LONDON: The United States and Britain on Thursday responded with horror and vows of action after a BBC investigation detailed harrowing accounts of torture and sexual violence against Uighur women in Chinese camps.
“These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences,” a US State Department spokesperson said, reiterating the view of both the former and new US administrations that China is perpetrating “genocide” against the Uighurs.
“We will speak out consistently and jointly with allies and partners to condemn these atrocities, and we will consider all appropriate tools to promote accountability for those responsible and deter future abuses,” the spokesperson said.
British junior foreign minister Nigel Adams said the BBC report revealed “clearly evil acts.”
“The evidence of the scale and severity of these violations is now far-reaching, it paints a truly harrowing picture,” he told parliament.
“This government is committed to taking robust action in respect of Xinjiang,” he said, although the government has stopped short of invoking the term “genocide,” arguing only UK courts can make that legal definition.
In a lengthy investigation based on witness testimonies, the BBC on Wednesday reported allegations of systematic rape, sexual abuse and torture of women detainees by police and guards in China’s western region of Xinjiang.
It described torture by electric shock, including anal rape by guards using electrified sticks. Women were subject to gang rape and forced sterilization, witnesses said.
“The screams echoed throughout the building,” one was quoted as saying.
The report also triggered outrage from politicians in Australia, and new calls for China to grant access to UN rights inspectors to tour Xinjiang.
The region is home to the mainly Muslim Uighur minority and has seen a sweeping security crackdown by Chinese forces in recent years in response to separatist unrest.
Rights groups believe that at least one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang.
China is accused of compelling Uighurs to parrot Communist propaganda and renounce Islam, forcibly sterilising women and imposing a regime of forced labor.
After initially denying the camps existed, China’s government abruptly acknowledged them, saying they were vocational training centers aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.
The Chinese foreign ministry dismissed the BBC investigation as “false.”
Last month, Britain and Canada accused China of human rights violations and “barbarism” against the Uighur minority and announced new rules to ban imports of goods suspected of being made using forced labor.
US, UK decry report of sexual violence against Uighurs
https://arab.news/9g6cn
US, UK decry report of sexual violence against Uighurs
- British junior foreign minister Nigel Adams said the BBC report revealed “clearly evil acts”
- “The evidence of the scale and severity of these violations is now far-reaching, it paints a truly harrowing picture,” he told parliament
Finland jails Russian for life over 2014 ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine
The prosecution had accused Torden of five counts of war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers
HELSINKI: A Finnish court on Friday sentenced a Russian neo-Nazi to life in prison on war crimes charges stemming from a 2014 clash in Ukraine, with Kyiv hailing the ruling as a “key milestone.”
The Helsinki district court found Vojislav Torden, a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich, guilty of “four different war crimes” committed in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine.
His lawyer, Heikki Lampela, told Finnish media that Torden was surprised by the ruling and would appeal it.
The prosecution had accused Torden of five counts of war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers.
The court dismissed the main count, which argued the Rusich forces ambushed a convoy of two vehicles, a truck and a car, carrying Ukrainian soldiers on September 5, 2014.
As other groups were also present, the court said the prosecution had not proven that Rusich and Torden were responsible for the ambush.
However, Torden was found guilty of leading the actions of Rusich’s soldiers at the scene following the ambush and of killing one wounded soldier.
He was also found guilty of authorizing fighters to mutilate Ivan Issyk by cutting the symbol used by the group — the kolovrat, or “spoked wheel” — into his cheek.
The emblem is often used by ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Russia and Eastern Europe. Issyk died as a result of his wounds.
Torden was also found guilty of having taken derogatory photos of a fallen soldier at the scene and posting it to social media.
The office of the Ukraine’s prosecutor general on Friday hailed the court’s decision as “a key milestone in holding perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law accountable.”
“Ukraine remains committed to working with partners worldwide to ensure there is no impunity for war criminals,” it said in a statement posted on social media.
According to Finnish public broadcaster YLE, Torden was arrested by Finnish border guards at Helsinki airport as he tried to leave the country in August 2023.
He was on the EU sanctions list and banned from entering Finland.
Ukraine had sought Torden’s extradition, which Finland’s supreme court rejected, citing the risk of him not receiving a fair trial and suffering inhumane conditions in prison.
In October last year, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) completed a comprehensive probe launched in December 2023.
The investigation involved close cooperation with Ukrainian prosecutors and security services as well as Europol, the International Criminal Court and Eurojust — the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
Finland applies “universal jurisdiction,” a legal principle allowing it to bring charges on its soil for suspected serious crimes committed anywhere in the world.
‘Strong G7 unity’ on Ukraine in talks: host Canada
- “We were able to find strong G7 unity on a variety of issues … in particular is the one linked to Ukraine,” Joly said
CHARLEVOIX, Canada: Group of Seven foreign ministers reached a unified statement backing US-led calls for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, host Canada said Friday, despite friction with President Donald Trump.
“I can say that through our long conversations, we were able to find strong G7 unity on a variety of issues that were discussed and one that I would like to highlight in particular is the one linked to Ukraine,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters on the last day of the talks in Quebec.
UK police extend detention of North Sea crash captain
- Police were granted two extensions on Wednesday and Thursday
- Police cited the location of both vessels at sea as one of the complications facing the probe
LONDON: UK police Friday again extended the detention of the captain of a cargo ship which struck a tanker in the North Sea, citing the “complexities” of the case.
The Russian captain was arrested Monday on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after his ship, the Solong, slammed into the tanker anchored off the coast of Hull in northeastern England, setting both ships ablaze and leaving one sailor presumed dead.
Police were granted two extensions on Wednesday and Thursday to allow more time to question the 59-year-old captain due to “the complexities of the incident,” the local Humberside police force said in a statement.
Police cited the location of both vessels at sea as one of the complications facing the probe, with the ships on fire for several days after the incident, requiring a massive firefighting response.
While all crew onboard the jet fuel-laden tanker, the US-flagged Stena Immaculate, were safely rescued, one sailor from the Portuguese-flagged Solong remains missing and presumed dead.
Although the government has ruled out foul play, investigators are still determining the causes of the crash, in which the Solong never deviated from its course and slammed into the Stena at 16 knots an hour.
Pockets of fire were still being reported on the deck of the Solong on Thursday evening, according to the UK Coast Guard.
“Extensive lines of enquiry are continuing,” police said.
Salvage teams boarded the vessels on Thursday to carry out initial damage assessments.
UN migration agency laying off around 20 percent of HQ staff amid US aid cuts: sources
- Fresh cuts at IOM are expected to impact at least 20 percent
GENEVA: The UN migration agency, which has been hit hard by US foreign aid cuts, has launched more mass layoffs, impacting around a fifth of staff at its Geneva headquarters, employees said Friday.
Fresh cuts at the International Organization for Migration are expected to impact at least 20 percent of the more than 1,000 current headquarters staff, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
US hails ‘historic peace treaty’ between Armenia, Azerbaijan
- Azerbaijan and Armenia said Thursday that they had wrapped up talks aimed at resolving the Caucasus neighbors’ decades-long conflict
WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday hailed a “historic peace treaty” finalized by Armenia and Azerbaijan and called on both sides to follow through.
“This is an opportunity for both countries to turn the page on a decades old conflict,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“Now is the time to commit to peace, sign and ratify the treaty, and usher in a new era of prosperity for the people of the South Caucasus,” he added.
Azerbaijan and Armenia said Thursday that they had wrapped up talks aimed at resolving the Caucasus neighbors’ decades-long conflict, with both sides agreeing on the text of a possible treaty.
A deal to normalize ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkiye all jostle for influence.
