Thread by @CharlesRollet1

new for @ipvideo: a law firm hired by Hikvision concluded it did not "knowingly or intentionally" abuse human rights in Xinjiang.

But evidence shows Hikvision knows exactly what it's doing, as it directly built & operates 5 huge Xinjiang police projects

ipvm.com/reports/arent-…

in a carefully-worded statement, Arent Fox said:

"we do not find that Hikvision entered into the five projects in Xinjiang with the intent to knowingly engage in human rights abuses or find that Hikvision knowingly or intentionally committed human rights abuses itself"

but the evidence is clear: Hikvision won five Xinjiang police projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars which include surveillance systems for mosques and 're-education' camps

a tender for one Xinjiang police project won by Hikvision noted the area is 97% Uyghur with a "strong religious atmosphere" requiring "prevention and control".

the project mandated 967 facial recognition cameras be installed at the entrance of 967 mosques - in just one county.

In this case Hikvision is not some third party supplier. Hikvision directly won contracts to design, build, finance, and operate these Xinjiang police surveillance projects for 11 to 21 years

because of these police projects, the Norwegian government's @CouncilOnEthics - which advises the country's trillion-dollar Oil Fund - determined Hikvision's human rights are "ongoing" and recommended divestment

fwiw, IPVM has asked Hikvision/Arent Fox repeatedly to release the full report of its Xinjiang investigation - however, it remains secret