WUC: expresses concern about Chinese whistleblower Guan Heng’s impending deportation from the US
WUC : The impending deportation of Guan Heng, a Chinese citizen whose covert recordings of East Turkistan’s detention camps were crucial in exposing extensive atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, has caused the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) to voice serious concerns.
WUC said in a news statement, “Guan Heng discreetly recorded extensive detention complexes in East Turkistan in 2020, providing unique visual evidence that supported investigative reporting on the Chinese government’s widespread repression campaign and victim testimonials. Later, his video was sent to academics and journalists, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team at BuzzFeed News, which added to the expanding body of evidence about mass imprisonment.
According to the press statement, Guan fled China and traveled through various dangerous nations before seeking safety in the United States in 2021. Since then, he has applied for asylum via the US immigration system, obtained a legal US work visa, and led an open life.
WUC emphasized that in spite of these conditions, Guan is being detained at the Broome County Jail in New York and faces deportation because of the manner in which he entered the country, not because his asylum claim was denied. He is awaiting a court hearing in New York on December 15, according to Human Rights in China.
WUC emphasized that Guan Heng would be seriously at danger of detention, torture, or forced disappearance if he were sent back to China. He would probably be subject to reprisals under China’s extensive national security regulations for his collaboration with foreign media and his attempts to expose governmental misdeeds. His family members have already been harassed and questioned by Chinese security officials.
According to the press release, journalists, human rights organizations, and China experts are very concerned about the issue and warn that deporting Guan would send a chilling message to witnesses and whistleblowers of mass crimes worldwide.
The World Uyghur Congress called on US officials to immediately stop Guan Heng’s deportation proceedings and to make sure that his asylum claim is thoroughly and equitably examined in compliance with international non-refoulement commitments and US refugee legislation.
The statement emphasized that Guan put his life in danger to uncover atrocities that the Chinese government was trying to conceal and that he should not be sent back to the persecution he assisted in exposing in light of the United States’ acknowledgment of the Uyghur genocide.