#Dahua #MassSurveillance
Chinese Facial Recognition Tracking Company Targets Uighurs

According to video surveillance industry platform IPVM, Chinese company Daihua has been developing products to racially profile Uighurs.

Read more:
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/26468

China-owned Dahua Sees Human Rights Sanction as Proof of Technology
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/26469

Source: IPVM
https://ipvm.com/reports/dahua-uyghur

#Uyghur #ConcentrationCamp #HumanitarianCrisis #BigData

Citizens Increase Calls for Canada to Stand Up to China

Canadian citizens want continued, harsher treatment towards China.

In response to the appointment of Catroina Le May Doan as head of the Canadian 2022 Olympic delegation, an Ottawa citizen calls for Canada to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics entirely.

“How can we possibly be thinking of sending Canadians under our flag to a country that is holding two of our citizens hostage; that has threatened Canadians in Hong Kong; and that continues to use trade as a weapon against us?”

Citing Canada’s precedence of boycotting the Moscow Games in 1980, he added that the repression of the Uyghurs and democracy in Hong Kong “should be enough for fair-minded countries to withdraw.”

His opinion towards the Chinese government regarding Chinese human rights abuses is echoed by another citizen, who applauds Bob Rae, the Canadian UN Ambassador, for mentioning the alleged genocide in the Xinjiang Province during a UN conference.

He adds that “Like-minded nations must stand up to the CCP and show our support for the Chinese people by supporting Taiwan and Hong Kong.”

Source: Ottawa Citizens #Nov21

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/todays-letters-boycott-the-beijing-winter-olympics-over-chinas-abuses

#China #Canada #humanitariancrisis #Beijing2022 #BoycottBeijing2022

#Totalitarianism
Daughter-in-law of Former CCP's Senior Leader Asks Xi Jiping to Let her Return to the United States

On Christmas eve of 2020, an open letter was sent on Twitter to the Communist Chinese Party (#CCP) leader Xi Jiping, hoping that "the top leader of the country" could "help" the owner of the account and her daughter to leave China, so that she can reunite with her parents in the United States.

The account owner claimed to be the daughter-in-law of Zhou Yonghong, former state councillor and Party Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party who has been in jail for 5 years under accusations of bribery, abuse of power and intentionally disclosing state secrets.

Huang Wan, daughter-in-law of Zhou, said that in December 2013, her whole family was taken away. They then lived at home under surveillance for 10.5 months, and were held in the detention center for more than one year. She was “tortured and abused” by the Public Security system in Hubei, China. She was then sentenced to probation order and spent 3 years under the monitor of the judicial office until June 2019.

After that, she was restricted to leave the country by the Beijing Chaoyang People's Court due to a “civil complaint that has nothing to do with me [her]”. 18 months has already passed, and the case still has not been trialed. Huang suspected that the intention is to keep her in China.

Huang described that the past seven years “felt like hell”. Recently, she was ordered by the Chinese court to evict from her home in ten days.

Despite her US citizenship, she still could not go back to the US because of the Chinesecourt’s travel restriction. She said she felt totally helpless in China.

Source: Stand News #Dec26

#CCPRule #ChineseCourt #Xi #HumanitarianCrisis #Detention
#ZhouYongHong #OpenLetter

#HumanitarianCrisis
Truth Behind #XinjiangCotton: Countless Uyghurs Detained, Abused and are Forced to Labor

H&M, a major Swedish fashion brand, was suddenly attacked by the Chinese official media after making a statement in October 2020 that it would no longer purchase cotton from Xinjiang.

As the incident gains more attention, other foreign brands such as #Nike and #Adidas becoming the target of a boycott by Chinese netizens. At the same time, a number of Chinese and Hong Kong celebrities have cut ties with these international brands, terminating their endorsement partnerships and expressing their loyalty to Xinjiang cotton on #Weibo.

Behind this “Xinjiang Cotton Incident”, there involves a major human rights issue in Xinjiang. In recent years, there have been numerous reports and studies revealing the CCP's massive detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, requiring them to undergo “re-education”.

There have been reports of torture, sexual abuse, and forced labor of many Uyghurs. It is believed that the "Xinjiang cotton" is the product of the forced labor of the Uyghurs.

The issue of human rights in Xinjiang has become a serious international issue at the moment, involving diplomatic wrangling between China and the West.

