Hackers target Australian festival showing Uyghur film

Hackers repeatedly attacked the Web site of Australia’s largest film festival Saturday, asking organizers to apologize to the Chinese people for planning to screen a documentary on an exiled Uyghur leader. The attacks were carried out on the opening day of the Melbourne International Film Festival — in what organizers are calling the third phase of a “concerted campaign” to withdraw the film “The 10 Conditions of Love.” The documentary examines the impact on the family of activist Rebiya Kadeer as she fights for greater autonomy of the ethnic minority group, the Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s northwest. Kadeer is the president of the World Uyghur Congress, made up of exiled Uyghurs.

Share

China says police killed 12 in Uyghur riots

China acknowledged Sunday that security forces shot dead 12 people during ethnic riots in the northwest earlier this month. Officials also said Sunday that the death toll from the violence in the Xinjiang region had risen to 197. The government had previously said the fighting killed at least 184 people and wounded more than 1,000

Share

Report: Major mosques close in Urumqi, China

Five major mosques near the center of violence last weekend in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far-west Xinjiang region, were closed Friday morning, state-run media reported. Same smaller mosques in the city remained open, according to the Xinhua news agency. “Mosques in some sensitive areas were closed at their imams’ suggestion,” an official in charge of religious affairs with the Xinjiang regional government said Friday.

Share

Hu leaves G8 to deal with Xinjiang unrest

Chinese President Hu Jintao changed plans to attend a summit of major economic powers in Italy, instead returning home to address ethnic violence raking northwestern China, state-run media reported Wednesday. Tensions have been simmering in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far-west Xinjiang region, where violent demonstrations over the weekend have left at least 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured. The unrest in Urumqi was brought under control with a massive presence of soldiers and anti-riot squads, the government said Tuesday

Share