Human Rights Watch denounces increase in “unfounded” imprisonments of Uyghurs by China

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced an increase in “baseless prosecutions with long prison terms” for Uyghurs and Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region in recent years., with more than 250,000 people convicted since 2016.

It was in 2016 that the government intensified “its repressive campaign of” hard strike against violent terrorism, “says the organization, which has analyzed nearly 60 of these cases to conclude that” many people have been convicted and imprisoned without having committed a real crime ”. .

This research, however, It was complicated because few verdicts and official documents are available to the public due to the “strict control of information by the Xianjiang authorities”.

HRW China senior researcher Maya Wang noted that while the Chinese regime’s use of “political education” camps has led to “international outrage”, arrest and imprisonment of Muslims in Xinjiang by the formal justice system “attracted much less attention”.

Official statistics from Chinese authorities show a dramatic increase in the number of people sentenced in Xinjiang in 2017, followed by another increase in 2018, while they have not released sentencing statistics for 2019, although an estimate from an NGO notes that this year’s figure may be higher than the previous two combined.

According to HRW, Xinjiang government’s “Strike Hard” campaign targets Turkish Muslims’ “ideological virus”, religious and political ideas not conforming to those prescribed by the state, like pan-Islamism.

Further, this campaign involves “mass surveillance and political indoctrination of the entire population”, as people’s thoughts, behavior and relationships are assessed on the basis of “false and broad” criteria to determine their course of ” correction”.

People whose transgressions that authorities consider “minor” are confined to political education camps or subjected to other forms of restriction of movement, including house arrest, while the most serious cases are dealt with in the formal criminal justice system.

Faced with this situation, “international pressure on the Chinese government must be intensified to conduct an independent investigation in Xinjiang,” Wang insisted, considering it “the best hope for the release of all those detained or unjustly imprisoned.”

On the other hand, The Canadian Parliament on Monday adopted a non-binding motion equating China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority as “genocide”., a move that Beijing called a “malicious provocation.”

The motion, presented at the initiative of the Conservatives (opposition), was adopted in the House of Commons by 266 votes in favor of 338. The approved text also asks the government of Justin Trudeau to formalize this decision.

Other MPs, including ministers from the Liberal government, abstained. The text recognizes that “the Uyghurs in China have been and are subject to genocide”.

The Chinese Embassy in Canada issued a statement calling the motion a “shameful act,” calling Canadian lawmakers “hypocrites and villains” for using “the human rights excuse to engage in political manipulation. in Xinjiang with the in order to interfere in the internal affairs of China ”. .

Canadian MPs underline “political and anti-religious indoctrination”, “forced labor” and “destruction of cultural sites”This Muslim minority is suffering in Xinjiang.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that “massive human rights violations have been reported in Xinjiang”.

With information from Europa Press

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