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China convicts Uighurs in sham trials at Xinjiang camps

//Detainees were forced to endure countless hours of indoctrination and language classes, perched on small stools.

//In some facilities, they had to watch TV propaganda broadcasts praising President Xi Jinping for hours on end.The slightest infraction, such as a whispered conversation, was met with swift and harsh punishment.

//After picking a crime from the list came a sham trial, in which the detainees had no legal representation and were convicted without evidence or due process of any kind.

//they were handed a piece of paper detailing more than 70 acts and forced to choose one or several of them. Most of them were religious acts, such as praying or wearing a headscarf.

//the Chinese government has released those with Kazakh residency permits, passports and family members living in Kazakhstan, which is home to a sizable Uighur community.

//For those without outside links and citizenship, however, it is virtually impossible to escape China's vast network of repression and constant surveillance.

//"They threatened us: 'if you don't pick anything, that means you did not confess your crime. If you don't confess, you will stay here forever.' That's why we picked one crime,"

//one man managed to refuse, a rare show of individual bravery in a camp surrounded by high walls and watchtowers and guarded by armed officials.Over the course of three days, officials — some high-ranking — berated him endlessly, trying to force him to sign a confession... he was released into months of strictly monitored house arrest. At the time, he says, he was the only one who was freed, while all the other detainees remained in the camp.

//most acts deemed illegal were of a religious nature is a further indication that the Chinese authorities are targeting the religion and cultural practices of its Muslim minorities in an attempt to eradicate them

//Since 2016, the Chinese government has been arresting ethnic Uighurs and Kazakhs and imprisoning them in what... have been referred to in the West as "re-education" camps.

//According to estimates, at least 1 million of the roughly 10 million Uighurs and Kazakhs living in Xinjiang have disappeared into the vast network of prisons and camps.

//There are legitimate reasons for Chinese authorities to be concerned about Uighur extremism... decades of cultural and political discrimination... state-sponsored migration of the majority ethnic Han Chinese to Xinjiang, widespread discontent has... turned violent.

//in the majority of cases, China is imprisoning Uighurs based on their religious practices and culture, rather than extremist behavior.

//there are three categories of re-education camps: Those with minimum security, which seem to have been built with the goal of reintegrating detainees back into society and have a strong vocational training element. Secondly, there are medium-security facilities, where detainees spend three to five years but are eventually released. Finally, Ruser says, there are the maximum-security facilities, where detainees are locked up indefinitely, "with no intention of ever letting them back into society again" — an extrajudicial form of detention

//imams and those deemed religious are more likely to be sent to prison, sometimes for decades, most likely as they are considered "irreformable."

//Others were sent to labor camps, like one detainee who told DW she was forced to work in a glove factory.

//Their experience has left deep emotional and physical scars. All of the former inmates DW spoke to suffered from obvious post-traumatic stress disorder, including memory loss and insomnia. During the interviews, they alternated between rage and tears, as they recalled their ordeals, which included interrogations and sexual abuse.

Full Article: DW EXCLUSIVE (08-June)

Further reading:
Trump Signs Sanctions Law Over China Crackdown of Uyghurs
https://international.thenewslens.com/amparticle/136604

#China #reeducationcamp #Detention #Xinjiang #Uighurs #Kazakhs #Muslim #Prison
Beijing blasts Bob Rae after ambassador calls for UN to investigate genocide claims

Rae has asked the UN Human Rights Council to investigate China's treatment of the country's Uighurs in Xinjiang. Beijing has denied any wrongdoing, saying it is running a voluntary employment and language-training program.

Zhao on Monday used a number of select statistics that suggest China's Uighur population is growing at a faster rate than Canada's population to mock Rae's suggestions that the Uighurs are being persecuted.

However, Zhao's statistics appear to have been incomplete or inaccurate and did not address a report by The Associated Press in June that birthrates have been dramatically cut in Uighur-dominated areas of Xinjiang.

Source: CP24 #Nov17

https://www.cp24.com/news/beijing-blasts-bob-rae-after-ambassador-calls-for-un-to-investigate-genocide-claims-1.5191893

#Canada #Xinjiang #Uighurs #CCP #UN #ReEducationCamp
China Muslims: Volkswagen says “no forced labour” at Xinjiang plant

Volkswagen (VW) has defended its decision to continue operating a car plant in Xinjiang a Chinese region mired in allegations of large-scale human rights abuses by the state.

