Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Malaysia won’t be silent on China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told the South China Morning Post in an interview that Malaysia will continue to speak up on issues like China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims. “We understand the situation. We follow the Uighur story very closely and we have informed Beijing that we look at this seriously, we have a lot of concerns.”

On April 20, Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu denied that Malaysia is being silent in voicing out its concerns about China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim community.

“We continue to use diplomatic channels under the Foreign Ministry. The minister for foreign affairs always talks about the issues that are happening in China, in the meetings that take place.”

Read the full story at malaysiakini.com, April 23, 2019

Chinese authorities preparing a “show” in Uighur region to deceive EU Investigation

This week, Uighur Times has confirmed through credible sources that in preparation for the possible visit of an EU delegation, the Chinese authorities in occupied East Turkistan implemented several measures in order to deceive the investigators.

Among the measures, a few mosques(that survived the ‘mosque demolishing campaign’ since 2016) have been locked down over the last two years were re-opened(just for show) before the arrival of the EU delegation and people were asked to attend mosques at regular prayer times and were threatened to being sent to “re-education” centers if they refuse.

On the other hand, videos shared on Chinese social media showed people who dressed in traditional Uighur clothes(many of them are not even Uighurs) dancing in the Urumchi International Grand Bazaar. Several Uighurs also reported that some of their relatives were suddenly released last week from the concentration camps for “vacation”.

Read the full story at uyghurtimes.com, April 20, 2019

European Parliament calls on China to close all camps and detentions centers

On Thursday, April 18, the European Parliament adopted a resolution taking stock of human rights situation in China.

The European Parliament is concerned about the increasingly repressive regime that many religious and ethnic minorities, such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tibetans and Christians, are facing in China. The situation is rapidly deteriorating, placing additional restraints on their fundamental rights. It calls on the Chinese Government to put an end to arbitrary detentions, without any charge, trial or conviction for criminal offence, of members of the Uyghur and Kazakh minority and Tibetans.

The resolution on China was adopted by 505 votes in favour, 18 against, with 47 abstentions.

Read the full story at europeaninterest.eu, April 18, 2019

China recently demolished a Uighur mosque as old as Notre Dame

On April 15, much of Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral, started in 1163, survived the tragic blaze. But it’s not clear anything remains of the 780-year-old Keriya mosque in China’s western Xinjiang province (occupied East Turkistan).

Last week, Shawn Zhang, a law student in Canada, posted satellite images suggesting that the Chinese government had demolished the Keriya mosque, believed to date back to 1237. Zhang has used Chinese government documents and open-source satellite images to reveal a huge network of government internment camps for Uighurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang (occupied East Turkistan).

The Keriya mosque is just one of hundreds of mosques that China has destroyed in Xinjiang (occupied East Turkistan), where “whole cities are being redesigned to facilitate maximum security and surveillance of the local population.”

Read the full story at Theweek.com, April 17, 2019

Volkswagen CEO ‘not aware’ of Uighurs detained in China’s Xinjiang, despite having a factory there

Herbert Diess, the current CEO of German car manufacturer Volkswagen, has sparked outrage after he said that he was “not aware” of China’s treatment of Uighurs in the region of Xinjiang (occupied East Turkistan). When asked about the treatment of Uighurs, the CEO told the BBC that: “I can’t judge this, sorry. . . . I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

A spokesman for Volkswagen backtracked later in a statement to The Washington Post, saying that the company “is aware” of the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang and has taken active steps to address the situation.

China’s strategy to persuade leaders to put economic interests over moral concerns appears to have worked. Researchers argue that leaders of European Union countries have encouraged corporations’ silence on Chinese human rights by urging China to provide more market access and dropping some of their criticism of Beijing in return.

Diess’ remarks are one of the many examples of a Western corporation’s willingness to look the other way when it comes to alleged Chinese human rights abuses.

Read the full story at Washingtonpost.com, April 17, 2019

Never again? A Jewish response to the Uighur ‘Holocaust’

René Cassin, a Jewish human rights charity named in the honour of Monsieur René Cassin, is hosting an event on May 9th in London to highlight the Uighur crisis and to ask what solidarity and leadership the Jewish community can offer.

The Jewish people don’t need to be warned about genocide. René Cassin was a French-Jewish lawyer who had lost many family members in the Holocaust, co-drafted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. It has been over 70 years since Monsieur René Cassin said ‘never again’ to the horrors of the Holocaust.

At this special event chaired by the BBC’s John Sweeney, the attendees will hear from experts on Uighurs and China. There will also be testimony from a member of the Uighur diaspora and discussion about what leadership and solidarity the Jewish community can offer in the face of this human rights tragedy.

Read the full story at eventbrite.co.uk.