Category Archives: Uighurs

Activists scramble to prevent Uighur man’s deportation to China

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Ablikim Yusuf, who had been living in Pakistan, faces detention and torture if he is sent to China, say supporters

Human rights activists are scrambling to prevent the imminent deportation of a Uighur man to China, where they say he faces torture.

Ablikim Yusuf, 53, who has been living in Pakistan, posted a desperate video on Facebook asking for help from the overseas Uighur community. He says in the video, translated and circulated by activists on Saturday: “I am currently being held in Doha airport, about to be deported to Beijing, China. I need the world’s help. I am originally from Hotan.”

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‘This isn’t true’: Uighur families angered by China claim relatives freed

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China’s claim it has freed 90% of people in Xinjiang detention camps has been met with anger and scepticism

When news broke that senior officials in China were saying 90% of Uighurs detained in Xinjiang’s notorious detention centres had been released, Nurgul Sawut’s phone started going crazy.

“My Whatsapp, my Signal, my Facebook, everyone was tagging me in their posts,” said Sawut, a Uighur community leader based in Canberra. “Everyone started reacting. They were saying: ‘If 90%, where are my relatives, where are my family and friends?’ We’re not seeing any of those people in the community, who are you releasing?”

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Uighurs challenge China to prove missing relatives are free

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Diaspora sceptical over claim most inmates released from Xinjiang detainment centres

China’s claim that most inmates have been released from mass detention centres in Xinjiang region has been met with scepticism by the Uighur diaspora, which has launched a social media campaign challenging Beijing to prove it.

Rights groups and experts say more than 1 million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps in the tightly controlled north-west region, home to China’s ethnic Uighur population.

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China accused of rapid campaign to take Muslim children from their families

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Relatives tell of more than 100 missing children amid Xinjiang boarding school building drive

China is reportedly separating Muslim children from their families, religion and language, and is engaged in a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools for them.

The attempts to “remove children from their roots” exists in parallel to Beijing’s ongoing detention of an estimated 1 million Uighur adults from the western Xinjiang region in camps and sweeping crackdown on the rights of the minority group, the BBC reported.

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‘Deep concerns’: US objects to UN counterterrorism chief’s visit to Xinjiang

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Other countries joined the US in objecting to the trip in a region where China detains 1 million Uighurs and muslims

The United States and other western countries have objected to a visit by the United Nations counterterrorism chief to China’s remote Xinjiang, where UN experts say some 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres.

Vladimir Voronkov, a veteran Russian diplomat who heads the UN Counterterrorism Office, is in China at the invitation of Beijing and is due to visit Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, according to an email sent by his office to countries that raised concerns.

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US accuses China of using ‘concentration camps’ against Muslim minority

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In a highly charged attack, the Pentagon says up to 3m people could be imprisoned in detention centres

The United States has accused China on Friday of imprisoning more than a million Muslims in “concentration camps” in some of Washington’s strongest condemnation of Beijing’s treatment of minorities.

The comments by Randall Schriver, who leads Asia policy at the US defense department, are likely to increase tension with Beijing, which is sensitive to international criticism and describes the sites as vocational education training centres aimed at stemming the threat of Islamic extremism.

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‘Seldom uses front door’: report reveals how China spies on Muslim minority

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Authorities use an app to collect personal data on Uighurs as part of a vast surveillance network, Human Rights Watch says

Using too much electricity or having acquaintances abroad are among a list of reasons that prompt authorities in China’s western Xinjiang region to investigate Uighurs and other Muslims who might be deemed “untrustworthy” and sent to internment camps, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

The report, released on Thursday, analyses a mobile app used by authorities in Xinjiang to collect personal data from ethnic minorities, file reports about people and objects they find suspicious, and carry out investigations.

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Revealed: five Australian children trapped in China amid Uighur crackdown

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Children, aged between one and six, are all Australian citizens and are separated from at least one of their parents

At least five Australian children are trapped in China, unable to return home because of the Chinese government’s crackdown on Uighur Muslims, the Guardian can reveal.

The children, who range in age from one to six, are all Australian citizens and come from three different families. They have been stuck in China for up to two years, and are all separated from at least one of their parents.

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