Activists urge removal of Chinese surveillance cameras from UK's Salisbury Cathedral: Report

London, Feb 2 (IANS) Several activists have called on the United Kingdom’s Salisbury Cathedral — home to one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta --considered as “Charter of Rights” -- to remove surveillance cameras manufactured by Dahua Technology, a Chinese company based in China’s Hangzhou city, a report said on Monday.

It added that similar appeals were made to the authorities overseeing Greece’s Parthenon temple, which is monitored by cameras made by another Chinese company, Hikvision.

“Cameras made by the firms have already been removed from sensitive UK government sites, over concerns that they could be remotely accessed by China and used to spy on sensitive sites. Now, fresh concerns about the two companies’ roles at sites housing foundational symbols of democracy and human rights have been raised by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and a Ukrainian organisation called Don’t Fund Russian Army,” a report in the UK's leading daily, The Guardian, stated.

“Dahua Technology boasts on its website that its low-light surveillance cameras help ensure the safety of a copy of Magna Carta, sealed by King John at Runnymede, England, in 1215. The document established limitations on feudal powers and is widely seen as a precursor to later formulations laying down democratic values and human rights protections,” it added.

Salisbury Cathedral’s website describes the 811-year-old document as a “powerful symbol of social justice” that has “inspired and encouraged freedom movements around the world”.

According to the report in a letter that surfaced during British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) ---representing the persecuted minority ethnic group from China’s Xinjiang region---accused Dahua of involvement in “genocide or crimes against humanity”.

The organisation, it said, “cited the company’s alleged involvement in facial recognition systems designed to identify Uyghurs and automate police reporting”.

The report highlighted the WUC’s claim that Dahua’s CCTV systems had “played a role in control and surveillance mechanisms” in Xinjiang aimed at persecuting the predominantly Muslim group.

“For us, it is particularly painful that the technologies of such companies are being used to protect one of the most prominent symbols of democracy and freedom,” The Guardian quoted from the WUC letter emailed to the cathedral’s head of security.

While a cathedral spokesperson said that the email had not been received, The Guardian reported seeing evidence indicating that the email was sent on December 22 last year.

The WUC raised similar concerns in an email to authorities responsible for the Parthenon temple in Greece, where cameras by the Chinese company Hikvision are in use, and called for the removal of the CCTV systems, the report noted.

--IANS

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