Oct 21, 2009, 5:32 GMT
Beijing - Chinese authorities arrested dozens of men of the Uighur ethnic minority and held them without legal process after deadly rioting in the far western city of Urumqi in July, Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday.
The US-based rights group highlighted the 'enforced disappearances' of 43 Uighur adults and teenagers who were captured by security forces and urged Western governments to press China to account for the missing men.
'The cases we documented are likely just the tip of the iceberg,' said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.
'The Chinese government says it respects the rule of law, but nothing could undermine this claim more than taking people from their homes or off the street and 'disappearing' them - leaving their families unsure whether they are dead or alive,' Adams said.
The deadly rioting in Urumqi, which began after Uighur protestors clashed with police, left 197 people dead and about 1,600 injured, according to the government.
Most of those who died were Urumqi residents from the country's Han Chinese majority, the government said.
Uighur exile groups claimed, however, that up to 800 people died in Urumqi, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.
The Human Rights Watch report said police, paramilitary officers and soldiers had conducted 'numerous large-scale sweep operations in two predominantly Uighur areas of Urumqi' on July 6-7 with several more sweeps in the following weeks.
'According to witnesses, the security forces sealed off entire neighbourhoods, searching for young Uighur men,' the group said.
Most of those listed as missing were in their 20s, but two of them were 12 and 14 years old, it said.
It said no Han Chinese residents interviewed had reported any similar detentions in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region.
'The United States, the European Union and China's other international partners should demand clear answers about what happened to those who have disappeared in Xinjiang,' Adams said.
'They should not let trade relations or other political considerations lead them to treat China differently than other countries which carry out this horrific practice,' he said.
China has sentenced eight Uighurs and one Han man to death for murder and other violent crimes committed during the rioting.
Three more Uighurs were given suspended death sentences last week, and three were sentenced to life in prison.
Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer condemned the death sentences as politically motivated and said they were likely to 'further enrage' Uighurs, who have long complained of discrimination.
Prosecutors had charged 430 people with crimes linked to the rioting and sent cases against 108 suspects for trial, state media said last week.
Your Talkback on this Story