Who are the Uyghur people and why do they face oppression by China?
China has been accused of oppressing and breaching the human rights of the Uyghur people in its western Xinjiang province.
There have been widespread reports of Uyghur people being held against their will in “re-education” centres, undergoing forced contraception and being subjected to a range of other restrictions.
China says the claims are “baseless” and have repeatedly denied any mistreatment of Uyghurs, saying they live in “peace and harmony”.
But who are the Uyghurs – pronounced “wee-gers” – and why might the Chinese state allegedly be targeting them?
Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim
Who are the Uyghur people?
The Uyghurs are a group of people who live mostly in the Xinjiang area of China.
They have been living there for at least several hundred years and there is good evidence that they may have lived there in some form for several thousand years.
They are generally regarded as a Turkic people, which means they speak a language related to Turkish and have ancestors who came from the traditional homeland of the Turks – north of central Asia.
But studies of their genetic make-up suggest that they also have ancestors who came from other parts of the world, with European DNA mixed with Chinese, south Asian, Siberian, and central Asian.
There are reports Uyghur people are being held in ‘re-education’ centres
What have the Chinese been accused of?
China has been accused of interning one million Uyghurs in “re-education” centres in Xinjiang.
In 2019, leaked documents emerged that contradicted Chinese government claims that the detention camps were voluntary job training centres.
The classified papers appeared to confirm what former detainees had been saying, that the camps were centres for forced ideological and behavioural re-education, or brainwashing.
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Drone video of alleged Uyghur prisoners
The Chinese government has been accused of forcing Uyghur women and member of other minorities to take part in birth control as part of a campaign to curb its Muslim population.
Footage has emerged over the last few years purporting to show hundreds of blindfolded and shackled prisoners – who were thought to be from the Uyghur population – being marched by guards in the Xinjiang city of Korla.
Sky News has also found evidence of children of exiled Uyghurs going missing in Xinjiang.
Protesters hold flags in support of the Uyghurs in Hong Kong
Why might the Chinese oppress the Uyghurs?
Xinjiang, where an estimated 80% of China’s Uyghurs are said to live, is China’s most western province.
It is a politically sensitive region – surrounded by eight other countries.
As the home of a significant proportion of the Silk Road, it has long been used as a thoroughfare along which goods from China have travelled.
Some, possibly most, Uyghurs do not accept that Xinjiang is part of China, citing the evidence that Uyghur people lived in the area before Chinese Han and Tang dynasties set up protectorates.
Xinjiang, as it is now, came under Chinese Qing dynasty rule in the 18th century, but there have been many times in its history when it was not under Chinese control.
In modern times, China has been increasing the number of non-Uyghurs in Xinjiang, so the proportion of Uyghurs in the region is declining.
Some Uyghurs resent that they are becoming, in their view, increasingly marginalised in the land where they have lived for centuries.
Uyghurs are a Turkic people, which means they speak a language related to Turkish
What unites the Uyghur people?
The Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and have been for at least several hundred years.
But they have a rich and complex cultural history, stretching back millennia, with archaeological sites in Xinjiang showing that many in the past adhered to Buddhist beliefs, as well as those of other religions which now have relatively few followers.
A scene in the Bezeklik caves in Xinjiang from the 9th century showing people from many origins
Artworks discovered in caves in Xinjiang were made by Buddhist devotees who are believed to have been among some of the ancestors of modern Uyghur people.
They show the diversity of the society at the time, with images dating from the fifth to 14th centuries of Indians, Persians, Chinese and even some resembling Europeans on the cave walls.
Uyghurs are also united by a common language, which is related to Turkish, and by a shared culture of music, dance, food and other traditions.
The Uyghurs home in Xinjiang province is a politically sensitive region
How long have Uyghurs been in Xinjiang?
The oldest known inhabitants of the Tarim basin, a part of Xinjiang, are the Tarim mummies.
The mummified remains have European features and it has been claimed that the people spoke a language related to European Celtic. They lived about 3,800 years ago.
But there have been many influxes of people since then.
A 3,800-year-old mummified body found on the edge of the Tarim basin in Xinjiang, which is said to have European and other features
One of the key factors that has influenced who lives in the area is the presence of the Silk Road – the main worldwide trade route from Roman to Medieval times – through Xinjiang along which travelled goods and people.
Some Chinese experts argue that Uyghur people arrived in Xinjiang around the eighth and ninth centuries after the fall of a society further north called the Uyghur Khaganate.
Other experts, however, say that those arrivals were just one of the many waves of immigration into the area, and the modern Uyghur population reflects those past movements of people.
This article was originally published in 2020.
The president of South Korea has declared “emergency martial law”, accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament and sympathising with North Korea.
Yoon Suk Yeol announced he was taking the step, which enacts temporary rule by the military, during a televised briefing on Tuesday, saying it was critical for defending the country’s constitutional order.
“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Mr Yoon said.
