The western Chinese region of Xinjiang and its Muslim inhabitants have been in the headlines for several years amid reports of mass incarceration, family separations, forced labour and even forced sterilisation. Last week, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet went on a long-awaited visit to the region. But her six-day tour was not about fact-finding. Bachelet spoke only briefly about the repression in Xinjiang, urging Beijing to make sure any counter-terrorism measures don't infringe on human rights. Eleanor Hart, assistant director at the European Uyghur Institute, gives us her analysis.
Meanwhile in Japan, the co-founder of the Japanese Red Army, an anti-imperialist militant group, has been released after two decades behind bars. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Fusako Shigenobu said she was deeply sorry for the harm her group had caused to innocent victims. The once-feared Marxist-Leninist organisation, which supported the Palestinian cause, carried out several attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.
Finally, we report on a milestone for Pakistani cinema. The movie "Joyland" by Saim Sadiq, the first ever Pakistani movie to be part of the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, has won the jury prize in the Un certain regard category. The love story between a middle-class boy and a transgender dancer set in Lahore received a lengthy standing ovation at the première.
