A legal team acting on behalf of exiled Uyghur leaders has once again petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate China's mass detention of the Muslim ethnic group.
Lawyers for Uyghur exiles have pushed to hold President Xi Jinping accountable for allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity. They claim China has targeted exiles who have fled to neighboring countries and forcibly brought them back. Many of the detainees have never been seen or heard from again.
The Chinese government has been accused of carrying out a campaign of torture, forced labor, sterilization, and mass surveillance against the Uyghurs.
STATE DEPARTMENT: CHINA 'WAS' COMMITTING UYGHUR GENOCIDE BUT WON'T SAY IF IT IS ONGOING
In the past, the Hague declined to investigate China's alleged abuses because they were committed by nationals in China, which does not recognize the authority of the ICC.
However, lawyers are hoping to convince the court to reconsider arguing that because Muslims fled to nations that recognize the ICC, it has jurisdiction to hold perpetrators accountable.
A "hefty dossier" of evidence has been submitted to ICC prosecutors on behalf of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement. The cache of files purportedly shows most Uyghurs who escaped to Tajikistan have repatriated back to China.
China has faced international condemnation for its treatment of Muslims, including indoctrination camps in Xinjiang.
Beijing denied the camps are abusive and has described them as job training centers, despite evidence that proves otherwise.
Rodney Dixon, a member of the legal team hoping to hold China accountable, said Monday that up to 90% of the Uyghur population who escaped to Tajikistan "has been targeted and moved out into China."
Dixon outlined "a very sophisticated and cunning campaign" by Beijing to bring back Uyghurs "just below the radar, over time and patiently in order to achieve the goal of ensuring that there are no Uyghurs, essentially, left in Tajikistan and that they're all in China, where they can be targeted, controlled, and persecuted," Christianpost.com reported.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/lawyers-push-for-icc-to-open-investigation-into-chinas-uyghur-campaign
