Zoom meeting on the Uyghur campaign

Well attended meeting added useful insights into the campaign

August 2026

Several new topics and concerns emerged from this well attended Zoom meeting including from four Uyghurs living in the West. It is worth reflecting on the wider issues that the repression of minorities in China – of which the Uyghur people are just one – and that is the extent of the barbarity being perpetrated by the Chinese state and the CCP. This is a highly organised and well planned series of actions against an entire community of people which is unparalleled in the modern era. It is being committed by a state which was closely involved in the preparation and signing of the Universal Declaration after the War. China is also on the Security Council of the United Nations a position and status which is entirely undeserved.

The numbers are massive with 1.8 million taken away from their homes to be ‘re-educated’ but a further half million have been sentenced and forced to work in China itself.

We were introduced to the observable fact that there is little press or media interest in the fate of these people. Indeed, one can mention the campaign and the plight of the Uyghurs usually to receive blank looks. Awareness is low. The reasons are not hard to find: it is a long way away and the Chinese have banned almost all journalists from entering the region. So what extra did we learn this evening?

First from a Uyghur woman living in the US whose father is in prison for life for speaking out. He has not been heard from since 2017. She does not know whether he is alive and a request for ‘proof of life’ has not been answered. It is hard to imagine an action so cruel as this.

Another Uyghur who is living in the UK has witnessed the pain in her parent’s lives as they have lost contact with their culture. Contact is banned and contacts from overseas can result in punishment for those receiving them in Xinjiang. She is often asked about Uyghur culture but in fact seldom knows how to reply since all contact is lost. Another spoke of his brother in gaol for his journalism and he believes his conditions have got harsher.

Organ harvesting

The most chilling of the comments however concerns organ harvesting. Visitors might want to read the Hansard debate on this topic ten years ago which discussed this disgusting activity or a more recent UN report. The focus at the time was the Falun Gong but it has spread to Tibetans, Mongolians and now the Uyghur. The harvesting of organs is on a massive scale. According to the allegations received, the most common organs removed from the prisoners are reportedly hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and, less commonly, parts of livers. They are extracted from prisoners often without anaesthetic. The role of a British university in the trade has been recently revealed.

Transnational repression

Other speakers told of Chinese transnational repression. Nobody in the Chinese diaspora is safe from the activities of the Chinese state which expends enormous efforts to silence critics overseas. This is why plans to build the massive embassy in London is so dangerous. Not only will it enhance and facilitate Chinese espionage activities but it will also help in their attempts to intimidate, threaten or coerce those who criticise China. That this embassy is even being considered is extremely unwise.

There was brief mention of the reach of our posts into China with views from over 50 cities and from Hong Kong.

The CCP and its leader Xi Jinping seems almost paranoid. The state has the most extensive video surveillance system in the world. Media and the internet are closely controlled. It is hellbent on extinguishing any non-Chinese culture such as the Uyghurs, having done the same in Tibet and Mongolia. Freedoms in Hong Kong were quickly extinguished.

But we hear little of this in the UK. Politicians are largely mute. The Chinese are sensitive to direct or forthright criticism and so western politicians express their disquiet in private (they claim). But do they? There is next to no media interest or reporting. Issues in which Beijing diverges from the norms of the current system, such as human rights, it seeks to undermine those values and create alternative institutions and models. China works with other authoritarian powers such as Russia to create standards that reflect their interests for example internet governance.

The campaign continues …

Podcast Episode: Xinjiang Forced Labour Campaign

Pip: A local Amnesty group in Salisbury posts about Uyghur rights — and suddenly cities across China are reading. That is either heartening or a sign that someone in Beijing is taking notes.

Mara: This episode covers Salisbury Amnesty’s recent posts on the Uyghur campaign, from the surprising reach of their online presence to the forced labour hidden inside your high street wardrobe. Let’s start with the campaign itself and what those viewing figures actually revealed.

Uyghur Campaign Reaches Across the Firewall

Pip: The Salisbury group ran a daily posting campaign on Uyghur rights — and the audience that showed up was not quite the one anyone expected.