Source: Stand News #March25

https://www.thestandnews.com/international/%E6%96%B0%E7%96%86%E6%A3%89%E8%8A%B1%E8%83%8C%E5%BE%8C-%E8%A2%AB%E6%8B%98%E7%95%99-%E8%99%90%E5%BE%85-%E5%BC%B7%E8%BF%AB%E5%8B%9E%E5%8B%95%E7%B6%AD%E5%90%BE%E7%88%BE%E6%97%8F%E4%BA%BA/

#Uyghurs #HM #HumanRights #ForcedLabor #ConcentrationCamps #CCPRules

#HumanitarianCrisis
Former Turkish PM joins Netizens in Condemning China for Suppressing the #Ugyhurs

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between #Turkey and the #PRC, the #ChineseEmbassy in Turkey co-organised a drawing competition with the Ministry of National Education, Turkey for Turkish youth, titled “China in My Dreams.”

Taking note of the event, many netizens uploaded pictures of Uyghur genocide with the hashtag #hayalimdekiçin (“China in My Dreams”), among which even include former Prime Minister #AhmetDavutoğlu.

These works include blue-shirted men sitting under the iron curtains of #Xinjiang concentration camps; a #Uyghur little girl silenced by men covered in a Five-starred red flag and a bloodied East Turkestan flag; a lonely boy crying on #EidMubarak as his family was locked up in the #Gulags.

Long-time friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and former Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, also uploaded a picture on Twitter.

He writes, “The Education Ministry is organising a painting competition titled “China in My Dreams” for our kids. Our dream is East Turkistan. Dear children, picture the dream of saving our brothers and sisters in our fatherland from oppression and send that to this competition. Speak up to those who doesn’t wish to hear!”

#UyghurGenocide
#hayalimdekiçin

Source: RFA #May7

https://www.facebook.com/cantonese.rfa/photos/a.454006908007166/5435573129850494/

#HumanitarianCrisis #Genocide
#AmnestyInternational: #China has "created a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale" in #Xinjiang

//“The Chinese authorities have created a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities face crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations that threaten to erase their religious and cultural identities."

“It should shock the conscience of humanity that massive numbers of people have been subjected to brainwashing, torture and other degrading treatment in internment camps, while millions more live in fear amid a vast surveillance apparatus.”

From the moment they entered the prison-like internment camps, detainees’ lives were extraordinarily regimented. They had no privacy or autonomy, and they faced harsh punishments – sometimes collectively with their cellmates – for trivial disobedience. Internees were forbidden to speak freely to each other, and they were severely punished when they responded to prison guards or other officials in their native tongues instead of Mandarin. Every activity in the detainees’ daily routine was pre-ordained and their behaviour was constantly monitored and evaluated....

Every former detainee Amnesty International interviewed suffered torture or other ill-treatment.

This included the cumulative psychological effect of their daily dehumanization, as well as physical torture in the form of beatings, electric shocks, solitary confinement, deprivation of food, water and sleep, exposure to extreme cold, and the abusive use of restraints, including torture tools like tiger chairs. Some reported being restrained in a tiger chair for 24 hours or more...

The Chinese government has gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up its violations of international human rights law in Xinjiang. Authorities threaten, detain and mistreat anyone who speaks out...//

Read full article:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/06/china-draconian-repression-of-muslims-in-xinjiang-amounts-to-crimes-against-humanity/

Source: Amnesty International #Jun10

Image by Molly Crabapple

#Uyghurs #ConcentrationCamp #CCP #AgainstHumanity #Torture #Rape #MassSurveillance

#Uyghurs
France probes fashion retailers for concealing 'crimes against humanity' in #Xinjiang

//French prosecutors have opened an investigation into four fashion retailers suspected of concealing "crimes against humanity" in China's Xinjiang region, a judicial source said on Thursday.

The procedure is linked to accusations against China over its treatment of minority Muslim Uyghurs in the region, including the use of forced labour, the source said.

The source told Reuters #Uniqlo France, a unit of Japan's Fast Retailing (9983.T), #Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), France's #SMCP (SMCP.PA) and #Skechers (SKX.N) were the subject of the investigation, confirming a report by French media website Mediapart.//

Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/france-investigate-fashion-retailers-concealing-crimes-against-humanity-xinjiang-2021-07-01/

Source: Reuters #Jul2

#XinjiangCotton #ConcentrationCamp #HumanitarianCrisis #Genocide

#Genocide
'Some are just #psychopaths': Chinese detective in exile reveals extent of torture against #Uyghurs

//The ex-detective turned #whistleblower asked to be identified only as Jiang, to protect his family members who remain in China.

In a three-hour interview with CNN, conducted in Europe where he is now in exile, Jiang revealed rare details on what he described as a systematic campaign of torture against ethnic Uyghurs in the region's detention camp system, claims China has denied for years.

