Topic: Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer (born 15 July 1948) is a prominent Uyghur businesswoman and political activist from the northwest region of Xinjiang Autonomus Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC)). She has been the president of the World Uyghur Congress since November 2006.

Kadeer has been active in defending the rights of the largely Muslim Uyghur minority, who she says has been subject to systematic oppression by the Chinese government. Kadeer is currently living in exile in the United States.

Rebiya Kadeer was born into poverty in the city of Altay, East Turkestan (present-day Xinjiang). She married in 1965 and moved to the city of Aksu, Xinjiang. During the Cultural Revolution, she was purged as a class enemy after a clothing business which she ran with her husband was branded as "speculation", resulting in her divorce.