March 17, 2005 Rebiya Kadeer was released from prison in China and flown to America as part of a deal.  The day of her release, Washington dropped plans to table a human rights resolution against China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 2005.  Washington-based Amnesty International spokesman T. Kumar expressed concern that the U.S. decided to drop the resolution condeming China at the U.N.

Nonethelss, her release was celebrated by Amnesty International, other Human Rights activists and by Uyghurs. 

A former State Department official told RFA (Radio Free Asia) Kadeer could now play an important role as a focal point for exiled Uyghur groups.

"There's a lot she can do from outside. There's no Dalai Lama for the Uyghurs," Lorne Craner, president of the non-profit International Republican Institute, told RFA. While Kadeer was not a comparable figure to the Dalai Lama, she was still a compelling focal point, Craner said.

Craner said he had worked on Kadeer's case during his time as assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor at the State Department.

"From what I had read and heard, I was really impressed with her as a person—and that she was held up as an example (by the Chinese government) and then for the flimsiest of reasons she was thrown in jail.

http://uyghuramerican.org/articles/70/1/China-Frees-Rebiya-Kadeer/China-Frees-Rebiya-Kadeer.html

China often times the release of important prisoners to coincide with visits by foreign officials and Rebiya Kadeer's release was widely regarded as a gesture to Condoleeza Rice, who arrived in Beijing the following weekend on an official visit. 

I have taken information from the Uyghur American Association website.  Italics are direct quotes from the source article.  The photo of Rebiya Kadeer and the Dalai Lama is from http://ampontan.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/ozawa-ichiros-foreign-affairs/ posted January 29, 2008.