Wrongly imprisoned

Huseyin Celil is a new Canadian citizen (who came here as a refugee who would be killed in his home country), with a wife, three-year-old son, and a child soon to be born. He is studying to be an account at Mohawk College and is a deeply religious man.

But he is Uighur and Moslem, so he was kidnapped by the Chinese government while visiting Uzbekistan and is in prison, probably has been tortured and may be dead, executed as a "separatist." The word separatist is often used by the Chinese government to refer to Uighur who go to mosques, speak their language or wear their clothing too conspicuously or speak against the incredibly oppressive measures imposed on his people in their homeland (read Christian Tyler's "Wild West China" to get a sense of what is going on).

The Canadian government should be protecting its citizens and speaking out against oppression by demanding from the Chinese government that they at least provide information about Celil and others like him. The Canadian government should be speaking out against the oppression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang. It seems to me that there is too much Canadian sucking up to China so that we get market and cheap manufacturing opportunities, and too little standing up for human rights. What is the Canadian government doing?

Dr. John Steckley

Bolton