South Korea martial law: Follow live updates
It was not immediately clear how the steps will affect the country’s governance and democracy, but the country’s Yonhap news agency, reported that all media and publishers will be under its control and activities by parliament and political parties will be banned.
The opposition Democratic Party, which is led by Lee Jae-myung, said parliament will try to “nullify” the president’s martial law, according to South Korean news channel YTN.
Pic: AP
YTN also reported that the leader of the country’s Ruling People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, called the martial law “wrong” and vowed to block it.
Since taking office in 2022, Mr Yoon has struggled to push his agendas against an opposition-controlled parliament.
His conservative People Power Party has been in a deadlock with the liberal Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill.
Police officers stand guard in front of the National Assembly in Seoul. Pic: AP
Minsters protested the move on Monday by the Democratic Party to slash more than four trillion won (approximately £2.1bn) from the government’s budget proposal.
Mr Yoon said that action undermines the essential functioning of government administration.
The president has also dismissed calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, which has drawn criticism from his political rivals.
Martial law is typically temporary, but it can continue indefinitely. It is most often declared in times of war and/or emergencies such as civil unrest and natural disasters.
A court in Vietnam has upheld a death sentence for a real estate tycoon after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery, state media reported.
Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group (VTP), was sentenced to death in April for her role in a financial fraud worth more than $12bn, Vietnam’s biggest on record.
The 68-year-old was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules following a month-long trial.
A Vietnam court upheld a death sentence for Truong My Lan. Pic: AP
Lan and her accomplices were charged with illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) between 2012 and 2022 to siphon off funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials.
From early 2018 to October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits, Lan appropriated large sums by arranging unlawful loans to shell companies, investigators said.
Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress reported that if Lan can return three-quarters of the money embezzled while on death row, it is possible the sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.
According to the outlet, the prosecution said on Tuesday: “The consequences Lan caused are unprecedented in the history of litigation and the amount of money embezzled is unprecedentedly large and unrecoverable.
“The defendant’s actions have affected many aspects of society, the financial market, the economy.”
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In scrubland on the outskirts of Tyre, southern Lebanon, they started digging out the bodies – 186 of them.
One family of women, mothers and daughters all dressed in black, fell on the coffin of their brother, their son, stroking it, sweeping the dust off, wailing.
His name was Hussein Fakih and he was a Hezbollah militant.
This was not an ordinary graveyard.
Pic: Michael Greenfield/Sky
A makeshift mass grave, the corpses were mainly those of Hezbollah fighters. A temporary solution while the war was at its raging peak.
Get them in the ground quick. Bury them later.
Framed against a bright blue sky, a yellow digger scraped the topsoil off. People wore masks to protect against the overpowering stench.
Others went to the exposed coffins, wiping the dirt off the nameplates to see who the coffins contained.
Pic: Michael Greenfield/Sky
We spoke to one 15-year-old boy, waiting for them to find his father Moeen Ezzedine, a senior Hezbollah commander who had been in charge of its forces in Tyre, Lebanon’s second city.
He was killed in an airstrike in early November.
“As martyr Ezzedine says, martyrdom is sweeter to us than honey: that’s how much we love martyrdom,” Mohammad said of his father.
“I am so proud of him and will stay on his path because he was martyred for the Palestinian cause.
“Hopefully I am on his path and hopefully I will meet him.”
Pic: Michael Greenfield/Sky
There is no shortage of sons willing to take their fathers’ place, even if it means joining them in the ground.
A cry went up when they found Ezzedine. His sister collapsed, crying “Oh God, oh God.”
Blood and rotted matter seeped from a corner of the coffin as they turned it.
Mohammad helped carry the coffin into the ambulance and stood there watching, silent, as the doors closed.
Pic: Michael Greenfield/Sky
Hezbollah’s stated aim is to destroy Israel and it is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, UK, Israel and other governments.
The group fired missiles into Israel on 8 October 2023 in support of Gaza, sparking the most recent round of violence between the two sworn enemies.
This exhumation is only possible because of the ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hezbollah. And as the diggers went about their work, UN troops drove past.
They were moving south, to take up the positions formerly held by these Hezbollah fighters, as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Read more:
Defiance or defeat? Thousands visit killed Hezbollah leader’s shrine
Hezbollah flags still fly as fragile peace deal holds
That agreement means people have been able to return to Tyre, an ancient city – and they have found fresh ruins.
Block after block has been levelled – the Israeli air force was hitting right up until the truce came into force at 4am on Wednesday.
Imad Hijazi thought his mobile phone repair shop had survived more than a year of war. But he came back to find it a wreck.
“This shop, the last day before they stopped firing, the last day, it’s damaged,” he said. “An hour before [the ceasefire].”
“I’m feeling bad, very, very bad. I’ve worked here for almost 15 years. I don’t know what to do now.”
Pic: Michael Greenfield/Sky
It will probably take years for this city to recover fully.
At the grave site, people kept telling us that death – “martyrdom” as they put it – was victory.
Victory looks bleak.
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