Rebiya Kadeer

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Lore & Background

Rebiya Kadeer was born in the Altay region of Xinjiang. Along with her mother and siblings, she moved to Wensu County of Aksu to join her elder sister. In April 1962, she married her first husband, Abdurehim Tohti. Due to poverty, she entered her first marriage as a housewife and gave birth to six children from 1964 to 1976. She began independently making and selling clothes for additional income. During the Cultural Revolution, she was suppressed for her efforts, as the Chinese government attempted to break up her family. She claims the government told her ex-husband to divorce her. Following her divorce, Kadeer opened a laundry service in 1976. She remarried in 1981 to Sidik Haji Rouzi, then an associate professor, and they moved to Ürümqi, having 5 children together. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kadeer engaged in cross-border trade, accumulating assets worth more than 200 million yuan. She earned the nickname 'the millionairess.' She founded the Akida Industry and Trade Co, which owns properties including The Akida Trade Center, the adjacent Kadeer Trade Center, and the Tuanjie theatre in Ürümqi. She was an active philanthropist through her foundation, the 1,000 Mothers Movement, a charity to help Uyghur women start businesses and support underprivileged and orphaned Uyghur children. Kadeer served as a member of the Xinjiang Regional People's Political Consultative Conference and was a representative to the UN Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing in 1995. She was a Communist Party member until expelled. She also served as vice chairwoman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Federation of Industry and Commerce and vice chairwoman of the Xinjiang Association of Women Entrepreneurs. In 1996, her husband Sidiq Rouzi left China for the United States, and in 1997 he began working as a broadcaster for Radio Free Asia. Kadeer was arrested in August 1999 while on her way to meet a US Congressional Research Service, charged with passing on classified information to foreigners and being in contact with separatists. She was tried in March 2000 in the Ürümqi Intermediate People's Court and convicted of violating article 111 of China's criminal code governing the leaking of state secrets. She was imprisoned in the Liudaowan prison in Ürümqi, won the Rafto Prize for human rights while imprisoned, and her sentence was reduced by a

Reader's Guide

Rebiya Kadeer's significance lies in her transformation from a successful businesswoman and political insider in China to a prominent leader of the overseas Uyghur diaspora. Her imprisonment and subsequent release to the United States became a cause célèbre in British and American parliaments, highlighting tensions between China's ethnic policies and international human rights concerns. Her leadership of the World Uyghur Congress positions her as a central figure in the Uyghur independence movement, though the Chinese government views her as a separatist threat. Her legacy is contested: she is seen by supporters as a human rights advocate and by critics as a destabilizing force. The July 2009 riots in Xinjiang were linked by the Chinese government to her influence, though the source notes the protests were ostensibly a response to the death of two Uyghur workers in Guangdong. Her story underscores the complexities of ethnic identity, state security, and political activism in modern China.

Did You Know?

• Rebiya Kadeer was born in 1947, not 1946 as some sources claim.
• Despite her business success, Kadeer was never among the five richest people in China.
• After leaving China in 1996, her husband Sidiq Rouzi worked as a broadcaster for Radio Free Asia, not Voice of America.

The 2009 Accusation and Her Denial

While the protests that preceded the July 2009 riots were ostensibly a response to the death of two Uyghur workers in Guangdong, the Chinese government catapulted Kadeer into the limelight when it claimed the World Uyghur Congress, which she heads, had planned the riots. Taiwan denied a visa to Kadeer in September 2009, alleging she had links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is classed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and USA. Kadeer has denied the charges. On 3 August, Xinhua reported that two of Rebiya Kadeer's children had written letters blaming her for orchestrating the riots. According to Xinhua, they pleaded: 'We want a stable and safe life … Please think about the happiness of us and your grandchildren. Don't destroy our happy life here. Don't follow the provocation from some people in other countries.' A Germany-based spokesman for the WUC rejected the letters as fakes. A Human Rights Watch researcher remarked their style was 'suspiciously close' to the way the Chinese authorities had described rioting in Xinjiang and the aftermath.

Leadership of the World Uyghur Congress

In November 2006, Kadeer became the president of the separatist World Uyghur Congress, and later also became president of the Uyghur American Association. The Chinese government characterizes Kadeer as 'an ironclad separatist colluding with terrorists and Islamic extremists.' In 2007, Kadeer expressed doubt about a police raid on a terrorist camp, reiterating her assertion that Uyghur organizations are not terrorist organizations, and instead fight peacefully. On 5 June 2007, at a conference on democracy and security held in Prague, Kadeer and other global political dissidents met with President George W. Bush, who praised the talent of people like her for being 'the greatest resource of their nations, far more valuable than the weapons of their army or their oil under the ground.' On 17 September 2007, the United States House of Representatives passed by a voice vote House Resolution 497, demanding that the Chinese Government release the imprisoned children of Rebiya Kadeer and Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, and change its suppressive policy towards the Uyghur people.

The Ürümqi Riots as Immediate Backdrop

While the protests that preceded the July 2009 riots were ostensibly a response to the death of two Uyghur workers in Guangdong, the Chinese government claimed the World Uyghur Congress, which Kadeer heads, had planned the riots. Taiwan denied a visa to Kadeer in September 2009, alleging she had links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is classed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and USA. Kadeer has denied the charges. On 3 August, Xinhua reported that two of Rebiya Kadeer's children had written letters blaming her for orchestrating the riots. According to Xinhua, they pleaded: 'We want a stable and safe life … Please think about the happiness of us and your grandchildren. Don't destroy our happy life here. Don't follow the provocation from some people in other countries.' A Germany-based spokesman for the WUC rejected the letters as fakes. A Human Rights Watch researcher remarked their style was 'suspiciously close' to the way the Chinese authorities had described rioting in Xinjiang and the aftermath. CCTV broadcast a video of interview.

The Historical and Demographic Dispute

The source does not provide information on historical and demographic disputes beyond what is stated in the early life and family history sections. According to her autobiography, her family were descendants of migrants who moved across the Tianshan Mountains to Gulja, Merket was the hometown of her mother's father and Khotan was the hometown of her father's parents. According to her autobiography, Rebiya Kadeer's father served with pro-Soviet Uyghur rebels under the Second East Turkestan Republic in the Ili Rebellion (Three Province Rebellion) in 1944–1946, using Soviet assistance and aid to fight the Republic of China government under Chiang Kai-shek. Kadeer and her family were close friends with White Russian exiles living in Xinjiang and Kadeer recalled that many Uyghurs thought Russian culture was 'more advanced' than that of the Uyghurs and they 'respected' the Russians a lot.