China blackmailing Uyghur refugees living abroad to spy for it, claims report

After subjugating the Uyghur population in its backyard to torture, China is now pressuring Uyghurs living abroad to spy on human rights campaigners, according to a BBC report.

The publication claims that Beijing is using intimidating tactics by threatening families back home to get the foreign-living Uyghurs to do its surveillance job.

“Research suggests this particular kind - controlling access to family members in the home country through video calls, in exchange for compliance overseas - is commonly used by Chinese police,” the report claimed.

Citing the example of an Uyghur refugee named Alim (name changed), it was revealed that authorities in Beijing were using her mother as bait to force him to attend meetings of Uyghur human rights activists, gather intelligence and pass it back to the Chinese state.

"Whenever there was an anti-China protest in London, they would call me and ask who would be attending," Alim was quoted as saying.

He added that Beijing offered him money as well so that he could attempt to befriend the leaders of various campaign groups with UK citizens in them.

The constant, implied threats, that his family might be physically harmed, has left Alim in a vicious cycle where he is forced to do the bidding of CCP.

"They are using my family as hostages," Alim says. "I am living in a dark moment."

Dr David Tobin at the University of Sheffield, who has worked extensively on the issue said all Uyghurs living outside China are victims of transnational repression.

“Family separation is the central tactic” that China uses, said the expert, adding, “Even where phone calls are technically possible, relatives still living in China won't pick up as there is an assumption that calls will be monitored, and a fear that communicating freely will put them at risk."

Even in Turkey, regardedas a safe haven for Uyghurs, the Chinese government is using its might to pressure the refugees. Almost 80 per cent of the 148 respondents reported similar threats from Chinese authorities.

China's treatment of Uyghurs

For a long time, China has been accused by the Western world, especially the US, of undertaking a genocide of the Uyghur Muslim populace in the Xinjiang province. In a report released by the UN last year, China's actions in Xinjiang were dubbed as 'crimes against humanity'.

The report had been in the works for years and was released despite Chinese efforts to delay or block it.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on multiple occasions has made it clear that Islam can only exist in China if it is reformed according to Chinese orientation. The country has admitted that it runs concentration camps, which it dubs 'vocational training camps'.

(With inputs from agencies)

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