Kamila Telendibaeva, the wife of jailed activist Huseyin Celil, appealed to the Canadian government to press her husband’s case more with China, in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics. Telendibaeva suggested their requests were ignored as they arrived in Canada as refugees are not Canadian-born. She was joined at a news conference at Amnesty International’s annual general meeting in Toronto by Rebiya Kadeer, considered the most important leader of the Uyghur people, the Muslim minority group to which Celil belongs. Celil had been traveling with a Canadian passport when he was arrested in Uzbekistan 2 years ago and eventually handed over to Chinese officials, who accused him of terrorism and sentenced him to life in prison.
