later career
hierarchical_section_title: Rebiya Kadeer / Release and later career
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 图片转自白宫网站。图片左起：黄慈萍，魏京生，龚小夏，翻译Alim Seytoff，热比娅，布什总统，吴弘达，付希秋
context_page_description: Rebiya Kadeer is an ethnic Uyghur, businesswoman and political activist. Born in Altay City, Xinjiang, Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate holdings and ownership of a multinational conglomerate. Kadeer held various positions in the National People's Congress in Beijing and other political institutions before being arrested in 1999 for, according to Chinese state media, sending confidential internal reference reports to her husband, who worked in the United States as a pro-East Turkistan independence broadcaster. After she fled to the United States in 2005 on compassionate release, Kadeer assumed leadership positions in overseas Uyghur organizations such as the World Uyghur Congress.
context_section_description: On 14 March 2005, Kadeer was released early on medical grounds, into United States' custody in advance of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region. The U.S., which had pressured for her release, agreed to drop a resolution against China in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch moderated their criticism somewhat as a consequence. On 17 March, Kadeer flew to the U.S. and joined her family in Washington, D.C. In an interview with Phoenix Television before her departure to the US, she stated that she would remain a citizen of the People's Republic of China, and as a person born in the new China, she would sacrifice her own life for the integrity of China.
  In November 2006, she became the president of the separatist World Uyghur Congress, and later also became president of the Uyghur American Association. In April 2007, one of her sons, Ablikim, was sentenced to 9 years in prison and 3 years deprivation of political rights, reportedly after confessing to charges of "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities." In November 2006 Alim, another of her sons, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined $62,500. Qahar Abdurehim, yet another of her sons, was fined $12,500 for tax evasion but not jailed. In June 2006, Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar were officially charged with state security and economic crimes.
  The Chinese government characterizes Kadeer as "an ironclad separatist colluding with terrorists and Islamic extremists." But Kadeer claimed her belief that all Uyghur organizations fight "peacefully", in spite of the July riot in 2008, and subsequently terrorist attacks in various parts of China. On 5 June 2007, at a conference on democracy and security held in Prague, Kadeer met privately with President George W. Bush, who praised people like her for being "far more valuable than the weapons of their army or oil under the ground." On 17 September 2007, the United States House of Representatives passed by a voice vote House Resolution 497, demanding that the Chinese Government release the imprisoned children of Rebiya Kadeer and Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, and change its suppressive policy towards the Uyghur people.
  Rebiya Kadeer claimed that Turkey is hampered from interfering with Uyghurs because it recognizes that its own Kurdish issue may get interfered with by China in retaliation.
  Rebiya Kadeer claimed Urumqi is "Uyghur land". The name Urumqi came from the Dzungar Oirat language. Professor of Chinese and Central Asian History at Georgetown University, James A. Millward wrote that foreigners often mistakenly think that Urumqi was originally a Uyghur city and that the Chinese destroyed its Uyghur character and culture, however, Urumqi was founded as a Chinese city by Han and Hui (Tungans), and it is the Uyghurs who are new to the city.
caption: July 2008, Rebiya Kadeer met with George W. Bush in White House
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Meeting with Chinese Human Rights Activists. Diplomatic Reception Room. South Lawn.", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:29 14:46:39", "Image Artist": "Eric Draper", "Image Tag 0x882A": "[-4, -4]", "Image ExifOffset": "352", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "710", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7770", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:07:29 12:06:45", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1165241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "16", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4596", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3186"}