Uighurs stage new protest as China hosts reporters

October 7th, 2009 CAIRO - A senior Al Qaeda leader in a video distributed Wednesday urged Muslims to launch a holy war against Chinese "invaders" in response to the "massacre" of Uighurs in western China. "The atheist criminals have long used the most despicable, cruel and brutal means against Muslims in Turkistan," said Abu Yayha al-Libi, who is sometimes identified as the commander in Afghanistan of the international terrorist network Al Qaeda.

September 17th, 2009 4 convicted in 2nd trial in China needle attacksBEIJING — A court in western China's Xinjiang region sentenced four men accused of jabbing a pedestrian with a hypodermic needle to prison terms of eight to 15 years on Thursday, as authorities move swiftly to assuage panic over a string of such attacks. The men were the second group of attackers to be sentenced over the bizarre syringe attacks, which that have further raised public anxiety in Xinjiang, already on edge over July rioting that marked China's worst ethnic violence in decades.

September 13th, 2009 HK journalists protest abuse of reporters in ChinaHONG KONG — Hundreds of Hong Kong journalists, lawmakers and residents marched Sunday to protest the alleged police beatings of three reporters covering recent unrest in western China, and demanded a government investigation. Demonstrators wearing black rallied outside a police station before marching to local offices of China's central government.

August 9th, 2009 China reports bomb threat on plane to XinjiangBEIJING —China's state news agency said Sunday there was a bomb threat on a plane from Afghanistan scheduled to land in Xinjiang, the restive western region of China that was rocked by ethnic riots last month. Xinhua News Agency did not identify the airline or the type of plane, but said the Urumqi airport had been told not to allow the plane to land.

July 30th, 2009 China issues most-wanted list for Xinjiang riotsBEIJING — China released a most-wanted list Thursday of 15 people it is seeking for their alleged roles in the worst ethnic violence to hit the country in decades. The government says 197 people died and more than 1,700 were wounded in the riots that broke out earlier this month in the western region of Xinjiang between minority Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese.

July 29th, 2009 Uighur activist demands investigation of missingTOKYO — An exiled Uighur activist blamed by China for deadly ethnic riots demanded Wednesday that Beijing allow an international investigation into the disappearances of about 10,000 Uighur protesters she said are still missing. The July 5 riots in China's western region of Xinjiang in which the minority Muslim Uighurs clashed with majority Han Chinese were the country's worst ethnic violence in decades.

July 21st, 2009 BEIJING — China on Tuesday defended its policies on ethnic minorities, saying the violence in Xinjiang that killed nearly 200 people this month was triggered by separatists and not its treatment of Uighurs. During a televised news conference, the vice minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission blamed an underground separatist movement of Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs and said China will never tolerate secession in its far western region.

July 15th, 2009 BEIJING - Three Uighurs shot by Chinese police in the far western city of Urumqi had tried to take over a prayer meeting and called for a jihad, or holy war, state media said Wednesday. About 150 people were inside an unnamed mosque on Urumqi's Jiefang Road Monday afternoon when one of the three men tried to grab the microphone from the imam, the official China Daily reported.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - International terror group Al Qaeda's North African wing has threatened to attack Chinese workers in Africa in revenge for deaths of Uighurs during the ethnic clashes in Xinjian province, according to a media report Tuesday. The Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it would target the 50,000 Chinese who are working in Algeria and launch attacks against other Chinese projects in Northern Africa, the Telegraph reported, quoting London-based risk analysis company Stirling Assynt.

July 12th, 2009 China city tense but calm 1 week after riotsURUMQI, China — The center of the riot-hit city of Urumqi was tense but calm Sunday, one week after ethnic fighting began that left 184 people dead and alarmed China's communist leaders. Armed paramilitary police were on guard in People's Square, the site of the July 5 protest by minority Uighurs that escalated into deadly attacks on Han Chinese, including people who were pulled off buses and beaten.

July 10th, 2009 Turkish PM compares violence in China to genocideANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's prime minister on Friday compared ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang province to genocide, escalating criticism of Beijing following this week's killing of at least 156 people — including Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uighurs. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strong words came amid daily demonstrations in Turkey protesting the clashes in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi between Han Chinese and minority Uighurs, who share ethnic and cultural bonds to Turks.

July 7th, 2009 URUMQI - The death toll in the ethnic clashes between minority Uighurs and members of Han community in China's Xinjiang province has risen to 156 even as over 1,400 people were arrested for the violence, authorities said early Tuesday. The dead include 129 men and 27 women, Li Yi, head of the publicity department of Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said Tuesday morning.

July 6th, 2009 China state media says 140 killed in riots in westURUMQI, China — Violence in the capital of China's volatile Xinjiang region killed 140 people and injured 828, an official said Monday, following rioting by members of a Muslim ethnic group and a police crackdown on their demonstrations. The official toll makes the unrest the deadliest single incident of unrest in Xinjiang in recent decades.

July 6th, 2009 BEIJING - At least 140 people have been killed in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang in what has been described by the government as the area's worst case of ethnic unrest in years. Hundreds of rioters have been arrested, the official Xinhua news agency reported, after rock-throwing Uighurs took to the streets of the regional capital on Sunday, some burning and smashing vehicles and confronting ranks of anti-riot police.

June 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The four Chinese Guantanamo detainees, released in Bermuda, have claimed that life in China, where they face persecution, is worse than life at Gitmo. Fox News quoted the detainees known as Uighurs, who range from 31 to 38 years old, as saying that they are innocent, glad to be free and hold no grudges against the United States for their captivity.