Mara: The campaign newsletter reported figures that stopped people mid-scroll. Here is what it said: “Around 70% were from China and Hong Kong SAR, a figure we have never seen before. Usually, views from China seldom reach double figures.”

Pip: So a small Wiltshire group is somehow punching through one of the most sophisticated censorship systems on earth. That is the real story here — not the post count, but who is reading.

Mara: The breakdown gets more specific. Fifty-six cities across China are represented in the data, with 31 views from Beijing and 15 from Shanghai. The newsletter notes that “views from nine cities in China even exceeded the views of people from Salisbury.”

Pip: Which suggests ordinary people actively routing around the Great Firewall to find this material — not just state monitors checking in.

Mara: Facebook told a different story. The same posts drew only around twenty views each there, with almost no engagement from the eighteen-to-twenty-four age group. The campaign also secured a letter in the Salisbury Journal, which the newsletter describes as a paper that does not usually publish material on topics outside the local area.

Pip: Harder to get into than Beijing, apparently.

Mara: The Uyghur Crisis Response Team acknowledged the group’s posts on Bluesky, which rounds out a campaign the newsletter calls “altogether a satisfactory response.” And the month was not yet over when those figures were filed. That reach into China sets up the harder question — what exactly are people in Xinjiang living under?

Forced Labour in the Clothes on Your Back

Pip: The post titled “Slavery was abolished in 1807 — Not in Xinjiang” opens with a blunt premise: the system did not end, it just became harder to see on a label.

Mara: The post draws on Sheffield Hallam University research, which states that “previous research has provided significant evidence indicating that these programmes are indeed tantamount to forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery and that this system of repression is particularly deployed in the cotton and textile industries.”

Pip: Xinjiang produces around eighty percent of China’s cotton — which is roughly twenty percent of global supply. The brands that pledged to cut ties in 2020 did not necessarily solve anything.

Mara: That is the mechanism the post calls “cotton laundering.” Once raw cotton becomes yarn or fabric and passes through a third country like Bangladesh or Vietnam, its origin becomes nearly impossible to trace. Even the “Better Cotton” label offers no guarantee — the post notes it “can be mixed or blended with what they call conventional cotton very early on in the supply chain.”

Pip: So the ethical label is doing the laundering for them. Efficient.

Mara: The post names M&S specifically, via an RTÉ investigation, as a retailer featured in footage about vague labelling practices. The campaign asks readers to write directly to retailers — a sample letter is included — asking what safeguards they have in place to verify their cotton’s origin.

Mara: The post closes with a line worth sitting with: “The products of this obnoxious and cruel system are sitting on the clothing racks of our major high street retailers and hence in your wardrobes. Truly we are all involved.”

Pip: And that is the thread connecting both posts — the question of who is paying attention, and whether attention is enough.

Pip: A record month of hits from inside China, and forced labour woven into everyday retail. The local and the global keep colliding.

Mara: They do. Next time, we will see where that thread leads.

August 18, 2026 0

Uyghur campaign: letter

Group members publish letter in local paper

August 2026

Two members of the local group have their letter published today (13th) on the Uyghur campaign in the Salisbury Journal:

“DURING August, the local Amnesty group is taking part in the Uyghur Solidarity Month to highlight the dire human rights situation in that part of China.

“The UN Commissioner for Human Rights said there were credible allegations that the Chinese government had carried out arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, family separation and severe restrictions on religious and cultural freedoms on a vast scale. Reading a book in their language is punished and might result in execution.

“Despite these findings, the suffering of the Uyghur people continues while the world looks on. More than a million Uyghurs have been detained and countless families have been torn apart.

“Survivors describe detention camps where torture, rape, forced labour and coercive birth control measures are carried out by the Chinese. Whether one views this issue through the lens of International law, religious freedom human rights or human dignity, the plight of these people deserves continued public attention.

“Further background can be found on the Salisbury Amnesty site www.salisburyai.com

Lesley and Peter Curbishley”

The letter was modelled on one suggested by the campaign team which had to be shortened because of the paper’s word limit.

