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SHANGHAI, Saturday, May 14 - Chinese police officers raided the offices and detained several employees of a trading company run by a prominent Uighur Muslim dissident who was allowed to leave China for the United States earlier this year, an American human rights group said Saturday.

The crackdown on associates of the dissident, Rebiya Kadeer, came after she spoke out against Chinese policies in the largely Muslim Chinese region of Xinjiang from exile in the United States, said the group, Human Rights Watch.

Ms. Kadeer was arrested in 1999 while meeting with an American Congressional staff delegation in China and sentenced to eight years in prison. She was released in March after serving more than five years and allowed to travel to the United States, a step the Bush administration hailed as a significant development in its effort to persuade China to improve its human rights record.

Ms. Kadeer's five children in Xinjiang have continued to run the trading concern. Earlier this week, several people connected to Ms. Kadeer and her company were beaten and detained, Human Rights Watch said, citing reports from family members. One of her sons fled the police to evade arrest and his whereabouts are unknown, the group said.

Human Rights Watch said it suspected the crackdown was in retaliation for comments Ms. Kadeer made after her release.