XINJIANG: CONTACT SAYS DEMONSTRATION, ARRESTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 007173 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2032 TAGS: PTER OREP CASC PGOV KIRF PK KG AF KZ CH TI UZ, TU, GM SUBJECT: XINJIANG: CONTACT SAYS DEMONSTRATION, ARRESTS HIGHLIGHT SPREAD OF HIZB UT-TAHRIR INTO NORTHERN XINJIANG REF: A. BEIJING 6233 ¶B. 06 BEIJING 11754 ¶C. FBIS/OSC CPP20020708000111 ¶D. FBIS/OSC CPP20020705000143 Classified By: Deputy Political Section Chief Ben Moeling. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Summary: A three-day protest in Xinjiang in September highlighted the presence in China of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (the Islamic Party of Liberation),according to a well-connected Muslim contact. The protest was especially significant because it occurred in the more ethnically Han northern Xinjiang, not far from Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, and because it had an effect on food prices. At least one overseas Uighur group disputes the existence of Hizb ut-Tahrir in China and claims Chinese authorities use it as a pretext to persecute Uighurs. End Summary. ¶2. (C) A three-day protest (kangyi) on September 9-11 in the city of Turpan in northern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) ended with the arrest of an unknown number of protesters, who are suspected of involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation). Ehmetjan Hesen (strictly protect),member of the XUAR People's Political Consultative Conference (PPCC),standing committee member of the Xinjiang Islamic Association and professor at the official training center for Xinjiang imams, told Poloff that he had seen an internal (neibu) Government report describing the September incident. According to Hesen's summary of the report, the son of a manager of a major slaughterhouse in Turpan was arrested under suspicion of Hizb ut-Tahrir membership. The manager, allegedly the leader of a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell in Turpan, organized with other Hizb ut-Tahrir members to close his slaughterhouse business in protest of his son's arrest. The closure had enough of an effect on the local food supply to send meat prices soaring for three days and ended with the Government arresting the protesters, Hesen said. ¶3. (C) Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences terrorism expert Ma Pinyan told Poloff that Hizb ut-Tahrir's influence is on the rise in the predominantly Uighur southern Xinjiang. He emphasized the great challenge that such "radical" groups pose to the Government (refs A, B). Hesen said the Turpan incident highlights the spread of Hizb ut-Tahrir into northern Xinjiang, a traditionally Uighur area that has seen its ethnic balance tilted by a significant influx of Han Chinese. According to official statistics, 70.8 percent of Turpan's population is Uighur, but Hesen noted that reports also llege the discovery of Hizb ut-Tahrir activity n the northern Xinjiang city of Hami (called "Qomul" in Uighur), where Uighurs constitute only 22 percent of the population. (Note: Founded in Jerusalem in 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir seeks to create a unified Islamic state.) Hesen said the organization is a threat to the Chinese Government because it attempts to use religion to accomplish political goals. ¶4. (C) This is not the first report of Hizb ut-Tahrir infiltration into northern Xinjiang. A Xinjiang news report from May 2002 claims Hizb ut-Tahrir had at that time spread to ten prefectures and cities, including northern Xinjiang's Yili, Urumqi and Tacheng (ref C). A Hami City news site boasts of the arrest of two suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir members in 2005 and, more recently, in February 2007 Hami Party Secretary Guo Lianshan called on government departments to SIPDIS "strike hard" against the "religious extremist group" Hizb ut-Tahrir. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: An incident the size of the one described by Hesen, if truly caused by Hizb ut-Tahrir followers, would be of serious concern to the Government because it would signify both a bold challenge to a Xinjiang municipal government and the growth of Hizb ut-Tahrir across Xinjiang. (NOTE: Hizb ut-Tahrir's existence in Xinjiang is contested by at least one overseas Uighur group, which accuses China of creating the threat as an excuse to persecute religious persons and make "groundless" arrests (ref D).) RANDT