Luke Hallam is a writer and editor based in Cambridge. He is a senior editor at Persuasion, an online magazine of ideas and current affairs Perhat Tursun, a controversial and highly acclaimed Uyghur writer, vanished in 2018. He is reportedly enduring a 16-year sentence in a Chinese prison, just one of the many victims of the Communist party’s genocidal campaign against Uyghurs. We don’t know the crime he is accused of, nor the conditions in which he is being kept. Sadly, these circumstances are not unusual: an estimated 1 million…
Tag: Uyghurs
Uyghur News Recap: February 24 – March 3, 2023
WASHINGTON — A summary of this week’s Uyghur-related news from around the world: Uyghur mom imprisoned for sending children to Islamic school, report finds An investigation by Radio Free Asia found this week that Ayshemhan Abdulla, a Uyghur woman, was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2017 in China’s Xinjiang region for sending her children to a local home-based religious school. Abdulla’s arrest was not likely the decision of judicial authorities but rather that of the Chinese Communist Party’s political and legal committee, a Uyghur former police officer told…
UNESCO Accused of Complicity in China’s Treatment of Uyghur Heritage
WASHINGTON — A report released by Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project accuses UNESCO of sanitizing the persecution of Uyghurs and destruction of their cultural heritage in China. UNESCO, which stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, “continues to acknowledge China as a protector of Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz heritage in the Uyghur region,” says the report co-authored by Rachel Harris and Aziz Isa Elkun. In doing so, they write, the agency violates its own standards by failing to acknowledge Beijing’s actions toward Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in…
Parliament says China is committing a genocide. Why were officials planning to meet one of the perpetrators? | James McMurray
The oppression of the Uyghurs and other Turkic and Islamic minority people in China’s Xinjiang region has come into stark focus over the past five years. First, minorities were interned in “re-education facilities” for indeterminate periods. Then came evidence of Chinese “minders” being sent to live with Uyghur families and report on their behaviour, of checkpoints on pedestrian streets, face-scanning cameras, the enforced installation of state spyware on personal phones, forced controls on fertility and the closing or demolition of mosques and other religious sites. Throughout all this, a man…
Governor of China’s Xinjiang region cancels UK visit after backlash
The governor of China’s western region of Xinjiang will not be visiting Britain this week, according to the UK Foreign Office, after a backlash from MPs over alleged human rights abuses in the region. British officials had said if Erkin Tuniyaz visited this week, they would have been prepared to meet with him to raise concern over the human rights situation in Xinjiang. But those plans faced backlash from politicians who highlighted human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in the region. “We understand the governor of Xinjiang has cancelled his…
Iain Duncan Smith accuses Xinjiang governor of ‘murder’ at Uyghur protest
Iain Duncan Smith has accused the Chinese governor of Xinjiang of murder as he joined Uyghur activists protesting against his reported visit to Britain. Demonstrators gathered outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Monday after it emerged that Erkin Tuniyaz, the chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, could meet UK officials, a scenario Duncan Smith branded “unacceptable”. Tuniyaz was expected to come to the UK this week, according to the reports, with some speculating he has already arrived. The UN has accused China of “serious human rights…
UK Lawmakers Demand Cancellation of Visit by Xinjiang Official Accused in Uyghur Genocide
washington — A group of British members of Parliament are calling on the government to cancel a planned visit by Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, due to his alleged involvement in what has been described as Uyghur genocide. On Thursday, the MPs argued that if the visit goes ahead, a private prosecution should be allowed. “I call on the U.K. government to rescind this invitation and sanction Erkin Tuniyaz and Chen Quanguo for their role in this crime against humanity and genocide,” Sir Iain Duncan Smith…
HRW Urges Sanctions on Chinese Official
Human Rights Watch is urging the British government and the European Union to “investigate and appropriately sanction” a visiting top Chinese official from Xinjiang. Erkin Tuniyaz, the Chinese Communist Party deputy secretary in Xinjiang and chairman of the Xinjiang government, is scheduled to attend meetings next week in London and on February 21 in Brussels. HRW said in a statement Friday that crimes against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims are rampant in Xinjiang. “The UK and EU should not be drawn into meetings with senior Xinjiang officials so that China…
Lawyer asks to prosecute Xinjiang governor in the UK
A lawyer representing a Kazakh man who has alleged severe human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese state has requested permission from the UK attorney general to prosecute a Xinjiang governor expected to arrive in Britain on Sunday. On Wednesday, the Foreign Office shocked cross-party opponents of the Chinese treatment of Uyghur people and other Turkic groups who called it “incomprehensible” that the Xinjiang governor, Erkin Tuniyaz – who has been sanctioned by the US – is planning to visit the UK next week. Tuniyaz, whom MPs allege has played…
Cross-party MPs shocked by Foreign Office talks with Xinjiang governor
The Foreign Office has shocked cross-party opponents of the Chinese treatment of Uyghur groups by revealing that it has asked the Xinjiang governor for talks. MPs belonging to the inter-parliamentary alliance on China (Ipac) called it “incomprehensible” that “anybody within government would think it appropriate to meet with someone who has played a central role in the persecution of Uyghurs – crimes our own parliament has declared to be genocide”. According to an email from the Foreign Office, Erkin Tuniyaz – who has been sanctioned by the US – is…