Beijing on Friday accused the European Parliament of hypocrisy, after a resolution called for targeted sanctions against Chinese officials over the treatment of the Uighur minority.

China has faced international condemnation for rounding up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in internment camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Members of the European Parliament said on Thursday that China's human rights record had worsened in the past year, and called for the Chinese government to "immediately end the practice of arbitrary detentions without any charge, trial or conviction".

In response to the resolution, Beijing called for the European Parliament to "abandon their double standards on counter-terrorism" and stop "interfering in China's internal affairs".

"The people of Xinjiang and the Chinese people have a greater right to speak (about the situation in Xinjiang) than those who are far away in Europe, who have never been to Xinjiang," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.

MEPs had called for "targeted sanctions and freeze assets, if deemed appropriate and effective, against the Chinese officials responsible for severe repression of basic rights in Xinjiang".

The European Parliament had presented a human rights award to the daughter of jailed Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti on Wednesday.

Jewher Ilham collected the Sakharov Prize on behalf of her father, an economics professor hailed by the parliament as a "voice of moderation and reconciliation" but condemned by Beijing as "terrorist".

Beijing initially denied the existence of the Xinjiang camps, but now says they are "vocational training centres" necessary to combat terrorism.

Last month, the New York Times obtained 403 documents on Beijing's crackdown on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region, including unpublished speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who urged officials to show "absolutely no mercy" to extremists.

EU parliament calls for China sanctions over Uighur treatment
Strasbourg, France (AFP) Dec 20, 2019 - The European Parliament has called for targeted sanctions to be imposed against Chinese officials over the treatment of the Uighur minority, in a fresh attack against Beijing.

MEPs said tools used so far by the EU have not led to tangible progress in China's human rights record which they said had worsened in the past year, in a resolution adopted Thursday.

"MEPs call on the Council to adopt targeted sanctions and freeze assets, if deemed appropriate and effective, against the Chinese officials responsible for severe repression of basic rights in Xinjiang," the European Parliament said in a statement.

"(MEPs) urge the Chinese government to immediately end the practice of arbitrary detentions without any charge, trial or conviction for criminal offence and to immediately and unconditionally release all detained persons, including this year's laureate of the Sakharov Prize, Ilham Tohti," it added.

China has faced growing international condemnation for rounding up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in a network of internment camps.

Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps, but now says they are "vocational training centres" necessary to combat terrorism.

Last month, the New York Times obtained 403 documents on Beijing's crackdown on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region, including unpublished speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping who urged officials to show "absolutely no mercy" against extremists.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament presented a human rights award to the daughter of jailed Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti.

Jewher Ilham collected the Sakharov Prize on behalf of her father, an economics professor hailed by the parliament as a "voice of moderation and reconciliation" but condemned by Beijing as "terrorist".

1,000 protest in Istanbul over China's Uighur treatment
Istanbul (AFP) Dec 20, 2019 - More than 1,000 protesters marched Friday in Istanbul to protest against China over its treatment of mainly Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, an AFP correspondent said.

They called for an end to the crackdown in China's northwestern region, where upwards of one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are believed to be held in re-education camps.

The demonstrators marched from the Fatih mosque on the city's European side of Istanbul to Beyazit square as part of the protest organised by Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).

Some were carrying the flag of 'East Turkestan', the term many Uighur separatists use for Xinjiang, which has a blue backdrop with a white crescent moon.

At one point, some protesters burned a Chinese flag while others carried posters saying: "Close the concentration camps."

Not many Muslim leaders have openly criticised the treatment of Uighurs with the exception of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which has linguistic and cultural connections with the Uighurs.

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, a German of Turkish origin, criticised China's actions last week and the Muslim community's silence but has since come under a barrage of attacks from Beijing.

China calls EU rights prize-winning Uighur 'a terrorist'
Beijing (AFP) Dec 19, 2019 - China called jailed Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti a "terrorist" on Thursday and refused to confirm whether he was still alive, after his daughter accepted a European Parliament human rights award on his behalf.

Tohti -- a former economics professor sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014 by Beijing for "separatism" -- was announced as the winner of the Sakharov Prize in October.

His daughter Jewher Ilham said as she accepted the award in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday that she did not even know if he was alive, and had not heard news of him since 2017.

When asked if Tohti was still alive on Thursday, China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang did not respond.

Geng denied knowledge of the rights prize -- as the foreign ministry did in October when the award was announced.

"I don't know the award you mentioned," Geng said, adding that Tohti was "a criminal sentenced by a Chinese court according to the law".

"We hope that relevant parties can respect China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty, and not help publicise the unworthy cause of a terrorist."

Tohti, 50, ran the UighurOnline website, which wrote in Uighur and Chinese about social issues, gaining prominence as a moderate voice drawing attention to ethnic tensions in the region.

The European Parliament hailed the former economics professor as a "voice of moderation and reconciliation" in October and called for his immediate release.

China has faced growing international condemnation for rounding up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in a network of internment camps.

Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps, but now says they are "vocational training centres" necessary to combat terrorism.

It said earlier this month that all "students" have graduated but indicated people were still "entering and exiting" the facilities.

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US says China 'can't hide' Uighur plight after Arsenal retaliation
Washington (AFP) Dec 17, 2019
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