 "Chinese man who documented Uyghur camps faces possible US deportation")
A Chinese man who left his country after documenting alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs is now at risk of being deported from the United States, his mother and lawyer told AFP.
Guan Heng, 38, appeared for an immigration hearing in New York on Monday after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August, his mother, Luo Yun, said. If deported, Guan could end up back in China, where his safety may be at serious risk.
“I’m really, really worried that things will be very bad for him if he is made to return,” Luo told AFP in Chinese. “If he has a chance to remain in the United States, he’ll at least be safe. With everything that has happened to him, I’m incredibly anxious and upset.”
What did the video expose?
In late 2021, Guan published a 20-minute video detailing his travels across Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China. The footage, which drew global attention, showed sites identified by a BuzzFeed investigation as detention facilities for Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
China has been accused of detaining over a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, in what the United Nations has previously described as potentially constituting “crimes against humanity.” Beijing denies the allegations, stating that its policies aim to counter extremism and promote development in the region.
Guan left China after filming the videos and eventually entered the US via South America. His mother said she only learnt of the video’s content after it was published.
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View All“As for the contents of the clips that he later posted—I didn’t know about them,” Luo told AFP.
In August, she learnt Guan had been detained by ICE, and when she contacted him, he was in _“_extreme panic and breakdown.” Family members in China have also been questioned by authorities about their ties to him.
Guan’s supporters say he is currently held in a Broome County facility in upstate New York.
Who are the Uyghurs?
The Uyghurs are a mostly Muslim ethnic group of around 12 million people, living mainly in Xinjiang, officially called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). They speak their own language, which is similar to Turkish, and feel a strong cultural and ethnic connection to Central Asian nations. Despite being the largest minority group in the region, they make up less than half of Xinjiang’s population.
Also read | How China's economic might systematically bulldozes Uyghur cause
In recent decades, there has been a large influx of Han Chinese, China’s ethnic majority, into Xinjiang. Activists say this was encouraged by the state to dilute the Uyghur population. At the same time, China has faced accusations of targeting Muslim religious leaders, banning certain religious practices, and even destroying mosques and tombs.
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