OUT OF SIGHT,
NOT OUT OF REACH
The Global Scale and Scope
of Transnational Repression
Kathmandu, Nepal - March 30: A pro-Tibetan demonstrator screams ‘Free Tibet’ while being forcibly detained by Nepali police during a pro-Tibetan
protest outside of the Chinese consulate March 30, 2008 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Image Credit: Brian Sokol/Getty Images.
of November 2020, Saudi Arabia was detaining two Chinese
Uighurs and considering their forced return to China.81
Uighurs who avoided coerced return were still subject to
abuses. For instance, Chinese political pressure has weakened
Turkish protections for the large Uighur diaspora in that
country.82 Residence permits remain difficult for Uighurs to
acquire or to keep in Turkey. The US outlet National Public
Radio (NPR) reported in March 2020 that between 200
and 400 Uighurs had been detained in Turkey in 2019 alone.
Deportations from Turkey to China also occur despite the
Uighur community’s efforts. In August 2019, a Uighur woman
and her two children were deported from Turkey to Tajikistan,
and then promptly transferred to Chinese custody.83 News
outlets reported that five or six other Uighurs were on the
flight with her.
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Wherever they are, Uighurs face intense digital threats
combined with family intimidation, in which their relatives in
Xinjiang are used as proxies to threaten or coerce them.84 In
multiple cases, Chinese police are reported to have forced
family members to call their relatives abroad on WeChat
in order to warn them against engaging in human rights
advocacy.85 China has used some of its most powerful spyware
tools against Uighurs, developing malware to infect iPhones
via WhatsApp messages.86 China has even hacked into
telecommunications networks in Asia in order to track Uighurs. 87
These threats create an atmosphere of fear for Uighurs
abroad. In November 2020, a Uighur in Turkey, who had
previously come forward as having been pressured to spy on
the community, was shot in Istanbul.88 He survived, and has
accused the Chinese state of targeting him.
#TransnationalRepression