Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments. The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region. A report by the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), released on Wednesday, said western tourism to the region risked supporting the normalisation of Chinese government policies that were “intended to destroy the…
Tag: Law
China is state most dangerous to its own citizens’ civil rights, report finds
China has been ranked as the worst country in the world for safety from the state and the right to assembly, in a human rights report that tracks social, economic and political freedoms. The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), a New Zealand-based project, has been monitoring various countries’ human rights performance since 2017. In 2022, HRMI started tracking freedom of religion and belief for the first time. China also scored worst on this indicator, although the pilot study only covered nine countries. HRMI concluded that on several measures China was…
Hong Kong court rebuffs effort to dismiss Jimmy Lai national security trial
Hong Kong’s high court has rejected an attempt by lawyers acting for the jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to have his national security trial dismissed. The court ruled on Monday that the argument the trial may appear to be biased had “no merits”, and gave the proceedings, which are scheduled to start in September, the green light. The legal team for Lai, a former media mogul who was arrested during Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2020, had argued that the fact his trial would be presided over by judges…
Number of people prosecuted in China’s courts up 12% in five years, report shows
Chinese courts prosecuted 8.3 million people in the five years to 2022, a 12% increase on the previous period. There was also a nearly 20% increase in the number of protests against court rulings. The figures released by the supreme people’s procuratorate (SPP) in March give a glimpse of how China’s notoriously opaque justice system has operated in recent years, amid a tightening domestic security environment. Zhang Jun, the outgoing director of the SPP, said prosecutions for violent crimes decreased by 31.7%, while prosecutions for internet-based crimes, such as gambling,…
‘My time in the UK has been a disaster’: Hongkongers fear deportation after years left in limbo
In March 2021, less than one month after his 18th birthday, Lawson* made a decision that would change the course of his life for ever. The previous year had been tumultuous in Hong Kong. Lawson, like millions of other Hongkongers, had taken to the streets to participate in pro-democracy protests against the influence of the Chinese Communist party, which was seeking to tighten its grip on the territory. He had been forced by police to kneel on the ground as he choked on teargas at the siege of Hong Kong…
Fears grow for Taiwan book publisher believed held in China
Concerns are mounting for a Taiwan-based book publisher believed to have been detained in China, in a case that has echoed the disappearances in 2015 of five Hong Kong booksellers. Li Yanhe, also known by the pen-name Fucha, reportedly travelled to Shanghai last month to visit relatives but has been uncontactable since Thursday. His alleged detention was first reported by Bei Ling, a Chinese writer and activist, who said on Facebook that he had been told by various sources that Li had been arrested by authorities in Shanghai. Taiwan’s government…
How Xi Jinping plans to use his meeting with war crimes suspect Vladimir Putin | Observer editorial
The welcome and overdue indictment of Vladimir Putin for war crimes allegedly committed in Ukraine confirms his position as a global outlaw. The decision by the international criminal court (ICC) is unlikely to lead to his arrest and trial in the foreseeable future. But it does ensure that, from now on, Russia’s president will be a criminal suspect and wanted man, liable to arrest in the ICC’s 123 member states and a huge embarrassment to his country. Putin’s command responsibility for thousands of heinous war crimes committed in Ukraine has…
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…
Australian justice appointed to Hong Kong court argues foreign judges shouldn’t ‘vacate the field’
The former Australian high court judge Patrick Keane has dismissed criticism of his appointment to a top Hong Kong court, saying he weighed up the role carefully but believed foreign judges should not “vacate the field”. Legal figures have noted Keane’s eminent record, but some raised concerns about the message his appointment sends in light of Beijing’s increasing crackdown on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong lawyer and democracy activist now living in Australia, said foreign judges taking up appointments in the city could be…
Hong Kong withholds British lawyer’s visa, delaying Jimmy Lai trial
Hong Kong has temporarily blocked a top British human rights lawyer from representing jailed pro-democracy activist JimmyLai, in a trial stymied by delays and calls for an intervention from Beijing. British King’s Counsel Timothy Owen was set to represent Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, who has been in jail on protest-related offences since his high-profile arrest in 2020. Lai is accused of conspiring with others to call for an imposition of sanctions or a blockade, or engaging in hostile activities against Hong Kong or China. He also…