Alimujiang Yimiti was born in June, 1973, in Hami, Xinjiang. In 1995, he converted from Islam to Christianity and became a house church leader. He and his wife have two boys. Alimujiang was a regional manager of a British food company (founded in 2000) in Kashi.
On September 13, 2007, the Kashi Bureau of Religious and Ethnic Affairs charged Alimujiang with being “illegally involved in religious activities in the Kashi area; spreading Christianity among the Uyghur population; and delivering religious materials.”
On January 12, 2008, the Kashi Public Safety Department placed Alimujiang in criminal detention and accused him of “jeopardizing national security and providing national secrets to foreign countries.” On February 20, 2008, the Procuratorate ratified the arrest, and Alimujiang was detained in Kashi Prison. (On September 12th 2008, the UN OHCHR Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion affirming Alimujiang had been illegally detained by the Chinese government.)
On May 27, 2008, the Kashi Intermediate People’s Court opened the trial on Alimujiang’s case. The same night, the court announced a “lack of evidence” and asked the local police to do further investigation. On July 28th, the court opened for a second trial; however, the court did not announce the decision. Over a year later, on August 6, 2009, Alimujiang was charged with “providing state secrets to foreigners” and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. His defense lawyer Li Dunyong and his family did not learn about his sentence until December, 2009, which is in violation of Chinese law.
Alimujiang could not admit to being guilty, and he subsequently agreed to appeal from prison. Mr. Li Baiguang, an experienced lawyer from Beijing Gongxin Law Office, agreed to take his appeal case. On January 7, 2010, Attorney Li sent Alimujiang’s letters of appeal to the regional and national Courts.
In first position on the World Watch List 2010 is again North Korea, the country where every religious activity is recognized as an insurrection to the North Korean socialist principles. The situation for Christians is extremely harsh at this moment, even though the North Korean regime is slowly and steadily losing her iron control on North Korean society, and Kim Jong Il’s physical health worsened after his stroke. Through mobilizing every resource of power, North Korea is desperately trying to control society in order to eradicate Christian activities. By means of combat campaigns of 150 days and 100 days , the North Korean government is trying very hard to demolish the street market system. Furthermore, many Christian believers were exposed during North Korea’s strict searches. During the mentioned campaigns, the North Korean regime especially targeted secret Christians all over North Korea to arrest and kill them. They have used various horrible ways of torture against arrested Christians. Christians were sometimes used as a means of testing biological or chemical weapons. In spite of these inhuman circumstances, Christianity is growing and chances to hear the Gospel are growing, especially for those who live in cities nearby China.