Several international human rights groups held a video rally on April 7 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the arrest and sentencing of Xinjiang Uighur entrepreneur and philanthropist Aikbayr Aiseti upon his return from an invitation to the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), and to demand that the Chinese Communist authorities immediately release him and end the massive human rights persecution of minority Muslims in Xinjiang.
Commemorating Five Years of Ekbar’s Imprisonment
The Harvard Law School Human Rights Advocates, the Harvard Human Rights Task Force, the American Foundation for Human Rights, the Jewish Campaign for Uyghur Freedom, and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights in Canada, among other groups, launched a video rally on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the illegal detention of Aqeel Ekbar. More than 100 people participated in the online event at noon.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware and a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, delivered a video message in which he said he will continue to work with the U.S. executive branch and pressure China to immediately release Ekbar Aiseti, who was arrested and sentenced after returning from a 2016 trip to the U.S. to participate in a State Department international exchange program, and hopes to hold an event to celebrate his freedom next year at this time.
In a pre-recorded video, Chris Coons said, “While the United States should compete with the Chinese Communist Party and cooperate where it serves our interests, we must at the same time insist that the Chinese Communist Party respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its own people. That’s why I convened the Human Rights Caucus at a time when Uighurs are in dire straits to co-sponsor a bill to impose sanctions on human rights violators in Xinjiang, and to write and introduce a resolution condemning the CCP’s mistreatment of Uighurs and calling for an independent investigation. I have insisted in my conversations with foreign partners that Aiqbayr be released and that U.S. officials turn up the volume, and I will continue to push for these initiatives. I hope that this time next year we can host an event that we can attend in person to celebrate with the Aiseti family and Aikbayr himself as he regains his freedom.”
Speaking at the rally, Sophia Richardson, director of the Communist Party of China division of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, said that Aikbayr, as a brilliant young entrepreneur and philanthropist in Xinjiang, provided relief for the children of Xinjiang and their education. His unfortunate ordeal reflects, in a more personal way, the massive persecution of Uighur and other minority Muslims’ human rights currently taking place in Xinjiang, showing that the Chinese Communist authorities fear those Uighur elites in Xinjiang who have their own views and are willing to serve their communities. She also said that Human Rights Watch and other human rights activists are committed to calling on the international community to make China pay for its human rights persecution in Xinjiang and to working for the release of Aiqbayr and other imprisoned Uyghurs.
In addition, Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice and founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, Thor Halvorssen, founder of the Human Rights Foundation of the United States, Venezuelan producer and human rights advocate, Greg Niemeyer of the University of California, Berkeley, and Ekibail’s sister, Washington D.C.-based international litigator Raihan Esseti, spoke out against the Chinese Communist authorities’ human rights persecution in Xinjiang and called for Aiqbayr’s immediate release.
U.S. Politicians Express Concern
Raihan Aiseti, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 2016, tearfully recounted her family’s five years of misfortune at the rally.
She said, “On April 7, 2016, my life and the lives of my family were turned upside down. That day was the beginning of a nightmare that I have suffered every day for the past 5 years. I wish I could erase this day that he was taken from my life and my memories. I wish I could erase the 3 years he was held in a concentration camp and ‘re-educated’ on charges of being a Uyghur only, and I could erase his subsequent sentencing without a trial and without any evidence. Today, we celebrate his life, highlight the injustice he suffered, and renew our vow to save him from the torture he suffered.”
Raihan Esseti also described his brother’s life and how she herself emerged from the fear of his arrest and the silence that she regretted for not coming forward earlier, challenging the persecution of her brother by the Communist authorities and courageously fighting for his freedom.
In addition, Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Rubio, a Republican, both tweeted their concerns about Ekibar’s unjust imprisonment and inhumane treatment and urged the Chinese Communist authorities to release him immediately. Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesperson Price, the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs all tweeted, demanding that the Chinese Communist authorities immediately release Aikbayr and stop the genocide in Xinjiang.
Raihan’s brother, Aikbayr Aiseti, was invited to the United States in February 2016 to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), organized by the U.S. Department of State. In early 2020, seven U.S. senators sent a letter to Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai before learning that he had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting inter-ethnic hatred. The incident drew close attention from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Congress, international organizations, as well as Harvard alumni and many people involved in State Department programs around the world.
What puzzles Raihan Aiseti is that her family is considered a “model Uighur citizen” by the Chinese government, her parents are members of the Chinese Communist Party, and her brother has been repeatedly described in the official media as an entrepreneur who acts as a bridge between the Han and Uighur communities. Aikbayr Ayseti is the founder of Bagdax, a well-known social media app in Xinjiang, and regularly organizes various local charity events to benefit the elderly, young children and the disabled. Raihan has been campaigning for several years for his brother’s fate, demanding his immediate release from authorities.
Alma Mater Harvard Helps
More than 70 clubs at Harvard University, Rai Khan’s alma mater, issued a joint statement on January 1 calling on the Chinese Communist authorities to immediately release Ekbar Esseti. The statement, led by the Harvard Law School Human Rights Defenders and signed by 75 clubs from Harvard Law School and other schools, said that as Harvard alumni, they support Harvard Law School graduate Raihan Aiseti in her struggle for freedom for her brother, Ekbar Aiseti, and for justice for the Uighur people.
The statement called on Harvard students to join a broad call for the U.S. government and the international community to demand that the Chinese Communist government end its long history of systematic oppression of the Uyghur minority and hold it accountable for continued mass atrocities.