August 13, 2026 1

Uyghur campaign – day 11

Latest action in relation to the persecution of the Uyghurs

August 2026

Today’s action is a little bit different, as we will focus on issues closer to home rather than exclusively on the rights of the Uyghurs. We are asking you to sign the Amnesty petition to ‘protect the protest’ – something that we feel is ultimately essential to the future of all human rights campaigning.

In some of our recent posts, we have started to include issues concerning the UK with successive attempts by governments to clamp down on unwelcome protests. In the UK, new laws are constraining our ability protest peacefully, which is an attack on our political rights. It risks creating a precedent and mark the beginning of more infringements on our ability to campaign on human rights. The UK is not of course in the same league as China where repression and stifling of rights is on a massive scale.

However, governments are dilatory about climate actions, are determined to assist Israel overtly and covertly in their violence, and are happy to support and allow arms sales to a wide variety of obnoxious regimes with poor human rights records. Voluble protests against these actions are unwelcome.

We want to protect our ability to run campaigns such as this one on the Uyghurs. In the end, protecting our political rights means protecting the future work we will do for human rights globally. The current laws that impact our ability to protest peacefully, which infringes not only on basic human rights to assembly, association, and expression (Articles 10 and 11, Human Rights Act), also creates nearly 7,000 climate protesters were arrested in the UK between 2019 and mid-2025.

Since 2021, the government has proposed four different anti-protest laws in four years. Police have arrested 3,300 people for peaceful protest against the proscription of Palestine Action. The actual prosecution of peaceful protesters in the UK threatens our ability to raise our voices for human rights around the world. It is also an infringement on political rights that limits a human rights response in any instance of further infringement.

For the health of our human rights futures (and therefore, our ability to campaign for others) please sign this petition: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/authoritarianism/protect-the-protest/

Although this is not directly related to the Uyghurs as part of the Uyghur Solidarity Month, we did suggest in our last post on this topic an action to speak to a friend or colleague.

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August 11, 2026 0

Uyghur solidarity month

Salisbury MP’s activity on this topic is poor

August 2026

It is often suggested we write to MPs on matters of concern and this can achieve something but too often it doesn’t. An MP receives a lot of messages from constituents most of which concern local matters. Indeed, it is a criticism of the system that much of their postbag are issues more properly the concern of local councillors. MPs feel obliged to engage in these matters however, because it is clearly the expectation of their constituents that they should.

Salisbury has two MPs, Mr Danny Kruger (Reform) who represents East Wiltshire which runs down to the northern part of the City, and Mr John Glen (Conservative) who represents the City itself and most of south Wiltshire. Their involvement in Chinese human rights issues is slight.

Mr Kruger asked the prime minister (then Sir Keir Starmer) the following question in February:

“The Prime Minister is very full of the abstract virtue of engaging with China and getting in the room with them. He used to say that Britain should not even sign a trade deal with China because of the persecution of the Uyghur people. Having now got into the room with the Chinese leader, can he tell the House a single thing that he achieved on behalf of the Uyghurs, or indeed on behalf of the security of this country?

“[Starmer] Yes. Engaging is really important for the security of this country. Just for clarity, we did not sign a trade deal on the visit; we simply looked at the ways in which we can open the opportunities for businesses. There were 60 big businesses with us on the visit, and they are absolutely clear about the advantages to them. I would much rather take their view on the advantages than the nonsense that is being spouted on the other side of this House”.

A good question receiving a complete non answer. The prime minister talks vaguely about engagement and then on to talk about the trade talks. He does not answer the Uyghur point at all. In the same session, Jim Shannon (DUP) also asks about, inter alia, the Uyghurs:

[…] what steps forward remain in terms of the Chinese treatment of Christians, Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong and other religious minorities? Was the Prime Minister able to use diplomatic soft power to bring about the changes required to provide human rights protection, to stop religious persecution and to enable successful trade between the two nations?

