Canadian Uighurs claim Chinese intimidation

Montreal resident Arkin Kurban is one of six Uighur-Canadians who has claimed recently that authorities in China are attempting intimidation and blackmail to obtain information on Uighur communities in Canada.

Uighurs are a mostly Muslim people speaking a Turkic language in far western China. Once briefly known as East Turkestan, it was absorbed by Mao’s Chinese forces in 1949, becoming the large province of  Xinjiang.

Tensions have risen as the Chinese government has encouraged migration of Han Chinese into the area, rich in minerals and oil, whom the majority Uighurs say have been given privileged jobs to the detriment of locals. They say that their culture is being threatened as the Han minority presence has increased to almost equal that of the Uighurs.  Since the 1990’s there have been a number of demonstrations and riots, some of which have been deadly.

Beijing says violent Uighur separatists have connections to Al Qaeda and cite a bombing in the market of Urumqi which killed 39 and injured 100, calling it China’s worst case of terrorism

Human rights groups say there have many reports of Uighurs being detained without cause, persecution, disappearances, and forced migration in a form of slow ethnic cleansing.

Kurban, a Canadian citizen, told Canada’s influential Globe and Mail newspaper that while visiting his brother in Xiajiang, authorities detained him for several hours trying to get him to admit to political subversion.

He had said he helped organize a reception for the World Uighur Congress in 2008, and police said they would free him if he agreed to monitor community members in Montreal. To be let out, he agreed, and said that Chinese officials have contacted him for reports, but he said he has not complied.

The Globe reports there are five other similar claims made by Uighur-Canadians. The newspaper reports that while the cases can’t be confirmed- China’s embassy in Ottawa had denied the claims saying they are “groundless”, the allegations fit a pattern of interference not unfamiliar to Canadian officials.

Other Uighurs have told Globe reporters of incidents of attempted bribery or threats to get them to spy on Canada’s Uighur community

Huseyen Cellil, of Burlington Ontario, is a Uighur who has been detained in prison by China for over a decade on terrorism charges. China refuses to respect his Canadian citizenship, or allow visits from Canadian officials.

Canada’s Tibetan community has made similar allegations of intimidation through threats or bribery in order to get them to spy on their community for China

In 2011, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service reported to Canada’s government  that ethnic communities may be manipulated – sometimes through exploitation or coercion – to collect information on community members and dissidents in this country.

With files from the Globe and Mail