China: Release Imprisoned Scholars in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Scholars at Risk has issued the below letter to Chinese authorities and international stakeholders over a growing number of scholars and students who have disappeared in China and are suspected of being held in so-called “reeducation camps” and other detention facilities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). SAR urges President Xi Jinping to immediately secure the unconditional release of imprisoned scholars and students, put an end to “reeducation” efforts, and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of minority scholars and students throughout China.

---

Via email to: gov@govonline.cn

President Xi Jinping
Zhongnanhai
Xichangan’jie
Xichengqu, Beijing Shi 100017
People’s Republic of China

November 13, 2020

RE: Release Imprisoned Scholars in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Your Excellency:

I write on behalf of the Scholars at Risk Network to express grave concern over reports of a growing number of scholars and students who have disappeared in China and are suspected of being held in so-called “reeducation camps” and other detention facilities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). SAR respectfully urges you to immediately secure the unconditional release of imprisoned scholars and students, put an end to “reeducation” efforts, and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of minority scholars and students throughout China.

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of more than 500 universities and colleges in 39 countries dedicated to protecting the human rights of scholars around the world, and to raising awareness, understanding of, and respect for the principles of academic freedom and its constituent freedoms of expression, opinion, thought, association, and travel. In cases like this, involving alleged infringement of these freedoms, Scholars at Risk investigates hoping to clarify and resolve matters favorably.

We understand that, over the past three years, state authorities in the XUAR have taken unprecedented steps that have resulted in the deprivation of the rights and liberties of members of the Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz Muslim minority communities in the region, including students and scholars. We understand this began in January 2017, when students from the XUAR, who were studying abroad, were directed to return to China by state authorities. State authorities reportedly threatened to detain family members based in China if they failed to return, and pressured foreign governments to detain and deport students back to China. Since then, state authorities have detained large numbers of religious and ethnic minorities from the XUAR in so-called “reeducation camps” and other detention facilities. Human rights groups have reported that detainees are subjected to physical and psychological abuse, including beatings, solitary confinement, and sexual harassment; and are forced to recite anthems of the Chinese Communist Party, attend indoctrination classes, eat pork, and drink alcohol, in contravention of their religious beliefs. A large number of detainees have also reportedly been transferred from the camps and forced to work in factories across China, where they experience similar mistreatment.

While an official accounting of detainees is unavailable, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) cited in its August 2018 report estimates ranging from “tens of thousands to upwards of a million.” Available information suggests that detainees were taken into custody based on their religious practices and other non-criminal activity, including, for example, attending religious services, having a long beard, or speaking with overseas family or friends. The German newspaper Deutsche Welle reported accounts from several former detainees that suggest Chinese authorities have prosecuted detainees through closed-door trials, during which they denied detainees access to legal counsel and forced them to retroactively choose a crime for their imprisonment; those who declined were threatened with lifelong detention in the camps.

SAR understands that among those disappeared and suspected of being in state custody are a growing number of scholars, students, and other public intellectuals. They include:

• Rahile Dawut, a world-renowned ethnographer and scholar of Uyghur studies at Xinjiang University (XJU) who disappeared in December 2017;

• Halmurat Ghopur, the former president of Xinjiang Medical University Hospital and scholar of medicine who was detained in November 2017 and later convicted of “exhibiting ‘separatist tendencies’” and issued a two-year suspended death sentence; and

• Abdulqadir Jalaleddin, a poet and professor of literature at Xinjiang Pedagogical University, who was arrested in a January 2018 raid on his home.

In these and other cases, state authorities have not disclosed detained scholars’ and students’ whereabouts, whether they have been charged with criminal activity, or the evidentiary bases for their detention, if any.

SAR is concerned that state authorities have targeted minority scholars, students, writers, and public intellectuals in an effort to silence voices and ideas the government finds objectionable and to further constrict and control academic activity and public expression within the XUAR. Further, the detention of peaceful scholars, students, and intellectuals in the XUAR raises concerns that Chinese authorities are threatening the preservation and promotion of minority cultures, traditions, histories, and languages. Amidst the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we are especially concerned about the well-being of imprisoned scholars and students, in particular those who have pre-existing conditions, are elderly, or are otherwise at a higher risk of infection or complications from COVID-19.

Absent any clarifying information regarding the status of the detained scholars, students, and intellectuals in the XUAR, available information suggests that these scholars and students have been wrongfully detained and prosecuted in connection with their peaceful exercise of the rights to academic freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of belief, and freedom of association—rights that are expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. The nature of the disappearances and detentions, the government’s silence on the status of missing scholars and students, and reports of mistreatment raise grave concerns about the safety and well-being of these scholars and students, including their access to appropriate medical care, legal counsel, and family.

The mass disappearances and detentions, moreover, give rise to serious concern about the loss of a generation of scholars and students from the XUAR and, more broadly, the ability of intellectuals in China generally to conduct scholarship and exchange ideas safely and freely. The use of criminal sanctions to silence and punish ideas and inquiry undermines rather than advances China’s stated goals of establishing peace, harmony, and prosperity across the country’s ethnic communities. Beyond China, the detentions and disappearances of scholars and students in the XUAR impede important opportunities for international academic collaborations with scholars from the region and limit global understanding of the XUAR and its diverse cultures, traditions, and history.

We therefore respectfully urge you to take the necessary steps to secure the immediate and unconditional release of scholars, students, and other members of minority communities wrongfully detained in the XUAR. Pending this we urge the relevant authorities to disclose the scholars’ and students’ locations and present circumstances, and to ensure that they be afforded due process, humane treatment, and access to medical care, family, and legal counsel, in accordance with international human rights obligations.

We thank you for your attention to this important matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Robert Quinn
Executive Director

CC:

Ambassador Zhang Jun
Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations
Email: chinamission_un@mfa.gov.cn

The Honorable Michelle Bachelet
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: InfoDesk@ohchr.org

The Honorable Karima Bennoune
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: srculturalrights@ohchr.org

The Honorable Kombou Boly-Barry
Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: sreducation@ohchr.org

The Honorable Irene Khan
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: freedex@ohchr.org

The Honorable Li Yanduan
Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: cerd@ohchr.org

The Honorable Ahmed Shaheed
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Email: freedomofreligion@ohchr.org

The Honorable Reinhard Bütikofer
Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China
European Parliament
Email: reinhard.buetikofer@europarl.europa.eu

Mr. Luke de Pulford
Coordinator
Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
Email: info@ipac.global

Representative James P. McGovern
Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Email: infocecc@mail.house.gov

Senator Marco Rubio
Cochair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Email: infocecc@mail.house.gov

The Honorable Nicolas Chapuis
Head of the Delegation of the European Union to China
Email: delegation-china@eeas.europa.eu

The Honorable Josep Borrell Fontelles
High Representative/Vice-President
European Commission
Email: cab-borrell-fontelles-contact@ec.europa.eu