The CCP was quick to assemble what appeared to be a staged news conference in response to testimonials of human rights abuses at the Uyghur Tribunal earlier this month. Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) gathered relatives of ethnic Uyghurs to show off during a press conference that condemned the testimonies of those who appeared during a recent London tribunal. These accounts highlighted how the CCP engaged in acts of torture, sexual assault, and other human rights offenses against the Uyghurs, which the CCP vehemently denies.
According to Al Jazeera, the Uyghur Tribunal that took place in London investigated whether China was guilty of alleged persecution against the Uyghur Muslim minorities in the XUAR. During the tribunal, which was held over four days, nine United Kingdom-based jurors heard the testimonies of several witnesses to China's human rights abuses.
One of the witnesses was Qelbinur Sidik, a teacher in the Urumqi capital of Xinjiang, who was ordered by CCP officials to take Mandarin-language classes in two crowded and unsanitary "re-education" camps for Uyghurs. There, students were required to wear shackles during classes that lasted for hours. Sidik said they were "treated less than dogs" and that CCP officials "enjoyed watching them being humiliated and their suffering was for them their joy."
Sidik added that female prisoners who were taken for interrogation were "not only tortured but also raped, sometimes gang-raped." Sidik, who was subjected to forced sterilization, admitted, "The things that I have witnessed and experienced, I can't forget."
Three Uyghurs who escaped China for Turkey also gave testimony through a video. One of them, a woman named Rozi said that CCP officers forced her to get an abortion at six and a half months of pregnancy. Her youngest son was detained in 2015 when he was 13 years old and is still held captive by the CCP.
But now, China is having none of these allegations. CCP officials set up a staged news conference where relatives of Uyghurs were forced to speak well about their treatment under the communist state leaders. According to Radio Free Asia, the news conference was set up by Xu Guixiang, a deputy spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government.
Xu rejected the testimonies of those present at the London panel, calling it a "pseudo tribunal" with testimonies by paid actors who told lies and fabrications. Back in April, he accused witnesses who spoke out against the XUAR's detention camp system as being "actors" who "make a living by smearing Xinjiang abroad" to gain refugee status.
Instead, the CCP has forced relatives of Uyghur exiles to speak in interviews with state media and say that the Uyghur victims were "never detained." The Uyghur relatives were also forced to "pledge allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, and denigrate their family members abroad for telling 'lies.'"
This was challenged by ITV News Asia correspondent Debi Edward, who said that the accusations could be against China, which may be doing damage control with a "scripted procedure" with Uyghur relatives that were "put up to give evidence in a scripted manner." She asked Xu who to believe, the London tribunal or their staged news conference.
Xu did not provide a specific answer. But the London-based tribunal has invited Xu's witnesses to the next round of hearings that are set in September. Dolkun Isa, the president of the Germany-based organization World Uyghur Congress (WUC), condemned China's staged news conference, saying it was "despicable" for Chinese authorities to attempt to force witnesses to lie about the atrocities happening in the XUAR.
"There's no doubt these family members are being held hostage and were forced to say what they were told against their loved ones by the authorities," Isa said in a statement.
