[arista]

It made the Man
so happy, as he has not seen his mother for years.
The Agent in China had two phones
so he watched via that.

But then he told the man in England, to attend
the next Uyghur meeting in England
and tell them what they are saying.


He refused to be a Spy for China.


I assume he will never see his mother again.



[China is pressuring Uyghurs living
abroad to spy on human rights campaigners
by threatening families back home, researchers say.
Refugees and activists tell the BBC intimidating
tactics are tearing communities apart.

"My dearest son," said Alim's mother as
she flickered into view.
"I didn't think I'd see you before I died."

Alim - not his real name - says he was
overcome by the moment.
The reunion over a video call was their
first contact in six years,
since he fled as a refugee to the UK.

But it was bittersweet: someone else
was in control of the call.
Like all Uyghurs - a mostly Muslim minority
from north-western China - Alim's mother lives
under intense surveillance and control.
They could never call each other directly.

Instead, a middleman phoned
Alim and his mother from
two separate mobiles.
He held the phone screens to face each other,
so the pair could see wobbly images
of each other - and hear muffled
sound from the speakers.

Alim says they barely spoke,
and spent most of the call in tears.

He doesn't know if the plain white wall
he could see behind his mother was in
her house in Xinjiang or an internment camp,
where the Chinese government is alleged
to have detained more than a million Uyghurs.
China has long denied those charges.

But Alim says he knew this contact with
his mother would come at a cost - because the
man brokering the call was a Chinese police officer.
A file photo from 2019 showing Uygher women
going through the entrance to a
bazaar in Hotan, Xinjiang, past police officers
and a gateway covered in razor wire]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-66337328

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