The Uighurs have now chosen a spokesperson who shares the same charisma as the Tibetan leader --- Rebiya Kadeer , once China’s wealthiest woman. She was respected businesswoman back in the 1990s and was elected to speak before the National People’s Congress in Beijing on behalf of the Xinjiang Region. She chose not to hide her people’s plight before the Chinese leadership and eventually found herself in solitary confinement in a Xinjiang forced labor camp, called Laogai, in China. Her ordeal lasted six years. Kadeer attributed the prominence of Tibetan issue in the international forum to the work of the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama who has raised so much awareness in the west. She says following the Tibetan protests, mostly Uighur women staged peaceful protests in Hotan on March 23 and 24; the Uighurs are convinced that should Tibet become free, “we will also become free,” Kadeer added.
Information for this report was provided by EpochTimes.