iPhone longtime supplier accused of using forced Uighur Muslim labor in China
Beijing: Documents uncovered by a human rights group has revealed and accused one of the oldest and reputed suppliers of Apple’s iPhones of using forced Muslim labor in its factories.
The document discovered by the Tech Transparency Project and shared exclusively with The Washington Post reveals thousands of Uighur workers mostly hailing from the Muslim region of Xinjiang were forced to work for Lens Technology.
Lens Technology is one of at least five companies connected to Apple's supply chain that has now been linked to alleged forced labor from the Xinjiang region, according to human rights groups. Lens Technology stands out from other Apple component suppliers because of its high-profile founder and long, well-documented history going back to the early days of the iPhone.
Lens also supplies Amazon and Tesla, according to its annual report.
"Our research shows that Apple's use of forced labor in its supply chain goes far beyond what the company has acknowledged," said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project.
Apple, however, categorically rejected the claims and said that Lens Technology has not received any labor transfers of Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Josh Rosenstock, Apple spokesman added that Apple has ensured that none of its other suppliers are using Uighur labor transferred from Xinjiang.
Looking for the presence of forced labor is part of every supplier assessment we conduct, including surprise audits. These protections apply across the supply chain, regardless of a person's job or location. Any violation of our policies has immediate consequences, including possible business termination. As always, our focus is on making sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect, and we will continue doing all we can to protect workers in our supply chain" Rosenstock said.
Lens Technology however did not respond to requests for comment according to The Washington Post.
In response to faxed questions from The Post, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing called forced labor in China "nonexistent" and accused people with "ulterior motives" of fabricating it. It said a number of companies had hired auditors to conduct investigations, which "confirmed the nonexistence of 'forced labor.'" It did not name the companies.
"Apple claims to take extraordinary measures to monitor its supply chain for such problems, but the evidence we found was openly available on the Internet," said Paul of the Tech Transparency Project.
Xinjiang, in the far reaches of Western China bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other Muslim-majority countries, is facing a brutal crackdown by China's government, which has placed more than a million Muslims in concentration camps or forced them to work in factories making everything from cotton to soft drinks to electronics.
Some Uighur workers have told human rights groups that they were given a choice between taking a job in a far-flung factory and being sent to a detention center. In some cases, workers have said that when they "accept" the job, they live in heavily guarded campuses and are rarely allowed to leave. In the evenings, when their shifts end, the Uighur workers say they are forced to take lessons in communist propaganda. Whether the Uighurs are paid, and exactly how much, is unclear.
Some of these labor transfers sent workers to Lens Technology campuses in Hunan, according to an August 2019 article in the Global Times of China.
In a previous report, the Tech Transparency Project alleged the cotton T-shirts worn by Apple Store employees were also sourced from forced labor in Xinjiang. Rosenstock has said Apple doesn't receive shirts from Xinjiang, but would not say whether the company ever did in the past.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
