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Monday January 8, 01:46 AM
BEIJING (AFP) - China's ruling Communist Party has stepped up a campaign denouncing an exiled dissident nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize as a separatist and "terrorist".
US-based Rebiya Kadeer, leading a struggle for greater rights for minority Uighur Muslims in westernmost Xinjiang region, was the subject of a meeting of party officials in the region on Sunday, the China News Service said.
"To call Rebiya (Kadeer) the 'mother of all Uighurs' is absolutely preposterous and ... amounts to defaming an ethnic minority," the service quoted vice head of the party in Xinjiang as saying at the propaganda meeting.
"The statements of Rebiya clearly show that she wants to destroy the peace and stability of Chinese society, this does not conform with the requirements of the Nobel Peace Prize," Nuer Baikeli said at the meeting in the regional capital of Urumqi.
Xinjiang officials further accused Rebiya of trafficking in illegal drugs and engaging in illegal economic activities, the service said.
Rebiya, who was jailed for five-years in 1999 for her rights activism, was nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded in October last year to micro-credit pioneer Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh.
The 59-year-old stepped up her activism despite failing to win the prize, most notably by testifying before the Canadian parliament last month and urging the release from prison of her children who are still in China.
Xinjiang officials also accused her of engaging in activities to try and topple the central government and seeking Xinjiang's independence from China through "violent terrorist activities," the service said.
Rebiya was released from prison and exiled to the United States in March 2005. She had been jailed for leaking state secrets.
The release of the mother of 11 came after a vocal international human rights campaign aimed at securing her freedom.
China's rule over Xinjiang is controversial, with Uighurs and other Muslim groups accusing the government of suppressing religious and cultural freedom in the name of fighting separatism.