“[Starmer] The hon. Gentleman is right to raise these really important issues. I raised them myself during the course of the visit, and I thank him”.

With what result we do not know. Danny Kruger asked again about the Uyghurs in March and a junior minister simply replied that “[the government] continues to engage with the Chinese on human rights and religious freedom”. The results do not look to be that impressive. At least it can be said that Mr. Kruger has tried to raise the matter.

There is one speech by Mr John Glen which mentions the Uyghurs in part of a long speech much of which was devoted to the treatment of Christians. A mention of Uyghurs is as follows:

“[…] It is not a binary question; it is not that we cannot talk about what is happening with the Uyghur Muslims in China while recognising that China is an important economic actor in the world that needs to be respected. We need to find ways of interacting well together and respecting, as far as we can, what common ground exists. It troubles me sometimes that when we have statements in the House, we revert to a binary: “It’s all good or it’s all the opposite.” The hon. Member for North Northumberland [David Smith, Labour] grasps the right way to approach this”.

The full speech can be accessed on the They Work for You website. It is not clear what ‘common ground’ exists with repression, torture and cultural genocide or where we could find it. On the subject of China generally, Mr Kruger has mentioned it 14 times and Mr Glen on no less than 41 occasions. We can conclude that the issue of persecution of Uyghurs is not high on either MP’s concerns. Both are Christians and seem more concerned about how they are treated rather than Muslims. According to They Work for You, Mr Glen ‘generally votes against laws to promote human rights’ and Mr Kruger ‘consistently votes against equality and human rights’.

Overall, both MPs do not seem to concern themselves with human rights issues. They are concerned about problems experienced by Christians and about political issues to do with China with little recognition of the plight of Uyghurs although Mr. Kruger has tried. We were unable to find anything relevant on their websites.

August 7, 2026 0

Uyghur solidarity – a love story

A love story illustrates the tragedy of the Uyghur people

August 2026

This is a love story which appeared in today’s Guardian (5th August) which highlights the effects on innocent lives arising from the repression and cultural genocide being committed in Xinjiang by the Chinese. The relationship blossomed around a discovered novel entitled Leyighan Bulaq (The Muddy Spring) written by the Uyghur novelist Jalalidin Băhram. It is a book about the brutalities of the Cultural Revolution.

The boy who uncovered the book wanted to share it with a female friend which in a Moslem environment was difficult to do. He smuggled a copy of the book to her. He left to study abroad. She was unable to sit a university entrance exam as she wore a headscarf. She was unable to obtain a passport either which the Chinese are reluctant to permit Uyghurs to have. She eventually made it out and they married in Istanbul. No family members were present. Messages from abroad can result in punishment which meant they could not convey messages to their families back home including the sad death of their 2 year old daughter.

The story illustrates very well the effects on ordinary lives by the campaign of repression. How people cannot leave the area, how messages from abroad can result in punishment. How indignities are heaped on the people for wearing a scarf. Unspoken in the story is the use of CCTV cameras which control lives not just in Xinjiang but throughout China. They make ordinary contact and movement almost impossible.

A message …

“To all Amnesty activists and supporters,

Thank you for standing with the Uyghur people at a time when our language, culture, faith, and very identity are under systematic attack. The recent testimony of former Chinese police officer Zhang Yabo has once again confirmed what Uyghurs have long tried to tell the world: in today’s Uyghur homeland, almost anyone can become a target — writers, poets, musicians, artists, intellectuals, religious figures, and ordinary people simply trying to preserve who they are. Songs are banned, the Uyghur language is criminalised, faith is weaponised against believers, and even memory itself is treated as a threat.

Beyond the camps and prisons, the repression follows Uyghurs across borders through intimidation, surveillance, disinformation, and relentless transnational repression designed to silence us and isolate us from the world. Many Uyghurs are afraid even to speak publicly, fearing consequences for loved ones back home.

That is why your solidarity matters so deeply. Every voice raised, every campaign organised, every act of compassion tells Uyghurs that we have not been abandoned or forgotten. In the face of fear and erasure, solidarity becomes a form of protection, dignity, and hope.

