Uyghur house church leader freed from Chinese labour camp

The leader of an Uyghur house church in China’s Xinjiang province has been released after serving two years in a labour camp.

Osman Imin was sentenced to “re-education through labour” at the camp, after being found guilty of “illegal proselytising” and “leaking state secrets”.

According to Open Doors USA, Imin’s health suffered as a result of having to work up to 15 hours a day at the camp.

His release follows an Open Doors email campaign to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, which also petitioned for the release of another Uyghur church leader still in custody.

"We rejoice that Osman Imin has been freed from the forced labour camp, but our concerns continue for Alimjan Yimit, who remains in confinement," says Lindsay Vessey, advocacy programme manager for Open Doors USA.

Imin was first arrested for his church work in 2004, when he was taken to a detention centre in Hotan, southern Xinjiang, and was beaten during interrogations, according to Open Doors USA. He was released on bail in 2004 only to be placed under supervised house arrest on the grounds of “revealing state secrets” in 2007, before ending up in the labour camp. Yimit has been detained since January last year on a “national security issue charge”.

Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group, live mainly in Xinjiang in western China, where the Chinese government has instigated a crackdown on separatists. Open Doors USA said friends and relatives of Yimit feared he could be executed if he is falsely linked with Uyghur separatists.

Although state prosecutors ruled in May 2008 that there was a lack of evidence to support charges against him, the Public Security Bureau in Kashgar allegedly planned to bypass the court system and sentence him to three years of re-education through labour.

Open Doors USA said the actions of the authorities were regarded as part of a government move to close down the tiny Uyghur church.