UK MPs seek to block Xinjiang official's trip

London, Feb 10 A group of cross-party UK MPs are urging the government to block a planned visit by a senior Chinese official accused of overseeing severe human rights violations in Xinjiang.

If the trip goes ahead, the MPs argue, a private prosecution should be allowed to be brought against him, the BBC reported.

One even suggested the Chinese official should be arrested.

Erkin Tuniyaz is a top-level Chinese Communist Party member and the Governor of Xinjiang.

In 2021, MPs approved a non-binding Commons motion which declared Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang were "suffering crimes against humanity and genocide", the BBC reported.

On Thursday in the Commons, the MPs voiced their outrage after the government said Tuniyaz might arrive in the UK this weekend and have a meeting with Foreign Office officials next week.

The UN has accused China of "serious human rights violations" and possible crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

Human rights groups believe more than one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in camps.

China denies it has committed abuses in Xinjiang, and says the camps are "learning facilities" intended for deradicalisation.

Seven MPs have signed a letter to Attorney General Victoria Prentis asking her to give "serious consideration" to a request to approve a private prosecution of Tuniyaz, the BBC reported.

Lawyers for Erbakit Ortaby, an ethnic Kazakh who now lives in the UK, say they lodged the request this week.

Ortabay claims he was detained in one of a "network of internment camps" China has constructed in Xinjiang.

He alleges he was arbitrarily detained for several months, experienced forced labour, and was subjected to torture.