From the Radio Free Asia (link):
Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have threatened to close a retail building owned by exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer on grounds it poses a fire hazard, in what the Kadeer family describe as retaliation for her criticism of Beijing.
An order published in the Xinjiang Economic Daily newspaper in April said the Urumqi municipal fire department had named the Rebiya Kadeer Trading Hall as one of nine local buildings on a fire hazard blacklist, saying it had been on the list for three years.
The fire department wants the building closed, the newspaper said. The order came one day after Kadeer testified before the U.S. Congress on deteriorating human rights conditions in Xinjiang.
Contacted in Germany, where she traveled immediately after her testimony, Kadeer said some 2,000 ethnic Uyghurs in Urumqi were occupying retail space in the building.
See also BBC News’ “profile on Rebiya Kadeer”