"Kick them, beat them (until they're) bruised and swollen," Jiang said, recalling how he and his colleagues used to interrogate detainees in police detention centers. "Until they kneel on the floor crying."

The methods included shackling people to a metal or wooden "tiger chair" -- chairs designed to immobilize suspects -- hanging people from the ceiling, sexual violence, electrocutions, and waterboarding. Inmates were often forced to stay awake for days, and denied food and water, he said.

"Everyone uses different methods. Some even use a wrecking bar, or iron chains with locks," Jiang said. "Police would step on the suspect's face and tell him to confess."

The suspects were accused of terror offenses, said Jiang, but he believes that "none" of the hundreds of prisoners he was involved in arresting had committed a crime. "They are ordinary people," he said.//

//...During the routine overnight operations, Jiang said they would be given lists of names of people to round up, as part of orders to meet official quotas on the numbers of Uyghurs to detain.

"It's all planned, and it has a system," Jiang said. "Everyone needs to hit a target."

If anyone resisted arrest, the police officers would "hold the gun against his head and say do not move. If you move, you will be killed."

He said teams of police officers would also search people's houses and download the data from their computers and phones.

Another tactic was to use the area's neighborhood committee to call the local population together for a meeting with the village chief, before detaining them en masse.

Describing the time as a "combat period," Jiang said officials treated Xinjiang like a war zone, and police officers were told that Uyghurs were enemies of the state.

He said it was common knowledge among police officers that 900,000 Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities were detained in the region in a single year.

Jiang said if he had resisted the process, he would have been arrested, too.

Inside the police detention centers, the main goal was to extract a confession from detainees, with sexual torture being one of the tactics, Jiang said.

"If you want people to confess, you use the electric baton with two sharp tips on top," Jiang said. "We would tie two electrical wires on the tips and set the wires on their genitals while the person is tied up."

He admitted he often had to play "bad cop" during interrogations but said he avoided the worst of the violence, unlike some of his colleagues.

"Some people see this as a job, some are just psychopaths," he said.

One "very common measure" of torture and dehumanization was for guards to order prisoners to rape and abuse the new male inmates, Jiang said.//

Read the full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/04/china/xinjiang-detective-torture-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Source: CNN #Oct4

#Torture #Rape #GangRape #HumanitarianCrisis #Chinazi #ConcentrationCamp #Xinjiang
#Astrocity

#HumanTrafficking #HumanitarianCrisis
2 Chinese men arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 2 Ukraine babies

On March 14, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported that border guards at the Porubne Border Crossing Point in Chernivtsi Oblast had foiled an attempt by foreigners to take babies out of Ukraine.

According to the border guard, two Chinese citizens tried to walk across the border into Romania while carrying two infants.

When questioned by border guards, the two Chinese men were not able to provide an explanation about where the children came from. 

After conducting an investigation, the State Border Guard Service found that "shortly before this (incident), both Chinese had arrived in the territory of our country without children."

Traffickers are targeting parentless children on the Ukraine-Poland border, says a group evacuating orphanages in the war zone. They say thousands are unaccounted for and fear some may already have fallen prey to people traffickers.

Source: RFA; #Mar15
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/ukr-baby-03152022104238.html/ampRFA

#OpinionArticle
Can China be trusted? As the Russia-Ukraine war shows, #Beijing often says one thing and does another

//The war in Ukraine helps to explain this paradox. Less than two months before Russia’s invasion, Chinese President #XiJinping told Ukraine President #VolodymyrZelensky that he attached “high importance to developing the Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership.” But only weeks later, Xi and his Russian counterpart, #VladimirPutin, declared that their countries’ budding alliance had “no limits.” 

...There is debate regarding the extent to which Xi and other Chinese officials had advance knowledge of the invasion. If they did, that makes them complicit in aggressive war and ongoing Russian war crimes in Ukraine. It would also mean that claims of ignorance by Chinese officials are not to be trusted.

And if they didn’t have knowledge of the invasion, the Russians didn’t trust them enough to give forewarning. Either way, there’s distrust of China.

...According to reports, Russia has requested that China provide it with weapons to bolster the assault on Ukraine. It is unclear whether China will fulfil that request. Chinese writing on bomb fragments in destroyed Ukrainian hospitals and schools – favourite targetsof the Russians – would not be good for China’s reputation.//

Read the full article
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/03/23/can-china-be-trusted-as-the-russia-ukraine-war-shows-beijing-often-says-one-thing-and-does-another/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Mar23

#RussianInvasion #WarCrime #HumanitarianCrisis

Voices of April: Video Protesting Shanghai Lockdown Goes Viral in China, Despite Chinese Censors

On April 22, A 6-minute protest video about Shanghai's locked-down residents went viral on Chinese social media.

