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Defying Chinese surveillance, young Uyghurs abroad speak up online

A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest against Uyghur genocide, in London, Britain on April 22. [Reuters]

Unwinding for the evening in her Washington, DC flat, Uyghur activist Jewher Ilham often has two thoughts as she turns on her laptop: What should I watch tonight? And will I be interrupted by Chinese hackers again?

From her webcam switching on by itself to her laptop’s cursor moving around as she watches Netflix, it is a bugbear Ilham has learnt to live with since she started criticising the Chinese government for detaining her father, a Uyghur academic, nearly a decade ago.

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