{"id":199597,"date":"2017-03-17T21:33:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T04:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=199597"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:24:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:24:53","slug":"xinjiangs-rapidly-evolving-security-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2017\/03\/xinjiangs-rapidly-evolving-security-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Xinjiang\u2019s Rapidly Evolving Security State"},"content":{"rendered":"
Human Rights Watch has\u00a0criticized China\u2019s new counter-terrorism law for its potential to legitimize rights abuses<\/strong><\/a>, warning that vaguely outlined definitions and failure to disclose conviction details could lead to the prosecution of nonviolent activities.\u00a0The\u00a0law took effect in January 2016 following repeated calls for counter-terror legislation<\/a>\u00a0that began as part of the government’s\u00a0nationwide \u201cwar on terror,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which was launched in response to increased violence in Xinjiang<\/a> and elsewhere in China. The law has long attracted criticism from a range of actors for its human rights implications<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chinese government claims it\u2019s combating terrorism threats, particularly in Xinjiang, but gives scarce details about these incidents while strictly controlling access of journalists and other independent monitors,\u201d said Sophie Richardson, China director. \u201cBy refusing to provide information on terrorism cases, Beijing can easily suppress rights to peaceful criticism and religious identity.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2016 SPC\u2019s annual report to the National People\u2019s Congress stated that in 2015, Chinese courts convicted 1,419 people for threatening state security, inciting \u201csplittism,\u201d and taking part in terrorism \u2013 nearly double the numbers of the previous year\u2019s report. But the court\u2019s 2015 and 2016 reports did not disclose a breakdown of these numbers, so it is unclear how many people were convicted for terrorism and precisely for which offense.<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch examined available data from China Court Net, a general news site run by the SPC, and the Peking University Law Database for information on terrorism-related cases in 2016. Only four court verdicts related to terrorism prosecutions from 2016 are publicly available. These two sources may only contain a small percentage of terrorism-related verdicts in 2016. The SPC decision that required court verdicts be posted online provides exemptions for cases that involve state secrets or personal privacy, and cases that are otherwise \u201cnot suitable for making public,\u201d which gives the courts wide latitude to withhold information.<\/p>\n The four cases involved seven people \u2013 all but one ethnic Uyghurs from Xinjiang. Five received prison sentences from eight months to three years, while one was given a suspended sentence and one was exempted from criminal penalties. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Officials have repeatedly attempted to link\u00a0China’s domestic violence to the global jihad movement<\/a>, often placing blame on foreign forces such as the\u00a0East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Politically motivated terrorism prosecutions are of particular concern in Xinjiang, home to a predominately Muslim Uyghur majority, because the expansive definition of terrorism and the general lack of transparency makes a large range of ethnic and religious activities punishable under the counter-terror law. In particular, the new law empowers police to impose restrictions on individuals suspected of being involved in terrorism with little or no evidence. Authorities have\u00a0already began arming police<\/a>\u00a0as early as 2014 in response to violent incidents in the country.<\/p>\n At The Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief,\u00a0