NBA player Rudy Gobert shows support for Uygurs in Xinjiang

Utah Jazz centre shares post by actor and human rights activist Omar Sy on Instagram

Frenchman praised by World Uygur Congress for being ‘the first NBA player to publicly address [the] Uygur crisis’

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NBA player Rudy Gobert has spoken out about China’s treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:31pm, 3 Oct 2020Updated: 11:25pm, 3 Oct 2020

Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert on Thursday became the first NBA player to publicly protest against China’s treatment of Uygurs, a year after Beijing boycotted the league in response to a team manager’s support of the protest movement in Hong Kong.

The 28-year-old Frenchman shared a post by the actor and human rights activist Omar Sy on Instagram.

Gobert’s post included the caption: “wrong is wrong” and had a light blue background, similar to the flag of East Turkestan, the name many Uygurs give to Xinjiang.

Reports estimate there are anywhere between several hundreds of thousands and 1.5 million Uygurs detained in re-education centres in the region.

“Rudy Gobert is the first NBA player to publicly address [the] Uygur crisis. We thank him for his courage & empathy,” read a post on the official Twitter account of the World Uygur Congress, an international organisation of exiled Uygur groups that campaign for Uygur rights and call for Xinjiang’s secession from China.

Gobert’s post coincided with China’s National Day, which commemorates the Communist Party’s founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Dissenters frequently use the date to protest against China’s human rights abuses.