Ahmed J Versi
Following a concerted campaign by Members of Parliament and human rights NGOs, the governor of the Chinese region of Xinjiang was forced to cancel his visit to London earlier this month.
Erkin Tuniyaz, whom Downing Street and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) insisted was not invited by the UK government, cancelled his visit to not only the UK but also France and Belgium.
Tuniyaz was scheduled to meet with British FCDO officials during his apparent private visit to the UK.
Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China tweeted that “We understand from government sources that the meeting between @FCDOGovUK officials and Erkin #Yuniyaz will not be taking place. IPAC would like to thank the many politicians and activists who came together in this successful campaign.”
The meeting was cancelled after protests by parliamentarians, human rights groups, and activists outside FCDO offices.
Tuniyaz is accused of overseeing the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in his Xinjiang province.
Downing Street confirmed Tuniyaz’s meeting with Foreign Office officials on February 13, and Prime Minister’s spokesman justified the meeting, insisting it took place to relay the UK’s “abhorrence” of the “treatment of Uyghur people and underline we will not resist from exposing the horror they are being subjected to.
We have established a process to have lines of communications in the country so that we can in this instance make clear our strong objection to action being taken.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith joined with Uyghur Muslims, human rights activists and Labour peer Helena Kennedy outside the FCDO, urging the government to cancel the planned visit and backing calls for Tuniyaz to be arrested if he set foot in the country.
Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, told The Muslim News that when she received an email informing her of Tuniyaz’s proposed meeting, “I was shocked. I could not believe that this man was being welcomed to this country and having meetings with Foreign Office officials. It was surprising for the government to even think of inviting this man.”
“We have been asking the UK government for support for over six years now, and we have made multiple requests for meetings – these have been ignored,” the UK Director of the World Uyghur Congress added.
Mahmut asked how the government officials could plan to meet “with the person who has overseen the mass forced sterilisation of our women, the tearing apart of our families, and the imprisonment of millions of our fellow Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in concentration camps.”
Photo: Sir Iain Duncan Smith (right) and Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director
of Stop Uyghur Genocide joined a vigil outside the Foreign Office in London to protest at the planned visit to the UK of Erkin Tuniyaz, governor of the Chinese region of Xinjiang
(Credit: Edie Martin/Stop Uyghur Genocide)
