A Chinese man who left his country after filming at sites of alleged human rights violations against Uyghurs now faces the risk of removal from the United States, according to his lawyer and mother. Guan Heng, 38, underwent an immigration hearing in New York on Monday after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August, his mother said in an interview. The case could see him taken out of the United States and potentially landing back in China eventually. “I’m really, really worried that things will be…
Tag: Religion
Preparation for the Next Life review – deeply felt story of love among the marginalised in New York
Chinese-American film-maker Bing Liu made an impression with the poignant documentary Minding the Gap about people from his home town in Illinois; now he pivots to features with this sad and sombre study of romance and life choices among those on the margins of US society, adapted from the prize-winning novel of the same name by Atticus Lish. The scene is the no-questions-asked world of New York’s Chinatown; newcomer Sebiye Behtiyar plays Aishe, a Chinese Uyghur Muslim undocumented immigrant. One day she catches the eye of Skinner, played by Fred…
How three Uyghur brothers fled China – to spend 12 years in an Indian prison
On the evening of 12 June 2013, according to court documents, three “Chinese intruders” were arrested by the Indian army in Sultan Chusku, a remote and uninhabited desert area in the mountainous northern region of Ladakh. The three Thursun brothers – Adil, 23, Abdul Khaliq, 22 and Salamu, 20 – had found themselves in an area of unmarked and disputed borders after a 13-day journey by bus and foot over the rugged Himalayan terrain through China’s Xinjiang province, which borders Ladakh. The men told army officials that they had fled…
Maureen McGinley obituary
My sister Maureen McGinley, who has died aged 77, was a member of the Order of Columban Sisters, a progressive Irish Catholic order whose nuns train as doctors, nurses and teachers before going abroad. While serving in Hong Kong, Maureen made a significant and pioneering contribution to the care of people who are HIV positive. In 1994 she founded the Society for Aids Care (SAC), the first non-governmental organisation of its kind in Asia. It continues its charitable work to this day. Maureen devoted her life to the welfare of…
‘They told me not to speak out’: the woman who took on China – and won her husband’s freedom
Zeynure Hasan was at home in Istanbul in July 2021 when her husband finally called. It had been four days since she last heard from him as he got ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The silence had been torturous. But the news Idris now shared with her was even worse. He had been arrested and imprisoned on arrival in Morocco and told he was going to be deported to China. “You should call anyone who can help me, anyone who can rescue me,” he told her, before the…
China’s ‘temple economy’ in the spotlight as scandals rock influential religious leaders
For a religious leader, the allegations were scandalous. Mistresses, illegitimate children, embezzlement. But in 2015, the head abbott of Shaolin monastery, the cradle of Zen Buddhism and kung-fu in China, was untouchable. Shi Yongxin, the so-called “CEO monk” who turned the 1,500-year-old monastery into a commercial empire worth hundreds of millions of yuan, held firm. Soon he was cleared of all charges. But 10 years later, the 60-year-old monk was not so lucky. In July, not long after Shi returned from a trip to the Vatican to meet the late…
The hunt for the next Dalai Lama – podcast
Before long, Tibetan Buddhism will enter an unknown world – one without its current Dalai Lama. He has been the leader since he was chosen as a toddler more than 80 years ago. But the Dalai Lama is now 90, and talking openly about the process to pick his successor. Much has changed, however, since he was discovered by senior Buddhist monks in a village in north-west Tibet in 1937. Most pertinently, the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s and the subsequent exile of the region’s Buddhist leadership to…
Buddhist rebirth v Chinese control: the battle to choose the Dalai Lama’s successor
Few celebrations have the hills of Dharamshala abuzz like the birthday of the Dalai Lama. But this year, as monks and devotees flooded into the mountainous Indian city before the Tibetan spiritual leader turns 90 on Sunday, the mood of anticipation has been palpable. For years, the Dalai Lama had promised that around his 90th birthday he would make a long-awaited announcement about his reincarnation. Finally, in a video broadcast to Tibetan monks and leaders on Wednesday, he laid out what the future would hold. It came amid fears of…
Dalai Lama outlines process for choosing his successor after he dies – video
The Dalai Lama has said the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist institution will continue after his death, ending years of speculation after he previously suggested he might be the last person to hold the role. In a video broadcast before his 90th birthday on Sunday, he said ‘all the followers have unanimously said that the reincarnation should continue’ The Guardian
Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal
Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur female religious leaders are estimated to have been arrested and imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2014, with some elderly women detained for practices that took place decades ago, according to an analysis of leaked Chinese police files. There is growing evidence of the abusive treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population of the north-west Chinese region of Xinjiang, with their traditions and religion seen as evidence of extremism and separatism. New analysis of leaked police files found more than 400 women – some more than 80 years…