Even if VW could prove categorically that their own supply chain was clean, the criticism goes far deeper. Because opening a car plant in Xinjiang requires the partnership and approval of the Chinese authorities, the concern is that it risks leading tacit support to the policies of mass incarceration and ethnic repression, for which there is compelling evidence.

Source: BBC #Nov13

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-54918309

#China #ReEducationCamp #Xinjiang #Uyghur #VW
China: Parents of missing Uyghur children describe horror of family separation

Amnesty International mentioned talked to parents who have been completely cut off from their children and cannot return to China due to the threat of being sent to a “re-education” internment camp.

The exiled families of Uyghur children held in state “orphanages” in the Chinese region of Xinjiang described the torment of being separated in the latest report published by Amnesty International.

“The tragedy of family separation in Xinjiang exposes the inhumanity of China’s efforts to control and indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups,” Amnesty International Alkan Akad said.

Amnesty International calls for the Chinese government to provide full and unrestricted access to Xinjiang for UN human rights experts, independent researchers and journalists to conduct investigations about what is happening in the region.Meanwhile, the organization urges other governments to do everything they can to ensure that Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Chinese ethnic minorities resident in their countries are provided with assistance in trying to locate, contact, and reunite with their children.

Source: Amnesty International #Mar19

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/03/china-parents-of-missing-uyghur-children-describe-horror-of-family-separation/

#Xinjiang #Uyghurs #ReeducationCamp #CCP
China Sanctions 9 British Personnel and 4 Entities for Sanctioning China “Based on Lies and False Information”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against nine British personnel and four entities, accusing the UK of interfering in China's internal affairs by sanctioning China over the Xinjiang issue "based on lies and false information". China also accused the UK of violating the international law and basic norms of international relations.

Recently, China and the western have imposed sanctions on each other. The Chinese government has set up "re-education camps" in Xinjiang in recent years to detain a large number of Uyghurs, and the international community has criticized China for violating human rights. On the 22nd of March, the European Union announced sanctions against four Chinese officials and one entity. Then, the United Kingdom immediately announced the same list of sanctions which is the first time in 30 years that the United Kingdom has punished China for human rights issues.

Source: Stand News #Mar26

https://bit.ly/3dSDllb

#China #UK #EU #SinoBritishRelations #sanctions #Xinjiang #reeducationCamp #Uyghurs #humanrights
Amnesty International Report Describes Xinjiang's Situation as a “Dystopian Hell Landscape"

Amnesty International characterized the Chinese government’s actions against the Turkic Muslim population as a “crime against humanity” on Thursday (10 June). They publish a 160-page report, stating Uyghurs and Muslim minorities in Xinjiang are facing systematic abuse, including the torture tool “tiger chair” that a slight move can lead to great pain to the person in the seat.

Recently, many governments and international organizations accuse China of human rights violations. Among them, Amnesty International has been investigating the Xinjiang issue for years. This report describes the Chinese government's intention to remove Muslim cultures and traditions within the territory by different means. The report also states the government regards Turkic Muslim in the region as “extremists”. The report alleges that since most Xinjiang people are afraid of being imprisoned or badly treated, they stop praying nor following any act of Islam observance, including clothing, retouching and speech. Some locals said to Amnesty International, “We cannot say 'let peace be with you (as-salamu-alaykum)'. The government even ban Koran, prayer mats and other religious products.

The report also quotes evidence from Turkic Muslim that they are detained in Chinese government-called “re-education camps", with abuse by the authority. Turkic Muslim women were even forced to accept the system of sterilization or birth control.

Source: Stand News #Jun11

https://bit.ly/3jmJOZQ

#AmnestyInternational #Xinjiang #Uyghurs #Turkic #Islam #Muslim #China #HumanRights #Imprison #Extremist #ReeducationCamp #Genocide
Some Uyghurs recall the layout of a Xinjiang detention centre, before being sent to a reeducation camp.

#Xinjiang #Humanrights #Reeducationcamp #GoHKgraphics