The video featured audio snippets from various videos recorded in #Shanghai throughout April, when the city was plunged into a month-long #COVID lockdown since late March. The recordings, played over black-and-white drone footage of the city, documented the residents' ordeal over the past month: food and supply shortages, quarantine separating parents from their children, pets being beaten to death, hospitals turning away patients, makeshift hospitals missing essential supplies and even lacking a roof, and so on.

China's government censors moved quickly to block the video, but netizens continued to tenaciously spread the video on social media and instant messaging platforms in China.

Netizens have added English translations and reposted the video on Youtube. Watch here: (turn on English captions)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWW6r2iOwzU

For a more detailed recap of the video, see also:
The Voices of April – The Short Online Life of a Shanghai Protest Video
https://www.whatsonweibo.com/the-voices-of-april-the-short-online-life-of-a-shanghai-protest-video/

The video ends with a simple message for the city's suffering residents: "Shanghai, get well soon."

#HumanitarianCrisis #ShanghaiLockdown #PoliceState #WuhanPneumonia

Source:
Zoanhae Vision 上海眼界 Youtube channel, What's On Weibo

#ShanghaiLockdown
Shanghai Violinist Leaped to his Death after COVID Restrictions Denied him Medical Assistance

71-year-old amateur violinist Chen Shunping, who lived in #Shanghai, had taken his own life after being denied medical help for his suspected pancreatitis during the city's month-long lockdown. He was a member of the Shanghai Pops Orchestra.

Three #COVID19 deaths had been recorded [Ed: as of April 18] since Shanghai's lockdown began in late March, all of whom were seniors with chronic illnesses.

However, reports often surfaced on Chinese social media surrounding deaths of patients not being able to get medical treatment.

According to chat messages from Chen's family, he began to feel unwell in the evening of April 13, with stomach pains and vomiting; from experience, he suspected it was pancreatitis.

His family called an ambulance, who took Chen to two separate hospitals, but both turned him away, citing COVID restrictions. Unable to endure the severe pain, Chen left suicide notes for his family before leaping to his death from his apartment.

Chen's wife was stricken with grief as she remembered him as a cheerful and kind man, with a passion for life and music: "This society had taken an ordinary, lively man and pushed him to his death!"

His death also sparked outcry online; netizens commented that he "didn't get COVID, but died because of COVID."

A separate incident of a pregnant Shanghai woman who died from blood loss during a premature birth also circulated on social media. Shanghai police quickly refuted it as "fake news", announcing that the woman successfully gave birth to twins, and that they had arrested the spreader of the rumor.

Netizens were quick to react: "Why don't you refute Chen Shunping's fake news?" "Chen's case still hasn't been refuted, so it must be true."

Source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/3OeDLUx

#HumanitarianCrisis #WuhanPneumonia #ChenShunPing

#ShanghaiLockdown
Shanghai Violinist Leaped to his Death after COVID Restrictions Denied him Medical Assistance

71-year-old amateur violinist Chen Shunping, who lived in #Shanghai, had taken his own life after being denied medical help for his suspected pancreatitis during the city's month-long lockdown. He was a member of the Shanghai Pops Orchestra.

Three #COVID19 deaths had been recorded [Ed: as of April 18] since Shanghai's lockdown began in late March, all of whom were seniors with chronic illnesses.

However, reports often surfaced on Chinese social media surrounding deaths of patients not being able to get medical treatment.

According to chat messages from Chen's family, he began to feel unwell in the evening of April 13, with stomach pains and vomiting; from experience, he suspected it was pancreatitis.

His family called an ambulance, who took Chen to two separate hospitals, but both turned him away, citing COVID restrictions. Unable to endure the severe pain, Chen left suicide notes for his family before leaping to his death from his apartment.

Chen's wife was stricken with grief as she remembered him as a cheerful and kind man, with a passion for life and music: "This society had taken an ordinary, lively man and pushed him to his death!"

His death also sparked outcry online; netizens commented that he "didn't get COVID, but died because of COVID."

A separate incident of a pregnant Shanghai woman who died from blood loss during a premature birth also circulated on social media. Shanghai police quickly refuted it as "fake news", announcing that the woman successfully gave birth to twins, and that they had arrested the spreader of the rumor.

Netizens were quick to react: "Why don't you refute Chen Shunping's fake news?" "Chen's case still hasn't been refuted, so it must be true."

Source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/3OeDLUx

#HumanitarianCrisis #WuhanPneumonia #ChenShunPing