Tag: Uyghurs

Uyghur Poet’s Memoir on China’s Abuses Earns Recognition

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Tahir Hamut Izgil witnessed firsthand, China’s repressive treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority group and experienced how society changed over time in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in northwest China. His memoir, published this year has gained attention by readers and recognition by two prominent U.S. publications this week, while China describes accusations of repression as a false narrative. Izgil’s memoir, Waiting to be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide, has been listed as one of the “50 notable works of nonfiction,” by The Washington Post and…

What do we know about forced labour in Xinjiang?

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Xinjiang, a region of north-west China that is about three times the size of France, is an area that has become associated around the world with detention camps. The facilities are referred to by Beijing as vocational education and training centres. But critics say they are used to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other minority ethnic groups with the goal of transforming them into devotees of the Chinese Communist party. After unrest in the region and a series of riots and violent attacks by Uyghur separatists between 2014 to 2017, the Chinese…

Carbon credits at risk of link to Uyghur forced labour bought by BP and Spotify

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BP and Spotify were among companies who bought carbon credits at risk of being implicated in potential Uyghur forced labour, an investigation has found. The credits were sourced from the Bachu carbon project, which was developed by South Pole, the world’s largest carbon consultancy. The project focussed on a biomass power plant in Xinjiang, China, which said it would lower global carbon emissions by using waste cotton stalks from nearby fields to generate electricity. South Pole, whose chief executive, Renat Heuberger, stood down on Friday, marketed credits for their employment…

How Chinese firm linked to repression of Uyghurs aids Israeli surveillance in West Bank

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In the occupied Palestinian territories, there are cameras everywhere. In Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, residents say cameras were installed by Israeli police up and down their streets, peering into their homes. One resident named Sara said she and her family “could be detected as if the cameras were just in our house … we couldn’t feel at home in our own house and had to be fully dressed all the time.” Surveillance cameras now cover the Damascus Gate, the main entrance into the old city of Jerusalem and one…

Uyghur film-maker claims he was tortured by authorities in China

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A Uyghur film-maker has alleged he was tortured and forced to give a false confession during detention in Xinjiang province. Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, appeared on trial at Ürümqi people’s intermediary court on 27 October and is accused of organising “terrorist” activities and participating in an “East Turkestan separatist” group, sources close to him told the Guardian. Chinese authorities blame the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which once advocated independence in Xinjiang, for a series of terrorist attacks in the late 1990s and see similar groups as a separatist threat. Nurmehmet denied…

Uyghur News Recap: Oct. 27– Nov. 3, 2023 

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washington —  Late Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Remembered for Repression The late Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who played a prominent role in the Chinese Communist Party during the past decade, is remembered by Uyghur and Tibetan communities for his leading role in the severe crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang and Tibetans in Tibet. His legacy is associated with mass detentions, allegations of torture, forced sterilizations and forced labor, and is labeled as genocide by some nations, despite China’s denials. Li’s involvement in these repressive policies, revealed in the leaked Xinjiang…

Uyghur News Recap: October 20-27, 2023 

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washington —  Wife of Uyghur in Critical Condition in Xinjiang Prison Appeals for Medical Care Mexmutjan Memet, a Uyghur man serving a 20-year prison sentence in Xinjiang, is reportedly in critical condition due to poor prison conditions, according to his wife. Memet had returned to Xinjiang in 2016 to accompany his mother back after her visit to Turkey, only to have his passport confiscated upon arrival, leading to his arrest in 2017. He was charged with violating China’s one-child policy, providing religious education to his children, and traveling to Turkey.…

Trial of Uyghur film-maker to begin in China this week

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A Uyghur film-maker who was arrested in Beijing earlier this year will appear on trial in Xinjiang on Wednesday. Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, was taken from his home by Chinese authorities on 29 May and flown to Ürümqi, Xinjiang’s capital, where he is being held in pre-trial detention on unknown charges, according to his supporters. Born and raised in Ürümqi, Nurmehmet is an independent film-maker based in Beijing, where he lives with his wife and infant son. Hours after his arrest, police called his wife to notify her of his transfer…

Uyghur News Recap: Oct. 13-20, 2023

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WASHINGTON —  Uyghur Prisoners Forced Into Labor for Chinese Businesses in Xinjiang Uyghur inmates at Keriye Prison in Xinjiang endure grueling forced labor, toiling for extended hours in fields and factories, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The labor benefits Chinese businessmen who lease the prison’s farmland and is also meant to reform the inmates through labor, according to prison employees who spoke to RFA. The prison conditions are part of wider allegations of abuses in Xinjiang, with the U.S. and other countries labeling it a genocide, a…

Scottish Water admits solar farms could use parts linked to China’s forced labour camps

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Scottish Water has admitted that its solar farms could use components linked to forced labour camps in China, “in clear conflict” with its anti-slavery policies. Scottish Water, a state-owned monopoly, has installed tens of thousands of solar panels it suspects are linked to Chinese slave labour at 66 sites around the country, bought for tens of millions of pounds. They include a “super solar” scheme at its large water treatment works that supplies 565,000 people in the Glasgow area with drinking water. It said the 8,448 panels at Balmore in…