A Uyghur organization has filed a legal complaint accusing China of “intimidation and harassment” against the Uyghur community in France. The European Uyghur Institute (IODE) reported that these acts intensified during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to France.
The IODE stated that Beijing is responsible for “acts of intimidation, harassment, and repeated threats” towards the Uyghur diaspora and their supporters in France. These actions have “multiplied and become more systematic at a worrying speed,” the organization noted.
According to the IODE, international repression escalated during Xi’s visit in early May, which marked the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Xi at the Elysee Palace and hosted him for a traditional meal in the Pyrenees mountains. During the visit, Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen attempted to dissuade Xi from his close partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The IODE cited specific instances of Chinese harassment, including the disruption of a theater performance it organized on May 5 while Xi was in Paris. The organizers were reportedly intimidated by groups suspected of being directed by Chinese security services.
On May 8, Gulbahar Jalilova, a former inmate of a Chinese detention camp and a refugee in Paris since October 2020, was allegedly targeted for intimidation or kidnapping by Chinese agents outside her apartment. The IODE provided photographs of the incident involving Jalilova.
The organization emphasized the “enormous impacts of these practices on the physical and mental health of members of the Uyghur community in France.” France’s DGSI internal security service and Paris police have identified Chinese state agents involved in a failed “intimidation action” against Jalilova on May 8, according to a report by Le Monde.
The Chinese embassy in Paris dismissed the report as “fake news,” claiming it was “riddled with errors” and “obvious falsifications” on its website.
The Uyghurs, primarily Sunni Muslims, are the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang province, northwest China. The region has been plagued by violent attacks blamed on extremists and separatists. Since 2017, more than one million Uyghurs and members of other mostly Muslim ethnic groups have been detained in “reeducation camps,” where they face widespread human rights abuses, according to investigations and Western aid groups. China refers to some of these camps as “vocational training centers.”
