Abduweli Ayup on Government Use of Facial Recognition Technology
16 October 2019
Abduweli Ayup is an Uyghur linguist currently living in exile in Bergen, Norway. He was arrested in Kashgar in August 2013 by the economic investigation team of Tianshan District, Ürümqi City and accused of false funding and illegally raising funds for his proposed schools, which promoted Uyghur language. He was incommunicado for nine months. He was not formally charged until May 2014. After a one-day trial in July, a month later the court convicted him and his associates of having "committed a crime of abusing public money". (He had sought funds to set up schools). None of the donors had filed any complaint. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $13,000.
Educated in the United States, Ayup was released a few months later. He managed to leave China via Turkey and is now a writer in exile, supported by the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). He has been investigating the use of facial recognition technology to separate ethnic groups in China, in particular Uyghurs. In this conversation with IHRB’s Salil Tripathi in Bergen, Ayup speaks of the widespread use of facial recognition. He does not advocate companies to leave China but urges them to use their leverage and influence to bring about change in Chjna and to stand up for the rights of their employees.
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Banner photo: flickr/watchsmart