Please continue to stand with us, support the work of Stop Uyghur Genocide, and help amplify Uyghur voices by following and sharing our work on social media. Your support truly makes a difference.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Rahima Mahmut
Executive Director
Stop Uyghur Genocide”

Responses

We are delighted to report that the response to our earlier posts on the Uyghur Solidarity Month have been good. Our post made top ranking on Startpage’s search engine today. Most pleasing is the number of views from China and Hong Kong which together were second and third in the rankings. Amnesty is banned in China so this is encouraging.

Listen to our podcast!

Podcast Episode: Uyghur Solidarity And Advocacy

Short podcast of our last two posts on this campaign

Pip: August 2026, and a cultural genocide that’s largely dropped out of the news — which is exactly when a local Amnesty group decides to make some noise.

Mara: The Salisbury has been writing about Uyghur Solidarity Month, and that’s the territory we’re covering today — the scale of what’s happening in Xinjiang, and what people in Salisbury can actually do about it.

Pip: Let’s start with the oppression itself, and who’s trying to break through the silence.

Uyghur Solidarity Month: Oppression and the Fight for Awareness

Mara: The framing here is stark: this is described as “the largest campaign of cultural genocide in the modern era,” and Amnesty’s declaration of August as Uyghur Solidarity Month is a direct response to the crisis slipping from public view.

Pip: The post points to one outlet trying to hold that ground — Kashgar Times, founded in April 2025. Here’s how they describe their mission: “At Kashgar Times, our mission is to break through that silence. We aim to bridge the information gap. We provide a platform where Uyghur voices can be heard, and their stories told — free from propaganda.”

Mara: What that means in practice is that independent, on-the-ground reporting from Xinjiang is nearly impossible to obtain. China’s censorship has closed off the region to journalists and foreign observers entirely, so an outlet run by Uyghurs, for a global audience, is filling a gap that mainstream media simply cannot.

Pip: The scale is worth sitting with. Around a million individuals detained. Children separated from parents. Arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, persecution on grounds of religion and ethnicity. And a proposed Chinese embassy in London — potentially the largest in Europe — raising fears about expanded surveillance of dissidents on British soil.

Mara: The second post, “Uyghur solidarity month,” pulls the crisis closer to home in a way that’s hard to dismiss. It includes a draft letter to local newspapers, drawing on findings from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the 2021 Uyghur Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, which concluded the Chinese government had committed genocide.

Pip: And then there’s the wardrobe argument — which is either uncomfortable or very effective, depending on your tolerance for being implicated personally. A quarter of the world’s cotton comes from Xinjiang.

Mara: The post puts it directly: “You will have in your wardrobe, or be wearing, many items made of cotton. It is highly likely that some of them have been made with cotton from this region using virtual slave labour.” The ask is simple — write to your local paper.

Pip: Silence, as the post notes, makes it easier to ignore. And writing a letter is not nothing.

Mara: A genocide that’s fallen out of the news cycle, and a local group working to put it back — that’s the thread running through everything here.

Pip: More to come through the month, apparently. We’ll be watching.

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August 5, 2026 1

Uyghur solidarity month

Bringing the plight of Uyghurs to a wider audience

August 2026

We noted in our last post on the Uyghurs that their plight had slipped out of the news in the last year or so. With war in Iran and the closure of the Straight of Hormuz, and continuing conflict in the Middle East including Gaza, giving attention to a far off land where contact with its people is almost impossible is not altogether surprising.

But we need to do our best to bring people’s attention to what is going on there. We should always remember desperate governments do desperate things. The UK is up against it politically and economically. This leads it to pursue arrangements with overseas powers with highly dubious human rights records such as Saudi and UAE, to promote arms sales with almost any country while claiming to have a ‘robust policy’ not to, supporting Israel overtly and covertly despite its destruction of Gaza and mounting violence in the West Bank. Economic needs trump concerns about human rights. Jobs in the UK count for more than rights half way across the world.

