... thankfully, the judge set a new date for a new hearing January 12, with reference to the "widespread interest" in the case! Yet sadly our hero Guan Heng remains jailed here. Picture above is of me and my sign: THANK YOU GUAN HENG! for his precious effort in exposing the Uyghur genocide.

Today attended a rally for Guan Heng outside the prison where he is held, in Binghamton, New York. We stood in the snow, and listened to a court hearing online via speaker from 830am. Thankfully the judge did NOT go along with any immediate deportation but instead 1/2

HKFP: Senior party members previously told Reuters they had been approached by Chinese officials or “middlemen” and told to disband or face severe consequences, including possible arrest. @hongkongfp.com

And this new signature campaign: Free Heng Guan and End ICE’s Illegal Detention of Asylum Seekers c.org/zyrRKT7f5c

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

In this documentary, Guan Heng provided crucial corroboration for many of the detention facilities that @alisonkilling.bsky.social , @meghara.bsky.social and I published in “Built to Last”. His hearing takes place on Monday, December 15 in New York. www.buzzfeednews.com/article/megh...

In August Guan Heng was arrested in upstate New York and is threatened by deportation to China, a severe risk to his wellbeing and even his life. Guan Heng showed exceptional bravery and courage producing his documentary. More on him here: hrichina.substack.com/p/man-who-fi...

"Foreign journalists can hardly gain access to Xinjiang. But, good for me I can." With these words Guan Heng starts his documentary providing crucial evidence of mass incarcerations of muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China. He had to flee to the US. ICE arrested him. A threat to his life.

HKFP: The United Nations voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that Hong Kong’s “draconian” national security laws were being used against people seeking a transparent inquiry into the Chinese city’s worst fire in decades. @hongkongfp.com

'Victor So, a designated national security judge, denied Wong bail, saying he was not satisfied that the political commentator would not continue to endanger national security.'

'The press conference would have covered topics including support for affected residents, the establishment of a commission of inquiry, potential bid-rigging, substandard materials, and the roles of regulatory bodies including the government.'

A small Lennon Wall, with messages of solidarity and blessings for the city in a nearby tunnel, a few onlookers pause to read the notes and take pictures.

"Chinese authorities have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel."

'In recent years, bookings by independent civil society groups, NGOs, opposition parties, and activists have been cancelled at the last minute. Some venues cited reasons such as urgent maintenance work, while others provided no explanation for the cancellations or alluded to official pressure.'

Policymakers and the media need rigorous research by independently minded scholars to make sense of Chinese politics and society. INCCS will tackle the big and difficult questions about "China's rise".

Transnational Pressure Campaign Forces Closure of IndieChina Film Festival in New York City "I did think it might be better here … It turns out I was wrong."

The status and rights of Uyghur communities in Turkiye are deeply precarious, and overlooked by researchers and civil society organisations since 2017. It's now being more fully documented. www.hrw.org/report/2025/...

BBC: A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force has referred the investigation on because the "allegations fall under Section 3 of the National Security Act". Section 3 of the act deals with "assisting a foreign intelligence service".

Dutch Ambassador for Human Rights and former Ambassador to China:

The Intl Day in Support of Victims of Torture has passed, but #XieYang remains behind bars—3.5 years without trial. He defended pro-democracy protesters & activists until #ChinaGov arrested him for it--then tortured him in detention. 👇

Research by @peterirwin.bsky.social @henrykszad.bsky.social + Ben Carrdus from April demonstrated the dramatic 📈 increase in international hotel chains in the Uyghur region. IHG is operating—and dramatically expanding—its business amidst atrocities. uhrp.org/report/it-do...

The 'DeepChina' Substack account — which presents itself as “an elite academic initiative” — is in fact controlled and directed by the United Front Work Department. Its goal is to spread propaganda & conduct “opinion and cognitive warfare” in support of the CCP’s ethnic affairs work.

Unity Camps, Great Country Borderlands & Pomegranate Seed Families: How the CCP’s youth work promotes Xi’s assimilationist agenda, settler colonialism, and seeks to transform children into ‘little envoys’, ‘propagandists’ and ‘demonstrators’ of CCP-led ‘ethnic unity’.

These re-surfaced videos are raising concerns about Harvard speaker Jiang "Luanna" Yurong during a protest last year against Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng.

27 May 14:00 - 15:30 Beyond #Xinjiang Join our online seminar exploring how #China’s securitization policies impact #Muslim minorities 🕌 — with a focus on #Uyghur and #Hui communities: www.remote-xuar.com/events/beyon...

#China's state-led #environmentalism 🌿 is reshaping life on its western frontiers — but often at the expense of #ethnic minority herders. Join our Inner #Asia #Colloquium on 9 May to learn how these environmental policies have been negotiated on the ground: www.remote-xuar.com/events/lives... 🐫

Xi commended volunteers at a Xinjiang boarding school in a letter marking Youth Day on May 4: 'more young people have chosen to serve as volunteers in the country's western regions and rural areas over the years, demonstrating their spirit of dedication and sense of responsibility.'

Half of RFA’s language services will no longer produce new content: RFA Tibetan, Burmese, Uyghur, and Lao. Also, ceasing operations will be Asia Fact Check Lab, a special unit focused on picking apart false narratives seeded by the Chinese Communist Party. www.rfa.org/english/abou...

"Tibetans have not witnessed such strong support for Tibet in a European parliament in many years, except in the Czech Republic."

"During at least seven of Xi’s 31 international trips between 2019 and 2024, local law enforcement infringed on dozens of protesters’ rights in order to shield the Chinese president from dissent, detaining or arresting activists, often for spurious reasons."

The DeepChina Substack account is controlled and directed by the United Front Work Department, and was created specifically to spread propaganda and conduct “opinion and cognitive warfare” in support of the CCP’s ethnic affairs work. buttondown.com/collectivest...

Indeed, refuting Taiwan's deep #Austronesian connection is a high priority for the CCP, as noted in a recent report highlighting the United Front propaganda work by the party-sponsored #Substack, DeepChina, which has been attempting to masquerade as neutral academia. buttondown.com/collectivest...

“In 2024, 33 Chinese NGOs showed up about 300 times on the lists of speakers at [#UN] Human Rights Council sessions. There were only three of them in 2018. None criticized #China [govt], #ICIJ’s review of their statements found.” www.icij.org/investigatio...

See recent @collectivestudy.bsky.social pieces on various Party efforts to promote 'Community for the Chinese Nation' (中華民族共同體) domestically and abroad: 🟨 buttondown.com/collectivest... 🟨 buttondown.com/collectivest...

The 'DeepChina' Substack account — which presents itself as “an elite academic initiative” — is in fact controlled and directed by the United Front Work Department. Its goal is to spread propaganda & conduct “opinion and cognitive warfare” in support of the CCP’s ethnic affairs work.

'One of the two detained reporters taken away is the president of the Macau Journalists Association, the press union said on Friday.'

'He was arrested from his hotel in Ho Chi Minh City on 25th March. On 3rd April his death was announced publicly by his monastery.'

I was at HKU yesterday and this is what the “democracy wall” looks like now. It has the same name. And cameras though. But nothing else