Authorities and individuals from Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have exposed the Uyghur Tribunal, which was established via collusion of some self-claimed human rights groups and some Western forces, is an anti-China, politically driven clique in nature, and its hearing, which is scheduled for June 4-7, is nothing but a case of recruiting actors in a farce to repeat old lies.
The tribunal was established in September 2020 in the UK upon request of the World Uygur Congress (WUC), which claimed to work for human rights but was proven to be a US-funded secessionist network. Geoffrey Nice, a British barrister, was founder and chair of the tribunal.
Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government, said at Tuesday’s Xinjiang-related press conference in Beijing that the tribunal is a “pseudo” one that follows the presumption of guilt and serves anti-China forces’ smears on Xinjiang and interference in China’s internal affairs.
Elijan Anayt, who is also a regional government spokesperson, told the press conference the tribunal is not a legal institute but an element of the anti-China public opinion war.
According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as other international laws and conventions, and previous cases, there are strict procedures to establish or empower international legal or judicial organs. The Uygur Tribunal is neither serious nor authoritative in this regard, Elijan said.
The tribunal does not meet the criteria for a nongovernmental organization either, as it does not conform to the UK’s Charities Act 2011. It claims to work for Uygurs amid “Chinese governments’ violence,” but the goal is not based on verified facts, and the tribunal has no clear regulatory articles or trusteeship council. Those conditions determine the tribunal has no validity legally.
Nice has said that “we need to impose pressure,” which exposed his purpose of spreading rumors and stirring up trouble, Elijan noted, revealing it had received 235,000 pounds ($333,700) from the secessionist WUC. The tribunal has launched a public fundarising campaign from February to May, but only received 7,000 pounds, which indicated its infamous public image, Elijan said.
Though the tribunal did not reveal who would appear at the hearing as the so-called witnesses, Xinjiang officials at the press conference predicted it is likely to recruit some “familiar faces,” who are actors and make a living by telling lies about Xinjiang.
Fourteen people, who testified at international hearings on “atrocities against Uygurs,” had their stories exposed at Tuesday’s press conference, with videos in the cases of 11.
The Global Times found some familiar names that Western politicians and media have often cited as witnesses, including Sayragul Sautbay, who was a kindergarten teacher and faced charges of loan fraud after she fabricated her husband’s and acquaintances’ signatures in documents submitted to the local bank.
Sayragul has been identified as a former doctor, a teacher at an education and vocational training center, or a victim of such a center, in different reports, in different reports by the Western media, simply based on their different coverage needs.
Tuerxunnayi Ziyaodeng has claimed to have been detained at a training center and said she was forcibly sterilized. But she has contradicted herself, and her passport was renewed in March 2019, during the period when she claimed she was in detention.
Gulibahaer Maihemutijiang, who uses the name Gulbahar Haijiti in the West, claimed she was lured back to China and faced a seven-year prison term, and was tortured during detention.
But records showed she returned for personal reasons and was found to be involved in organizing secessionist activities including the “7/5” Urumqi riots that took placeon July 5, 2009. She told the police she regretted not having revealed her husband’s secessionist behavior, and the police decided not to prosecute her. Gulibahaer exposed her real nature soon after she left China using the excuse of taking care of her pregnant daughter in 2019.
Xiamuxinuer Wupuer, who left China in 2010, made an accusation of forced sterilization in Xinjiang and claimed each doctor in Xinjiang has done 2,000 uterus removal surgeries. But a basic calculation punctures her lie.
Each surgery takes at least 2.5 hours and if the 2,000 number is true, a doctor needs to work 625 days following an eight-hour workday schedule, or work 14 hours a day for an entire year without a single day of rest.
The Global Times learned that those “witnesses” repeatedly appear in Western media coverage, talk to Western politicians in summits, and even receive some “honors.” They make a living by lying about Xinjiang using Western funds.
“China must tell the truth and point out how ridiculous the tribunal was,” Xu said.
A teacher and a graduate from a training center also explained what the place really is — one where trainees lived in dorms and learned the country’s common language and vocational skills, which helped them find jobs and live better lives.
The environment was impossible to carry out forced sterilization, rape or torture without being noticed by other trainees, and all trainees had graduated in 2019.
Xu said that what Xinjiang is doing is similar to the anti-extremism efforts in other countries, such as the UK’s desistance and disengagement program, which are all helpful explorations in the field. Achievements made via the training centers in Xinjiang were also recognized by 1,400 delegates to the region from some 100 countries and regions since 2018.
The West has turned a blind eye to the steady increase in the Uygur population and their own crimes against native Americans (US) and aborigines (Australia), and attempted to use a pseudo tribunal to proclaim “genocide” in Xinjiang, demonstrating the West’s shamelessness, Xu concluded.
A press conference on Xinjiang-related Issues held on Tuesday in Beijing Photo: Zhang Han/GT