Write a letter

We are asking that people write to their local newspaper to highlight the dreadful way the Chinese are treating these people. The campaign organisers have provided a sample letter which unfortunately exceeds the word limit of local papers. We have amended the letter which could be the basis of your own contribution:

I want to draw the attention to people in Salisbury of the dire human rights situation facing the Uyghur people in Xinxiang province, China.

the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded there were credible allegations that the Chinese government had carried out arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, family separation, and severe restrictions on religious and cultural freedoms on a vast scale on the Uyghur people. They stated that these violations may constitute crimes against humanity. In 2021, the independent Uyghur Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC in London, concluded that the Chinese government had committed genocide against the Uyghurs through measures intended to prevent births, and had also committed crimes against humanity.

Despite these findings, the suffering of the Uyghur people continues while the world looks away. More than a million Uyghurs are reported to have been detained, and countless families have been torn apart. Survivors have described detention camps, torture, rape, forced labour, coercive birth-control measures, and the removal of children from their families. Behind every statistic are innocent individuals whose lives have been destroyed for ever.

This month, Amnesty International’s Uyghur Solidarity Month is trying to raise awareness of the continuing crisis but also to celebrate the rich culture, language, and heritage now under such severe threat.

Whether one views this issue through the lens of international law, freedom of religion, cultural preservation, or basic human dignity, the plight of the Uyghur people deserves continued public attention and informed discussion. Uyghur Solidarity Month reminds us that protecting a people’s culture is inseparable from protecting their human rights.

Public awareness alone will not end this crisis, but silence only makes it easier to ignore. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the voices of the Uyghur people continue to be heard.

[NAME]

Provide name and address.

You might be tempted to think that what has this to do with me? It’s sad that a people are being persecuted in a far off land but there are so many other problems nearer to hand, why there? But you are involved. You will have in your wardrobe, or be wearing, many items made of cotton. It is highly likely that some of them have been made with cotton from this region using virtual slave labour – the Uyghurs. A quarter of cotton comes from there. You may have bought these garments from a well known and reputable store in the high street or online. Despite their fine words and protestations about the integrity of their supply chains, they still use this cotton. So you are wearing the evidence. You are involved.

Please write.

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August 4, 2026 0

Uyghur Solidarity Month: A Call to Action

Oppression of the Uyghurs continues

August 2026

The oppression and cultural genocide of the Uyghurs continues and has largely dropped out of the news. Such news as there is concerns the desire for China to establish the largest embassy in London and possibly Europe which is still being considered. The fears, the very real fears, is that it will become an espionage hub and also enable the Chinese Communist Party to expand its intimidation of Chines ‘dissidents’ i.e. anyone who disagrees with the CCP. It will be an interesting test of the government’s wil to see if it agrees with this proposal.

Amnesty has declared this month to be Uyghur Solidarity Month and you can sign up using this link. The treatment of Uyghurs and Kazakhs is deplorable and consists of arbitrary detention, torture, forced cultural intimidation and persecution based on religion and ethnicity. Children are separated from their parents. Around 1 million individuals are involved. There is evidence of forced labour that Uyghurs are used to pick cotton which finds its way into clothes sold in high street stores in the UK. No journalists or foreign observers are allowed into the region.

It represents the largest campaign of cultural genocide in the modern era.

One beacon of light is the Kashgar Times which tries to bring news from the area. We include an extract from them below.

“Kashgar Times is an independent news media outlet dedicated to reporting on the Uyghur people and the injustices they face under the oppressive regime of the People’s Republic of China. Kashgar Times was founded on April 30, 2025, by prominent Uyghur advocate Arslan Hidayat and seasoned journalist Nuriman Abdureshid. The outlet aims to serve as a vital source of accurate, on-the-ground news from East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

“The Uyghur people have long suffered under systemic oppression. They face cultural erasure and widespread human rights violations—amounting to genocide—by the Chinese government. Yet, despite the urgency of these issues, getting unfiltered news from this region is increasingly difficult. China’s strict censorship and crackdown on free journalism have silenced many voices.

