London court dismisses Uyghur rights group's legal challenge

A Uyghur rights group's legal challenge against the British government was dismissed by a London court on Friday.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) brought the challenge against the British government for failing to investigate cotton imports from the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang is a major global supplier of cotton. Rights groups allege that China uses forced labor from camps interning members of the Uyghur ethnic group to pick the crop.

What was the judge's ruling on the Uyghur challenge?

The group had taken legal action at London's High Court against the British Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Crime Agency.

Judge Ian Dove said in his ruling that he had dismissed all of the WUC's grounds of challenge.

Dove said that there is "clear and undisputed evidence of instances of cotton being manufactured in the (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) by the use of detained and prison labour as well as by forced labour."

However, he found that the Home Office's approach was "legally sound" and ruled tha the HMRC and NCA's view of the law on the proceeds of crime was correct.

"The outcome of the case does not in any way undermine the striking consensus in the evidence that there are clear and widespread abuses in the cotton industry in the (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), involving human rights violations and the exploitation of forced labour." Dove said.

The WUC argued in October that the Home Office had wrongly refused to launch a probe into the import of foreign prison-made goods.

Lawyers representing the British government argued that there had to be a clear link between "the alleged criminality and its specific product" for investigations to be launched.

sdi/rt (AP, Reuters)