As Olympics open, Uyghurs set to take rights case to court

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority could come before the courts in Argentina at about the same time that the Winter Olympics open on Feb. 4 in Beijing. The case will be brought as a “universal jurisdiction criminal complaint” in Argentina by lawyers representing China’s ethnic Uyghur population. The principle of “universal jurisdiction” holds that severe crimes can be tried in any jurisdiction. Last week, an independent, unofficial body set up in Britain to assess evidence on China’s alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people concluded that the Chinese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity.