China casts its ‘SkyNet’ far and wide, pursuing tens of thousands who flee overseas

May 4, 2022

“It is very difficult for Uyghur advocates to travel to Central Asia now,” Omer Kanat, chairman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress told RFA after being sent back to Turkey from Kazakhstan. “I was stopped by border officials while visiting Kazakhstan. I was interrogated by Kazakh security officers at the airport, who asked me why I came to Central Asia.”

“They told me that no member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is going to let me in, then they sent me back to Turkey,” Omer Kanat said.

According to statistics from the Uyghur Human Rights Project and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, the Chinese government has detained, deported or extradited more than 1,300 Uyghurs since China’s “war on terrorism” began in 2014, most of the them from Muslim-majority countries.

“This kind of situation is very common, and many Uyghurs in the United States and Europe have received similar [Chinese police harassment] calls,” Omar Kanat said, citing the case of a friend who received a message from her relatives asking her to turn herself in at the Chinese embassy and tell them she loves China.

Read the full article: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/skynet-repatriation-05042022151054.html