SHAFAQNA- The EU and the UK have imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials over abuses against Uyghur Muslims. The steps were announced by the EU Foreign Affairs Council and the UK’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab. The sanctions agreed on Monday mark the EU’s first punitive measures on Beijing since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The four individuals will have their assets in the bloc frozen and be banned from travelling within the EU’s borders. European citizens and companies are not permitted to provide them with financial assistance, according to AlJazeera.
The four Chinese officials sanctioned by the EU have been previously subject to US sanctions. They are: Zhu Hailun, the former secretary of the political affairs committee of Xinjiang and seen as the architect of the Uighur internment program; Wang Junzheng, the head of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; Chen Mingguo, Director of Xinjiang Public Security Bureau; and Wang Mingshan a secretary to the Xinjiang autonomous region political committee.
The EU accused Chen of “arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uighurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities, as well as systematic violations of their freedom of religion or belief”, The guardian reported.