Tag: NCA

Uyghurs win important case


World Uyghur Congress wins important Appeal Court case concerning cotton produced in Xinjiang

June 2024

The dreadful treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province in China is well established and around one million of them are kept in 380 internment camps. They are also used as forced labour in the production of cotton and 85% of China’s cotton comes from this region. This cotton finds its way into western markets and is used to produce clothing on sale in UK shops and elsewhere.

The WUC tried to get the National Crime Agency to carry out an investigation which the declined to do saying that they needed details of specific contracts. This was overturned at the Appeal Court in what is being described as a ‘watershed moment‘ ([2024] EWCA Civ 715). The court said the decision by NCA was ‘illegal’. The cotton produced using forced labour infringes the Proceeds of Crime Act. This is the first successful action in the world and is being regarded as a landmark decision. If a company knowingly uses, or which they suspect to be using, forced labour, then a prosecution can be initiated under POCA.

Needless to say the Chinese are angry and the Chinese Embassy said it was ‘an enormous lie by anti-Chinese elements to smear China’. The problem for the Chinese is that it is a closed region and journalists are not allowed in. Footage that has emerged has been shot clandestinely. There seems little doubt however that the scale of the repression, the attempted destruction of the Uyghur culture including banning the language, and the demolition of hundreds of mosques, represents a major crime taking place in the twenty first century. It is variously described as a crime against humanity and genocide.

A lawyer from the Global Legal Action Network said ‘this litigation has been critical in recognising the mass atrocities being committed against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim people by the Chinese government, and holding to account those complicit in, or profiting from, these crimes.’ Producers of clothes using Chinese cotton will now have to take extra care that it does not use forced labour. Major high street names are involved.

Sources: Binman’s, Reuters, The Guardian, Law Society Gazette

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Death penalty report


September 2017

Latest death penalty report available

The latest report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it.  Note that China remains the world’s largest execution but details are a state secret.

Report (Word)

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National Crime Agency breaks law


NCA admits not seeking Ministerial consent before supplying information to the Thai police

In 2014 there two British backpackers, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, were murdered on a beach in Thailand and for days the press was full of the story.  It was reported at the time that the Thai police were extremely slow to react and allowed crucial evidence to be lost and for likely suspects to escape.  It was further alleged that the Thai authorities were reluctant to take the matter sufficiently seriously because of the possible damage to their tourist trade.

Three years later the case has again hit the headlines as it now appears that the National Crime Agency has been accused of supplying information to the Thai Police.  The significance is that two Burmese individuals, Zaw Lin and Wai Pho have been convicted of the murders and are likely to face execution by lethal injection.  The High Court in the UK found against the NCA for providing information which contributed to the likelihood of execution.  The UK government opposes capital punishment and there are strict rules governing the provision of information in these cases.  Ministerial authority is needed and in this case the NCA did not get this.

Doubts have been raised about the convictions as there is evidence of corruption, incompetence and the use of fabricated evidence used to secure a conviction.  The use of torture is also alleged.

A spokesman for Reprieve said:

It is bad enough that the National Crime Agency secretly handed over evidence to help secure death sentences in a country known for unfair trials and torture.  But they now admit they did this illegally, without any proper thought that their actions could contribute to a grave miscarriage of justice with two men now facing execution.  UK cooperation with foreign police and security forces should be open and transparent.  Government agencies shouldn’t have to be dragged through the courts for the public to know what is being done with their money.

Sources: The News; Reprieve; The Guardian; Press Association

If you live in the Salisbury area and are interested in campaigning on human rights issues we would be glad to welcome.  It is free to join the local group.  Keep and eye on this site, on Twitter  or Facebook for events and come along and make yourself known.

 

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