“At Kashgar Times, our mission is to break through that silence. We aim to bridge the information gap. We provide a platform where Uyghur voices can be heard, and their stories told—free from propaganda.

“Kashgar Times fills an urgent gap in today’s media landscape. Our founders bring with them a wealth of experience and passion. Arslan has tirelessly advocated for Uyghur rights on international platforms. Nuriman has sharpened her journalistic skills while reporting for the Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia. Together, they embody the spirit of resilience and commitment that Kashgar Times stands for.

“At Kashgar Times, we are dedicated to upholding the highest journalistic standards. We aim to present stories that highlight the struggles and triumphs of the Uyghur community, offering insights that are often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream narratives and especially on Chinese state-run media. By sharing first hand accounts, investigative reports, and expert analyses, we hope to shed light on the reality of life in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan, pushing back against the extensive campaign of disinformation funded by the Chinese Communist Party.

“As a Uyghur-run media outlet, we are committed to reporting on Uyghurs, by Uyghurs, for a global audience. We believe in the power of storytelling to awaken empathy and understanding—allowing the world to grasp the gravity of the situation faced by the Uyghur people.

“We invite you to support our mission by subscribing to Kashgar Times. Your contributions will enable us to continue our crucial work and help us expand our reach and resources. Together, we can create a robust platform that not only informs readers but also amplifies the voices of those fighting for justice and preservation of our people.

“For U.S. Donors Zelle to “kashgartimes.news@gmail.com” (if you don’t use Zelle then donate via DonorBox)”

We hope to bring further posts through the month.

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AI used to create title. No AI used otherwise.

August 3, 2026 0

China successfully threatens university

China forces a British university to stop Uyghur research

November 2025

UPDATE 4 November. Police reported to be investigating to see if the University was assisting a foreign power.

There is considerable evidence that around one million Uyghurs in China are subject to forced labour and people trafficking on a massive scale. It is thought that around one fifth of all textiles are now the product of coercive practices. Garment firms show little inclination to check sources beyond what is called the ‘first tier’ even though they could do so easily. Australian research shows that approximately 100 major consumer brands are sourcing their materials from this region. There are some 380 camps surrounded by razor wire and armed guards. The treatment of such large numbers of people in ways almost amounting to slavery is a matter of major concern. The complicity of many Western garment firms in these crimes is a disgrace.

One of the centres producing the research is based in Sheffield Hallam under prof. Laura Murphy. She has produced many reports and her work has been widely cited. The University congratulated her on this work and her research. Until that is the Chinese complained when everything changed. Her website was taken down and it decided not to publish her latest research. It amounted to a flagrant example of a breach of academic freedom. University staff based in China received threatening visits from security services.

The university said they stopped publication because they could not gain the indemnity insurance for her work mindful of possible lawsuits. Documents released under freedom of information laws showed that the University ‘had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade [her] academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market‘. The point being that universities are so cash-strapped these days they have to recruit foreign students to balance their books. In other words, we (China) will not allow our students to come to your University unless you stop publishing material about the Uyghurs. China denies all claims but will not allow foreign observers into the region.

Clearly embarrassed the University has apologised and restored her work.

The story reveals how easy it is for China to intimidate those it dislikes or who comment negatively on their various activities. It also reveals how quickly and tamely a British University agreed to censor an academic’s work. Troubling is that this is an example of something which has come to light. Which other universities are quietly agreeing not to rock the boat and not even allow researches to get underway for fear of losing a contingent of Chinese students? The last two weeks have seen the government tie itself in knots over two alleged Chinese spies and whether or not to prosecute them. China’s increasing power is more and more troubling. Meanwhile, a million or so Uyghurs are virtual slaves.

Detailed work produced by Prof Murphy can be accessed here. It will be interesting to see if China’s heavy-handed efforts to threaten a British University will backfire.

Sources: BBC, China Star, Guardian, Sheffield Hallam University.

Photo: satellite picture of one of the Uyghur camps.

November 3, 2025 1

Tag: Uyghurs