Uyghur Activist Says Meeting With Bush 'Significant'
June 08, 2007
Rebiya Kadeer lives in exile in the United States (AFP)
Kadeer told RFE/RL 's Uzbek Service that her people were waiting for such a meeting for several decades.
Bush, in his June 5 speech in the Czech capital, praised Kadeer for bringing to attention human-rights violation in the Uyghur-inhabited Xinjiang Province.
Beijing has condemned Bush's meeting with Kadeer.
Kadeer now lives in exile in the United States, but her three sons remain in a Uyghur-populated region of northwestern China.
Kadeer's youngest son, Alimu Ahbudurimu, was been sentenced to seven years in prison by a Chinese court for tax evasion, while another son, Kahaer Ahbudurimu, has been found guilty of the same charges but was spared a jail term.
On April 17, her third son was jailed for nine years for secessionist activities.