September 2019

Former President of Xinjiang University Sentenced to Possible Execution for Separatism

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 19:07
Tashpolat Tiyip in Paris, during a ceremony to receive an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne in November 2008. Photo: https://asialyst.com

Dr. Tashpolat Tiyip, former President of Xinjiang University has been tried and sentenced for separatism. Sentence was for a deferred execution. Dr. Tiyip is an internationally renowned geographer.

UN chief rejects claim he didn’t condemn China over Muslims

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 19:00
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Photo: UN

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly rejected claims by five human rights groups that he hasn’t condemned the Chinese government’s detention of more than a million Muslims in the Xinjiang region, saying he has spoken out forcefully.

Uyghur Brothers Perish While Detained in Xinjiang

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:58
Internal view of the dormitory building in the transformation through education camp, where every room is fitted with double iron doors, just like a prison.

Authorities say the two men ‘became ill,’ but provide no details.

For China’s embattled Uighurs, a bank transfer abroad can become a ‘terrorism’ ordeal

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:54
Mayila Yakufu spent 10 months in an internment camp operated by China. She was picked up again in May and charged with financing terrorism. (Family photo)

The Chinese state has come down not once, but twice, on Mayila Yakufu

Junket journalism in the shadow of genocide

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:47
American journalist Max Blumenthal travelled with a group of journalists and activists to Damascus in September 2019 [Twitter]

What a visit of a group of journalists and activists to Damascus can tell us about 'laundering' genocidal regimes.

'There Was a Cemetery Outside The Detention Center in Kashgar:' Asylum Seeker

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:43
Kong Yuangfeng (R) at a construction site in Aksu prefecture, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in an undated photo.

Kong Yuanfeng describes life in a women's prison in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Tohti nominated for Sakharov Prize 2019

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:41
Ilham Tohti in France, February 2009.

The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament announced today [18 September 2019] the nomination of Professor Ilham Tohti as its candidate for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2019. 

HRC42 - EU Statement - Item 4:Human Rights situations that require the Council's attention

Thu, 09/19/2019 - 18:38

United Nations Human Rights Council Geneva, 9-27 September 2019 EU Statement - Item 4: Human Rights situations that require the Council's attention

I researched Uighur society in China for 8 years and watched how technology opened new opportunities – then became a trap

Wed, 09/18/2019 - 16:08
Uighurs wait in line at a face scan checkpoint in Turpan, Xinjiang in northwest China on April 11, 2018. Darren Byler, CC BY

The Uighurs, a Muslim minority ethnic group of around 12 million in northwest China, are required by the police to carry their smartphones and IDs listing their ethnicity.

Diary: Prisons in the Mountains

Wed, 09/18/2019 - 15:41

In August 2018 I was in Zharkent, a market town in Kazakhstan near the Chinese border, reporting on the extradition trial of an asylum seeker named Sayragul Sauytbay.

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