The Italian Senate unveiled the book by World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa “La Trappola Cinese” which creates an awareness of the dangers of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and also shows how his life intertwines with the struggle for freedom and peace of the Uyghur population after decades of serious human rights violations.
The presentation was hosted by Senator Giulio Terzi in collaboration with the Global Committee for the Rule of Law – Marco Pannella. During the book launch ceremony, in addition to the author, speakers included Senators Giulio Terzi; Gianni Vernetti, former Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy; Luigi Compagna, former Senator; Vas Shenoy, founder of Dialogue on Democracy; Matteo Angioli, Secretary general of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law – Marco Pannella.
Dolkun Isa, a German national since 2006, is President of the World Uyghur Congress, an organization whose main goal is to promote democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people through nonviolent and democratic means for the Uyghur ethnic minority of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, also known as East Turkestan, in the People’s Republic of China.
In spite of the fact, the Chinese Constitution provides for equal rights for all populations living in the territory Chinese, Uyghurs suffer severe restrictions on freedom of expression and movement, arrests, torture, deportations, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary executions.
The situation deteriorated dramatically after President Xi Jinping came to power in 2013. The CCP has tightened their discriminatory and assimilationist policies in Xinjiang ever since, thus leading the main international human rights organizations, ten national parliaments (USA, Canada, UK, Taiwan, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Belgium, Ireland plus the European Parliament) have adopted resolutions stating that the crimes and human rights violations being committed against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang constitute crimes against humanity and genocide.
Since 2016, in Xinjiang, the CCP has built concentration centers presented as “re-education centers”, after a long denial, where millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkish Muslims are confined.
Dolkun Isa also emphasizes the instrumental use by Beijing of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the Red Notice alert it issues to individuals wanted by a jurisdiction, by a national court, or internationally, with a view to extradition.
In 1997 Isa was put on the Red Notice list only to be removed in 2018, thereby forcing him to live for 21 years under the constant threat of being extradited to China exclusively for political reasons.
The event was covered live on the Italian Senate TV and several media houses and journalists turned up to cover the event.