The statement said that Aikbayr Aiseti is just one of millions of Uyghurs who have suffered systematic government human rights persecution in Xinjiang. According to the U.S. State Department and independent human rights organizations, Uighurs held in concentration camps are systematically politically brainwashed and subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse, including forced birth control, torture, forced labor and prolonged detention without judicial process.
The statement added that there is a growing international consensus that the Chinese government’s persecution of Uighurs has reached the level of genocide as defined by the United Nations, and that other products such as masks and clothing made by forced Uighur labor continue to “defile” the global supply chain.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has imposed an iron fist on Xinjiang, cracking down on what the authorities call “separatists,” conducting comprehensive electronic surveillance including facial recognition technology, and setting up checkpoints throughout the region.
U.S. Sanctions Human Rights Abusers
U.N. experts, human rights groups and activists have accused the Communist Party of holding at least 1 million Uighurs and other minority Muslims in “re-education camps” for brainwashing propaganda. Chinese authorities initially denied the existence of the camps, but later argued that they were “vocational training centers” designed to eliminate local extremist tendencies and to learn language and vocational skills.
However, many reports indicate that former “re-education camp” detainees have confirmed that they were subjected to political brainwashing and psychological torture, including being forced to renounce their Muslim faith and swear allegiance to the CCP and Xi Jinping. A large number of overseas members of the Xinjiang minority also reported that their family members or friends in Xinjiang were forcibly detained, or that many had disappeared and their whereabouts were unknown.
The CCP has faced increasing international condemnation for its harsh treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
On June 17 of last year, the Trump administration officially signed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, which allows the U.S. executive branch to impose sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials who persecute Uighurs. According to the bill, the U.S. president is required to publish a list of Chinese Communist Party officials who have been inhumanely treating or imprisoning Uighurs for long periods of time and to impose sanctions on them within 180 days of the bill’s effective date and annually in the future. The Secretary of State would also be required to submit future reports to Congress detailing human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Sanctions available to the United States include freezing the assets of targeted individuals in the United States, denying them entry into the United States, and denying or revoking their visas. The bill also calls on the President to condemn the CCP’s crackdown on Uighurs and calls on the CCP to close all re-education camps in Xinjiang.
The CCP’s Foreign Ministry responded on June 18 that the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act deliberately denigrates the human rights situation in Xinjiang, viciously attacks China’s policy of governing the border, and crudely interferes in China’s internal affairs.
Subsequently, on July 9, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four current or former government officials in Xinjiang for “serious violations of the rights and interests of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. The sanctioned officials include Chen Guanguo, Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; Zhu Hailun, former Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee; Wang Mingshan, Vice Chairman of the Xinjiang government and Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Public Security Department; and Huo Liujun, former Secretary of the Party Committee of the Public Security Department. The Xinjiang Regional Public Security Bureau is also on the sanctions list.
The Center for Global Policy, a U.S. think tank, released a report on Dec. 14 last year revealing that at least 570,000 ethnic minorities have been forced into inefficient, high-intensity hand-picking of cotton as a result of the Xinjiang government’s forced labor transfer and poverty eradication programs. The Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately denied the allegations.
Major fashion brands such as Nike, Adidas and Gap have come under fire from human rights groups for using cotton from Xinjiang. The Xinjiang region produces more than 20 percent of the world’s cotton and is a major producer in the global textile supply chain.
On January 13, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued another announcement that it would detain cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang at all U.S. ports of entry. This “hold order” applies to raw fiber, apparel, and textiles made from cotton grown in Xinjiang, as well as canned tomatoes, sauces, dumplings, and other tomato products from Xinjiang, even if the goods are processed or manufactured in a third country. DHS officials said the “hold order” sends a signal to importers that the Department of Homeland Security will not tolerate any form of “forced labor” and that companies should remove Xinjiang products from their supply chains.
Major Powers Unanimously Condemn
The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Jan. 19 formally finding the Chinese government guilty of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang.
At the same time, the Canadian Parliament passed a proposal to charge the Chinese government with genocide in Xinjiang, making it the first legislature in the world to make such a determination. Despite heavy criticism from the Chinese government, the latest polls show that a majority of Canadians approve of the parliamentary approach and believe a tougher policy toward China is warranted. The Dutch parliament, a member of the European Union, has also passed a similar proposal.
The U.S. House of Representatives reintroduced a bill in February that would ban imports of products produced by forced labor from the Communist Party’s Xinjiang region and impose further sanctions on Chinese officials who violate the human rights of Muslims.
The State Department said March 9 that Secretary of State Blinken agreed with the Trump administration’s determination that the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang constitutes genocide and crimes against humanity.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a regular State Department press conference that the Biden administration supports the Trump administration’s last-minute decision before the end of his term that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang.
Blinken also said on March 10 that he and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan would raise issues of U.S. concern, including human rights in Xinjiang, when they meet in Alaska with Yang Jiechi, director of the Communist Party’s Foreign Affairs Office, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and that the United States values concrete actions and substantive results from the Chinese Communist Party in addressing these issues, which are also relevant to subsequent engagement between the two countries.
On the same day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also issued a statement saying that the Chinese government’s forced sterilization of Uighur women in Xinjiang and the mass detention of Uighur Muslims and other Muslims in Xinjiang were “proven. The French foreign minister told the French Senate that “the forced sterilization of women, the rape of women in concentration camps, disappearances, mass detentions, forced labor, the destruction of cultural heritage, most notably the destruction of mosques, and the surveillance of people, have all been proven.
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