Uighur man's 10-year sentence shows harsh reality of Chinese repression

November 24, 2019

Guardian Emma Graham-Harrison, Juliette Garside

In late 2016, a 47-year-old Uighur employed on a road-building crew in China’s western Xinjiang region started hectoring his co-workers about their behaviour.

He warned them against watching porn or swearing, badgered them not to eat food cooked by non-Muslims, smokers or people who drink alcohol, and made offensive slurs against the country’s majority Han ethnic group.

In most countries, his remarks would have simply marked him out as a bigot and religious bore. But in China, the state viewed them – and him – far more harshly.

Two years later, the comments would land him in court, and earn him a 10-year sentence for “incitement of ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination”, according to a leaked summary of his trial