søndag 22. august 2021

Opinion: A detainee says China has a secret jail in Dubai. China’s repression may be spreading.

Many of China’s ethnic Uyghurs clamor to flee the horrors they face in their home country: detainment, torture and “reeducation” in the concentration camps that speckle the western region of Xinjiang. But mounting evidence suggests that even the disfavored minority citizens and persecuted critics who manage to escape China remain within its brutal reach.
Wu Huan, the fiancée of a Chinese dissident wanted for his critical social media posts, fled China for Dubai. She says Dubai police captured her on May 27 and sent her to a secret Chinese-run detainment camp, which held her for eight days. A Chinese officer said she would never leave. In response, Ms. Wu says she began refusing meals, screaming and crying for her release. 

Ultimately, Chinese camp officers released her after coercing her into signing legal documents incriminating her fiancé.
Based on their distinctive appearance and accent, she claims that her fellow captives were Uyghurs. One screamed, “I don’t want to go back to China; I want to go back to Turkey,” where many Uyghurs have found refuge. If Ms. Wu’s account is true, as the Associated Press says considerable evidence suggests, this is the first known instance of China exporting its “black sites” — secret jails where prisoners are held without charges or hope of trial.