China auctioned off property of detained Uyghurs, says report
Oct 01, 2021
Beijing [China], October 2 : Chinese authorities have been auctioning off the property of some detainees and raising tens of millions of US dollars amid mass internment of its own citizens in Xinjiang province, a media report said.
Officials have auctioned off assets valued at USD 84.8 million since 2019. The property, which was sold on e-commerce sites by the local courts, came from at least 21 people, reported Taiwan News.
The sale included a variety of items including household items and others. But real estate accounted for much of the property sold. The Wall Street Journal verified the data gathered by the Uyghur Human Rights Project.
The move to auction the property seemed to aim at dismantling wealth in the Uyghur community and have targeted business leaders, Taiwan News said.
Abdujelil Helil, an Uyghur exporter, was among the persons whose property were auctioned.
Helil has been detained on terrorism financing charges since 2017.
He had to surrender US$11 million in assets to the authorities. One of his buildings was sold for US$8.3 million on Taobao, China's equivalent to Amazon, according to Taiwan News.
From 2018, the surge was reported in order to freeze assets belonging to Uyghur entrepreneurs. Officials have detained nearly a million Uyghurs in Xinjiang as they aim to "eliminate extremism".
