Chinese authorities have issued the official figure on arrests in the region of East Turkistan, the territory with Muslim Uyghur majority in Western China officially known as Xingjian. As AFP reports, according to state-backed newspaper The Procuratorial Daily Beijing admits 1,295 Uyghur people have been arrested for charges of endangering State security, including terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

Out of 1,295 detainees, 1,154 people have been indicted by the Chinese judiciary and have faced trials or administrative punishment. In 2008 Beijing stroke hard on East Turkistan particularly throughout months previous to the Beijing Olympics. During the summer, several terrorists attacks in the Uyghur territory left dozens of dead and injured. As a result of one of the attacks, two Muslim Uyghur people have been sentenced to death.

Reprobation following massive rise
Several organizations for the protection of human rights have denounced the increasing number of arrests. According to Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), there were 742 arrests across the whole Chinese territory in 2007, of which 370 were carried out in East Turkistan. The 2008 official report, though, only refer to the Xingjian province.

The President of the World Uyghur Congress, Rebiya Kadeer, has denounced that there is a campaign of intimidation with the intention of eliminating even "the most peaceful expressions of dissent", whereas Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) states in a press report that "behind the officially-reported numbers lies systemic repression that blurs all distinction between peaceful dissent and alleged criminal activity".

UHRP assures that since the terrorist attacks of September 11 in the US, the government of China "has used the war on terror to justify harsh repression of the Uyghur people and project an image of Uyghurs as terrorists or radical Islamists on the world stage".

Further information:

• AFP: China arrested almost 1,300 in Muslim west last year: report
• Organitzations that referred to this issue: UNPO, UHRP, World Uyghur Congress, Associazione per i popoli minacciati.
• Nationalia: Chinese authorities criticized for reaction to Monday's attacks in East Turkestan, The Uyghurs are keen to point out that Tibet is not the only persecuted people in China.