UK FM on prosecution of HK activists; Uighurs

UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab weighed in on prosecution of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and persecution of Uighur Muslims in China on Sunday. Raab questioned integrity of British barrister David Perry, who has agreed to act for Hong Kong government as it attempts to convict pro-democracy activists of taking part in an illegal assembly in 2019, saying case could be "resisted" under UK's legal code of ethics and that it appeared highly "mercenary."

If case is heard in Hong Kong's District Court defendants could receive a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Raab also called for High Commissioner for Human Rights at UN to be allowed to inspect China's internment camps for Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, and described ir situation as a "truly shocking set of circumstances". Raab stopped short of labeling oppression of Uighurs as gecide but conceded that re were "convincing, persuasive third party authoritative reports of serious violations of human rights on an appalling industrial scale"