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Rights & Democracy calls urgently on the Government of Canada to take all steps necessary to stop the execution of a Canadian citizen in China

According to unconfirmed reports, Canadian citizen Mr. Huseyin Celil faces execution around Aug. 10, 2006.  Mr. Celil was arrested in Uzbekistan in late March, 2006, and extradited to China, where he had been tried and sentenced in absentia for alleged separatist and terrorist activities.

Mr. Celil’s rights, as recognized by international law, have been systematically violated: he has been denied the right to see Canadian consular officials; he has been denied the right to due process and a fair trail; and he has faced arbitrary detention, possible torture, and now faces execution.

Rights & Democracy calls on the Government of Canada to intervene at the highest level and urge in the strongest terms that the Government of China respect its international human rights obligations. 

Mr. Celil had been arrested in China in 1994 for efforts to establish a political party and for advocating freedom of religion for Uighurs.  Following his detention and persecution, he fled China to Turkey where he was recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR and subsequently resettled in Canada in 2001. This year Celil travelled to Uzbekistan with his wife to visit her family there.  He was arrested on March 27 and subsequently extradited to China in June.