Hairat Niyaz

Human rights defender Mr Hairat Niyaz was found guilty of "endangering national security" and sentenced to fifteen years in prison following a one-day trial on 23 July 2010.

Further Infromation

Hairat Niyaz is a journalist from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in western China, who gave interviews to media from Hong Kong in the wake of the violent ethnic riots which took place in the region in July 2009, and was subsequently arrested on 1 October 2009. Hairat Niyaz previously worked for state newspapers “Xinjiang Legal News” and “Xinjiang Economic Daily”, and until June 2009 managed and edited the website “Uighurbiz”, also known as “Uighur Online”. He also kept a personal blog.

On 2 August 2009, Hairat Niyaz gave an interview with “Yazhou Zhoukan” (Asia Weekly), a Chinese-language magazine based in Hong Kong. In the interview, Hairat Niyaz criticised the authorities for not taking steps to prevent violence after ethnic violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese broke out in the predominantly Muslim XUAR. Approximately 200 people are thought to have been killed in the clashes and hundreds were reportedly detained. In the interview Hairat Niyaz discussed his efforts to alert the authorities to the possibility of trouble during meetings with top officials in Urumqi the day before the outbreak of the violence on 5 July 2009. No action was taken by the authorities following the meetings.

Hairat Niyaz was arrested at his home on 1 October 2009. His family were told by police at the time that he had “given too many interviews”, and his arrest notice stated that he had been detained on charges of “endangering state security”. He was formally charged four days later. A statement posted on the “Uighurbiz” website quoted Hairat Niyaz' wife as saying that although he did give interviews to foreign media he had no malicious intentions.

Following his arrest Hairat Niyaz was held incommunicado and his whereabouts were mostly unknown, although it has been reported that he was last held in Tianshan detention centre in Urumqi. On 15 July 2010, his wife was told by the authorities that she could hire a lawyer to represent him in court. Together with Mr Ilham Tohti, editor of “Uighurbiz”, she proceeded with plans to do so, but they were later told that an unknown lawyer had already been appointed for his defence. However, there have been reports that Hairat Niyaz was eventually tried without a lawyer present on his behalf in court.

On 23 July 2010, Hairat Niyaz was tried, convicted and sentenced during a one-day court trial in Urumqi. For evidence, the court relied upon his interview of 2 August 2009, as well as essays he had written and published online prior to the events of June 2009. During the hearing Hairat Niyaz reportedly insisted that he had not broken any laws and that he was only carrying out his duty as a citizen and journalist. It remains unclear whether he will appeal the decision. Hairat Niyaz' current whereabouts are unknown.

Hairat Niyaz had previously claimed in July 2009 that although he was employed by “Xinjiang Economic Daily” newspaper, he had been forced into semi-retirement because of an article he had written in March 2008 that criticised XUAR's then-Communist Party head, Mr Wang Lequan. Front Line is concerned regarding the physical and psychological security and integrity of Hairat Niyaz.

Front Line urges the Chinese authorities to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender and journalist Mr Hairat Niyaz, and immediately drop all charges against him, as it is believed that these measures have been taken against him solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;

2. Ensure that the treatment of Hairat Niyaz, whilst in detention, adheres to all those conditions in the “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment”, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.