Maori Television cause a stir

Never ones to shy away from controversy, Maori TV have caused a stir with their plans to screen a documentary about exiled Uyghur leader, Rebiya Kadeer.

Despite a plea from the Chinese embassy not to screen the doco, the station is standing firm: The 10 Conditions of Love will air next week.

The documentary is the story of the Uyghur, a Muslim minority with their ancestral home in China's Xinjiang Province, which they refer to as East Turkestan. It deals with the personal challenges faced by the headline-making Kadeer as an activist and human rights advocate now based in the USA, and the ways in which her campaigning has impacted upon her family.

But Kadeer, who has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, has been denounced by China as a terrorist; Beijing has accused her of helping to orchestrate recent violence in the Xinjiang region between Muslim Uyghurs and members of the Chinese Han community, an accusation she denies.

The documentary recently featured in the Melbourne International Film Festival where Chinese authorities reportedly officially protested to the Australian Government and called for the documentary's withdrawal from the festival.

Earlier this month, Maori Television met with officials from the Chinese Embassy in Auckland at the diplomats' request.

But despite the request by Deputy Head of Mission Mr Zhou Heng for the channel to drop the doco, alleging that Ms Kadeer was linked to terrorist groups and that the content of the film distorted the facts about China's policies regarding treatment of ethnic minorities, they stood firm.

Tune in on Tuesday September 1 at 8.30pm to find out what all the fuss is about and decide for yourself...