Uyghur News Recap: March 31-April 6, 2022
A summary of Uyghur-related news around the world
In March, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States will restrict visas on Chinese officials linked to "repressive acts" against ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang. In response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said last week that Beijing on U.S. officials over "malicious lies" about China's human rights record. Radio Free Asia reported that the Chinese government in Xinjiang is in the region during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Rights groups say the government directive is yet another method of erasing Uyghur culture in the area. In what one human rights activist calls a "scary reality," the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, the region's police, rate last year, solving 100% of cases, according to a Chinese state media report. The report also lauded the region's high court for concluding the most cases in the same time period. Intezar Elham, 28, the daughter of Uyghur immigrants from Xinjiang, is , Radio Free Asia reported. Elham told RFA that she wanted to serve as a voice for Uyghurs in Australian politics. U.S. Senator Tom Cotton said in a Fox News interview that  on Uyghur genocide and that the company "actually thanked" Chinese government entities in Xinjiang, where "they are systematically trying to exterminate a religious and ethnic minority, putting millions of them in concentration camps." China's People's Liberation Army used military exercises to  alongside troops in simulated battlefield conditions in the desert region of Xinjiang. In a report by Radio Free Asia, two more Uyghurs in Saudi Arabia , which the U.S. and other countries accuse of committing genocide against Uyghurs. VOA reported in January that , Hemdullah Abduweli and Nurmemet Rozi, had faced deportation. Last week, Buhalchem Abula, the former wife of Rozi, and their 13-year-old daughter were detained by Saudi authorities. Family members, rights activists and groups have urged Saudi Arabia not to deport them to China, where they might face severe punishment, including torture. "Deporting these four people — including a child — to China, where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are facing a horrific campaign of mass internment, persecution and torture, would be an outrageous violation of international law." — Lynn Maalouf,  for the Middle East and North Africa