So-called “Uygur Tribunal” a serious provocation to 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang

By Shang Kaiyuan, People’s Daily

“The so-called ‘Uygur Tribunal’ is not a judicial organ or procedure as we understand the terms to mean,” said Elijan Anayat, spokesperson of the people’s government of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region at a press conference on Xinjiang related issues held in Beijing on May 25.

It is reported that the so-called “Uygur Tribunal”, jointly set up by the U.S. and Western anti-China forces in collusion with the “World Uygur Congress” and other “East Turkistan” organizations, would hold a “public hearing” soon on the so-called genocide allegations in Xinjiang, which is totally non-existent, trying to force the label of “genocide” on Xinjiang.

The so-called trials to be held by such pseudo court are a clumsy trick to fool the public opinion under the disguise of laws, as well as slander Xinjiang and interfere with China’s domestic affairs, the spokesperson said, adding that they are totally illegal and ridiculous.

At the press conference, deputies from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region revealed, with massive hard evidence, the true colors of the pseudo court, and laid bare the evil intentions of the U.S. and Western anti-China forces.

Elijan Anayat stressed that strict legal foundation is needed for establishment of legal international juridical institutions. According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, International Law, International Customary Law and other related cases, the Crime of Genocide, being the most serious international crime, requires authoritative and strict legal procedure before declared. The Convention stipulates that “Persons charged with genocide shall be tried by a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.” Genocide cases have been tried in courts of a few countries where the acts were committed. Other than that, no country, organization or individual has the authority or power to wantonly designate that a certain country is guilty of genocide.

Any so-called “verdict” or “ruling” of the “tribunal” is nothing more than a piece of waste paper, said Xu Guixiang, another spokesperson of the people’s government of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. It is simply absurd to see an illegal tribunal holding a “hearing” on a lie of the century, he added.

“This is a serious trampling of international law, a grave desecration of the real ‘genocide’ victims, and a serious provocation to the 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Thus we strongly condemn and despise such behavior,” he told the press conference.

All the so-called “Uygur Tribunal” has done is conducting “presumption of guilty” and then fake evidences, Xu pointed out, saying what they really care about is to find means to slander and split Xinjiang regardless of the truth or people in Xinjiang. The so-called “witnesses” who keep up the show are just “actors,” he said.

Dolqun Isa, head of “World Uygur Congress,” has been spreading Xinjiang related lies in the international community for a long time. In recent years, he “suddenly changed his identity” to be a “victim of a concentration camp,” falsely claiming that his “family members had been imprisoned” and “mother died in a reeducation center.”

As a matter of fact, Dolqun Isa is a terrorist who established a terrorist organization in 1993 and slaughtered innocent masses. He has never returned to China after he crossed the border and joined the “East Turkistan” in May 1994. His mother Ahyihan Maimaiti passed away in 2018 despite the emergency rescue efforts by the People’s Hospital of Aksu. She was taken good care of by her relatives as she breathed her last, and the doctors also insisted to exercise rescue.

A woman named Tursunay Ziyawudun claimed February this year in a BBC report that she was forced to accept irreversible birth control operation. However, it was just a lie she made to acquire political asylum. In the BBC report, she said she was put on the ground and kicked on the stomach by policemen in an educational and training center, but she indicated in an interview by Buzzfeed a year ago that she had “suffered no beat or abuse.” She claimed that she had been imprisoned from January to June in 2019, but her passport was issued on March 13, 2019. According to stipulations, one must be present in person to apply for a passport. So how could Tursunay Ziyawudun apply for her passport when she was imprisoned. The woman claimed that she was forced to accept sterilization operation, but there has been no medical record that proves it. Her friends and relatives verified that she’s infertile, so why would she be forced to go through sterilization operation?

Fallacies about China’s Xinjiang, fabricated by U.S. and Western anti-China forces to slander Xinjiang’s efforts in counter terrorism and de-radicalization, have been spread around the world for a long time, which say that concentration camps are set up in the autonomous region where people from ethnic minority groups are imprisoned and suppressed.

Such rumors were denounced by teachers and former trainees of vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang at the press conference.

Wuhrigul Asim, a teacher at a vocational education and training center in Hotan, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, told the press conference that these rumors are a great insult and harm to the teachers and trainees.

“The center is a school and its staff are teachers. At vocational education and training centers, all rights and interests of the trainees are respected and protected. We help each other like families,” she said.

“Those purposeful rumor-spreaders never visited these centers and don’t know anything about the real situation. They only spread nonsense all day long. What they do is really, really shameful and abominable,” she added.

Ablikim Dawut was once a student of Wuhrigul Asim who now works at an after-sales service department of a home appliance company and earns over 5,000 yuan ($783) per month. According to him, he and his fellow trainees had six classes per day from each Monday to Friday, on which they learned standard spoken and written Chinese, legal knowledge, vocational skills and de-radicalization. They could join religious activities when going back home on vacations, he said, adding that the life at school was splendid, and free halal food was provided there.

“The teachers took care of us like they were our families. I still remember how I was taken care of by my teacher Wuhrigul Asim when I fell sick. She prepared cakes for me on my birthdays. She cared for me like my mother does, which is unforgettable,” Ablikim Dawut said.

The vocational education and training program is a meaningful exploration in preventive counter-terrorism and de-radicalization. The education and training centers regard vocational skills as an important channel to improve the trainees’ employability, and combine course learning with practical training to improve the trainees’ operational skills. The finished goods they make are not merchandise, and there’s no so-called “forced labor.” Since the end of 2018, more than 1,400 representatives from over 100 countries and regions have visited Xinjiang in more than 90 batches. They have all given high evaluation on the efforts and achievements of the education and training centers.

“The purpose of the ridiculous so-called ‘Uygur Tribunal’ is to describe vocational education and training centers as ‘concentration camps,’ linking education and training in Xinjiang with ‘genocide,’ and finally accusing Xinjiang of ‘genocide.’ But these are all lies,” said Xu, adding that such conspiracy is doomed to fail.