A prominent international human rights watchdog accused on Friday the Chinese authorities of the systematic harassment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups living abroad
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) A prominent international human rights watchdog accused on Friday the Chinese authorities of the systematic harassment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups living abroad.
According to the report released by Amnesty International on Friday, after leaving China, Uyghur people and other diaspora communities across the globe continue to face intimidation and pressure coming from their home country. The Chinese authorities are persecuting Uyghurs through the embassies abroad as well as through messaging apps and threatening phone calls.
"These chilling accounts from Uyghurs living abroad illustrate how the far-reaching shadow of repression against Muslims from China extends far beyond its borders. Even when Uyghurs and members of other minorities flee persecution in Xinjiang, they are not safe. The Chinese government will find ways to reach them, to intimidate them and, ultimately, attempt to bring them back to face a grim fate - including by pressuring other governments to return them," Patrick Poon, Amnesty International's China researcher, said, as quoted in the report.
There has been international criticism of the situation in Xinjiang. Up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims were reportedly held in "re-education camps" under the pretext of fighting terrorism and religious extremism as of last summer.
The Uyghurs tried to seek independence from China from the 1930-40s. In recent years, the Chinese government introduced stricter security measures in the region, justifying their actions by referencing the fight against extremism.
Beijing has also denied the existence of "re-education camps" on numerous occasions, insisting that the country is fully complying with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
