Rebiya Kadeer was born on 21st of January, 1947, she is a political activist and well-known Uyghur businesswoman from northwest county of “Xinjiang” in the People`s Republic of China (PRC) until her arrest in 1999. Rebiya Kadeer is the famous human rights advocate and leader of the “Uyghur people”. She is 60 years old and has eleven children by marrying twice. Rebiya Kadeer was a former laundress who turned to millionaire. She spent six years of her life in Chinese prison because of standing up to the authoritarian Chinese Government.

Rebiya Kadeer is very loving mother, she developed and ran a multimillion dollar trading Company and also a department store in “Urumchi” capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR, formerly East Turkistan). Rebiya Kadeer opened free classes using room in her department store for the education of Uyghur children from meager families. Then Rebiya Kadeer started the “Thousand Mothers Movement in December 1997” to empower Uyghur women to start their own business. The efforts of Rebyia Kadeer was first admired by the “Chinese Government”, she was also appointed as a member of “Political Consultative Congress” in 1992 and also a member of China`s delegation to the United Nation`s Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

Rebyia Kadeer hopped to improve the condition of the Uyghur people in starting by working inside the Chinese Sate System. She tried to influence high-ranking Chinese officials to help her to change their hard line policies against Uyghur people. The attitude of Beijing toward Rebyia Kadeer changed when she criticized the treatment of her people of China during a “National People’s Political Consultative Conference session in March 1997”.  Rebyea Kadeer demanded full human rights and autonomy conferred on the Uygur people from Chinese Government in her speech.

To reprove Rebyia Kadeer for her unfaithfulness to the “Chinese Communist Party”, she was naked of her membership in the “Political Consultative Conference” and prohibited to travel abroad.  Beijing also pressured her to split her dissenter husband “Sidik Rouzi”, who had fled to the United States in 1996.

When Rebyia Kadeer was going to meet with “US Congressional delegation”, she was arrested and sent in prison for “stealing state secrets” for 8 years in 1999. She was awarded with highest human rights award in 2000 and also awarded as “Rafro Award” by Norway`s Rafto Foundation. Rebyia Kadeer was released just three days earlier of an official visit of US Secretary to Beijing on medical grounds in17th of March, 2005.

Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer