Name: Academic faces Chinese lawsuit for exposing human rights abuses in Xinjiang
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Academic faces Chinese lawsuit for exposing human rights abuses in Xinjiang

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This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareBeijing has targeted a high-profile U.S.-based researcher whose work has been critical to exposing human rights abuses in China’s northwest, with state media reporting he is by companies in the Xinjiang region.In a telephone interview from his home in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Adrian Zenz said he believed the lawsuit was a sign that on the region were having a significant effect. He said Beijing was probably seeking to create a chilling effect on other researchers doing similar work.“It is the first admission that they really are suffering major economic losses,” Zenz said. ­“Suing an academic — there is an element of desperation in there.”The lawsuit comes as Zenz and other researchers have been that Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang meets the definition of “genocide” under the Geneva Conventions.The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Xinjiang over the past year in response to evidence documented by researchers, including Zenz, of a and targeting Muslim Uyghurs in the region. The sanctions include a from the region, which accounts for 87&nbsp;percent of the cotton grown in China.Zenz, who is German, began researching conditions in Xinjiang several years ago as an independent scholar, and since 2019 as a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization.Chinese state media outlet Tianshannet reported late Monday that unnamed companies had filed a lawsuit in Xinjiang against Zenz. China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it on Tuesday.Advertisement“Many companies and residents in Xinjiang suffered heavy losses after Zenz’s rumor of ‘forced labor’ came out of nowhere,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a routine briefing on Tuesday. “They detest and abhor such malicious smearing acts.”Zenz does not really have to worry about the lawsuit if he stays out of China, said Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University. But he may have to hire a lawyer if the Xinjiang companies try to seek overseas enforcement of a judgment against him.“He would have to get a lawyer to make these arguments, which points up the real threat of lawsuits like this: their capacity to harass,” on the China Collection blog.Tianshannet said the companies that filed the lawsuit were damaged by Zenz’s “rumors” of forced labor in the region and demanded he apologize, restore their reputations and compensate for their losses. More companies and individuals may join the lawsuit, Tianshannet said.AdvertisementZenz was among more than 50&nbsp;contributors to a lengthy report laying out , which was released Tuesday by the Newlines Institute, a Washington-based think tank.CommentsGift ArticleTOP STORIESGoing GlobalEssential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world.Try a different topic or to save your preferences

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareBeijing has targeted a high-profile U.S.-based researcher whose work has been critical to exposing human rights abuses in China’s northwest, with state media reporting he is by companies in the Xinjiang region.In a telephone interview from his home in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Adrian Zenz said he believed the lawsuit was a sign that on the region were having a significant effect. He said Beijing was probably seeking to create a chilling effect on other researchers doing similar work.“It is the first admission that they...

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Academic faces Chinese lawsuit for exposing human rights abuses in Xinjiang

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