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As China deepens relations with Saudi Arabia in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Uighur diaspora finds itself in the crosshairs. Riyadh is preparing to deport two Uighurs back to China’s western province of Xinjiang, where they will almost certainly be detained for “re-education” in its vast network of concentration camps for the region’s Turkic inhabitants. Uighurs in Xinjiang face human rights violations ranging from arbitrary detention and torture to sexual assault and forced sterilization.
Saudi Arabia, a key ally of China in the Arab world, has shown support for Beijing’s crackdown on Uighur culture in the past. During a 2019 visit to China, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, told his hosts: “We respect and support China’s rights to take counter-terrorism and de-extremism measures to safeguard national security.” Saudi Arabia further endorsed China’s Xinjiang policies in two joint letters to the United Nations in 2019 and 2020.
But Arab states are not only lending rhetorical support to China, they are also actively assisting Beijing in its global campaign of abuse and reprisals against Uighurs. At least six governments in the Arab world—Egypt, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the UAE—have detained or extradited Uighurs at China’s behest. According to our dataset at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, around 292 Uighurs have been detained or deported from Arab states at China’s behest since 2002.
The majority of these occurred in recent years. China’s repressive practices against the Uighur diaspora have expanded dramatically since Chinese President Xi Jinping unleashed his “people’s war on terror” in 2014. At least 1,327 individuals have been detained or rendered from 20 countries worldwide since then,…
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Source : time
