People in China arrested for owning DVD of Australian doco
The Uyghur American Association has reported that five Uyghur people were detained in the East Turkestan capital of Urumchi in late February, including a man detained on charges of “illegal possession of a counterrevolutionary propaganda DVD”, the Australian documentary The Ten Conditions of Love.
According to these reports, Chinese authorities arrested 23-year old Halmurat Imim as part of a campaign to confiscate copies of the Australian documentary, “and other illegal publications and DVDs”.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said the authorities consider the documentary, about exiled dissident Rebiya Kadeer, “subversive”.
“Some of the Uyghur-language video stores in Urumqi have been selling Rebiya Kadeer’s film, The 10 Conditions of Love,” said Raxi. “They should … stop using oppression to silence people wishing to hold different opinions.”
Produced by Arcimedia’s John Lewis, The Ten Conditions of Love has been the subject of much controversy, from a screening at the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival that infuriated the Chinese Government, to claims that the ABC had postponed its broadcast due to diplomatic pressure from China. It eventually aired on ABC1 and was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment.
