"How can I enjoy freedom when my people, including my children, continue to be persecuted and jailed by the Chinese authorities," Kadeer said.

WASHINGTON — Nomination for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is a recognition of the plight of the Uighur Muslim minority in China, said the exiled leader of the Uighur Muslim minority.

"My nomination itself is a recognition of the plight of the Uighurs and a timely reminder to the world of the human rights abuses our people endure," Rebiya Kadeer told an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday, October 7.

The mother of 11 was nominated by a Swedish parliamentarian for "championing" Uighur rights and for being "one of China's most prominent advocates of women's rights."

"When I received news of my nomination, I was as excited as when I was released from the Chinese prison. It was, I remember, the same feeling," said Kadeer.

Kadeer is among 191 potential Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was nominated for his role in talks leading to the August 2005 Aceh peace agreement.

"Even those little shoe shiners on the streets of my homeland were very excited because they believed their destiny will change," she said.

Kadeer calls herself the "daughter of the Uighur people."

The Uighurs are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million whose traditional homeland lies in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in north-west China.

Xinjiang has been autonomous since 1955 but continues to be the subject of crackdowns by Chinese authorities, who have been accused by rights groups of religious repression against Uighurs in the name of counter-terrorism efforts.

Beijing views Xinjiang as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves.

Self-imprisoned

Though she was released from prison in China twenty months ago after a six-year sentence, Kadeer still feels she is imprisoned within herself.

"How can I enjoy freedom when my people, including my children, continue to be persecuted and jailed by the Chinese authorities and face a very hopeless and desperate future," she said.

There are estimated 100,000 Uighur Muslims, including Kadeer's three sons, in the Chinese jails.

Since her release, the Muslim activist has gone through endless troubles.

Her businesses, a source of training and employment for fellow Uighurs, have come under constant harassment from the Chinese authorities and are on the verge of collapse.

Her sons who helped run the establishments were beaten and thrown in jail. One of her daughters is under house arrest.

"In order to silence me, they first moved to destroy my business, they then thought it was not enough. They know I love my children and they love me so much too, so they went for them," she said.

"It is an irony that in this 21st century, four children of a mother campaigning peacefully for the rights of her 10 million people can be thrown into jail just like that," Kadeer said, choked with emotion.

Kadeer said that when the Chinese government released her from prison, "they expected me to just go home, cook and live like a housewife."

"But I have to let the world know what is happening to my people, who now live in one big open prison and face cultural genocide," she said.

The Chinese practices against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang have been under fire from human rights groups worldwide.

Human Rights Watch said Chinese policy in Xinjiang "denies Uighurs religious freedom, and by extension freedom of association, assembly, and expression".

Uighur rights activists have accused the US administration, which often brags about human rights, of turning a blind eye to China’s crackdown on the Muslim Uighur minority.