In a bid to address China's threat to the world and its atrocities against Uyghurs, a 28-year-old Uyghur-Australian chiropractor is running for a seat in Australia's Parliament, according to a media report.
The Uyghur chiropractor, Intezar Elham, said that she decided to run in Australia's May 2022 election in October last year after she was invited to become a candidate by the newly formed Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance, a small party that promotes human rights in China, reported Radio Free Asia.
Elham said that she is the first and youngest Uyghur-Australian Muslim to run for parliament and wanted to give voice to Uyghurs in Australian politics.
During a demonstration in front of the Chinese consulate in Adelaide in southern Australia on March 30, Elham attributed her decision to run for parliament to Liberal Party's failure to be tough on China.
"But even if we don't win -- our goal is bigger than that. My goal is to shift the national conversation and debate on major issues like the threat the Chinese government poses to this country and the world," the media outlet quoted her as saying.
On her website, Elham said that she never saw herself entering politics, however, she cannot sit by and watch the Chinese Communist Party corrupt Australia and its democracy.
Referring to the consulate which opened in Australia in March 2021 in an area containing a large number of Uyghurs and near a Uyghur language school, she said, "We can see this influence for example, in the imposing Chinese consulate in Joslin built without consultation with the community and spying on us. We must stand up."
For years, Chinese authorities have subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang to arbitrary arrests and detentions in internment camps, physical abuse, and restrictions on their religious practices and culture in what the United States and legislatures of several other Western countries say amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.
The US and parliaments in some Western countries have declared China's actions against the Uyghurs and other Turkic people a genocide and crimes against humanity, though China has denied accusations of abuse, Radio Free Asia reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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