Last month, Chinese diplomats sent letters – really threats – to discourage attendance at an event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly spotlighting Beijing’s persecution of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. The childish tactic backfired, heightening media interest, but it highlighted the lengths to which Beijing will go to cover up its repression. A recent exposé on the persecution of Uyghurs should reinforce our determination to address these crimes against humanity. A four-year investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project pulls back the curtain on…
Tag: Uyghurs
China has sentenced Rahile Dawut to life in prison and would like the world to forget her. We must not | Rachel Harris
I last saw Rahile Dawut in 2016, at a conference we’d organised in Hong Kong. We sat in a sunny precinct, drank coffee, and enjoyed a rare moment of calm before the gathering storm. She was detained in 2017, and this week we have confirmation, via the US-based Dui Hua Foundationrights group, that Dawut has been jailed for life by China for “splittism”: a deliberate attempt to split the Chinese nation. When we met in 2016, Dawut was already experiencing trouble. On her journey from Urumqi to Hong Kong, her…
Imprisoned Uyghur academic named 2023 PEN international writer of courage
Leading Uyghur professor Rahile Dawut has been named this year’s international writer of courage. Having been missing for six years, last month Dawut was reportedly sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities on charges of endangering state security. Dawut was picked by Michael Rosen who, as winner of the PEN Pinter prize, shares the award with a writer of courage, selected from a shortlist of international writers who have actively defended freedom of expression, often at risk to their own safety. Rosen chose Dawut, a global expert on Uyghur…
Campaigners aim to lower support for China on UN human rights council
An effort is under way to drive down the Chinese vote at the UN human rights council this week in an attempt to show continuing worldwide disapproval of its human rights record. The elections on to the world’s premier human rights body take place by secret ballot on Tuesday with China guaranteed a seat in one of the uncontested seats from its region, but human rights campaigners are working to lower the level of Chinese support to show pressure on the country is not dissipating. Russia is also seeking to…
Uyghur News Recap: Sept. 22-29, 2023
WASHINGTON — US Adds 3 Chinese Firms to Uyghur Forced Labor List in Crackdown The United States on Tuesday added three Chinese companies to its forced labor entity list regarding Uyghurs. These companies — Xinjiang Tianmian Foundation Textile Co, Ltd.; Xinjiang Tianshan Wool Textile Co. Ltd., and Xinjiang Zhongtai Group Co. Ltd. — were targeted as part of efforts to eradicate forced labor practices within the U.S. supply chain. This action aligns with the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts imports of goods produced in Xinjiang…
US Bans 3 Chinese Manufacturers Over Suspicions They Used Forced Uyghur Labor
Three Chinese textile manufacturers have been banned from exporting their goods to the United States over suspicions they may be using forced labor in their production lines. International watchdogs have accused the Chinese government of setting up internment camps in the northwestern city of Xinjiang to extract forced labor from Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, including Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. U.S. intelligence now believes the three Xinjiang-based companies are collaborating with the Chinese government to enslave and further persecute Muslim minorities in the region. “We do not tolerate companies that use…
Chinese authorities reportedly sentence Uyghur professor to life in prison
A leading Uyghur professor who disappeared six years ago is reported to have sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities for “endangering state security”. Rahile Dawut, 57, who specialises in the study of Uyghur folklore and traditions and is considered an expert in her field, lost an appeal over her sentence after being convicted in 2018 on charges of promoting “splittism”, according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation human rights group. The group has spent years trying to locate Dawut. In a statement, it said it had received the…
Uyghur News Recap: Sept. 15– 22, 2023
WASHINGTON — Hungary Quietly Hosts Xinjiang Official Sanctioned by the US for Alleged Human Rights Abuses Hungary’s discreet hosting of Erkin Tuniyaz, a U.S. sanctioned Xinjiang official accused of human rights abuses, aligns with China’s soft power strategy to whitewash the Uyghur genocide and boost business ties, according to experts. Experts stress the need for unified action against abuses, emphasizing accountability over providing a platform for officials like Tuniyaz. Speculation hints at a connection to plans for a chemical materials warehouse, considering the surge of Chinese battery producers in Hungary.…
Acclaimed Uyghur Folklorist Rahile Dawut’s Life Sentence Confirmed
WASHINGTON — About six years after acclaimed Uyghur folklorist Rahile Dawut first disappeared, it has been confirmed that a Chinese court sentenced her to life in prison, a human rights group announced Thursday, marking yet another Uyghur academic whose life has been caught up in Beijing’s ongoing crackdown in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Citing a Chinese government source, the Dui Hua Foundation in California announced Thursday that the acclaimed Uyghur scholar Dawut had been sentenced to life in prison for allegedly endangering state security. The news was devastating for…
Blocked Roads, Crumbling Camps as China Moves Xinjiang Detentions Out of Sight
Artux, China — A policeman waves reporters away from a desert prison in Xinjiang, part of a network of detention facilities transformed by China’s shifting policies in the northwestern region. Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been swept into internment camps where human rights abuses are commonplace, researchers, campaigners and members of the diaspora say. Beijing says the facilities were voluntary centers for teaching vocational skills, closed years ago after their inhabitants “graduated” into stable employment and better lives. Analysts counter that some camps have…