UK ordered to open probe into import of cotton made by Uighur slave labour

British authorities must reconsider whether to open an investigation into imports of cotton allegedly produced by slave labour in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a London court has ruled, allowing an appeal by a Uighur rights group.

The World Uyghur Congress, an international organisation of exiled Uighur groups, took legal action on Thursday against Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) after it declined to begin a criminal investigation.

Rights groups and the US government accuse China of widespread abuses of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the western region of Xinjiang, from where the vast majority of Chinese-produced cotton emanates.

Beijing vigorously denies any abuses and its embassy in Washington has previously described allegations of forced labour as "nothing but a lie concocted by the US side in an attempt to wantonly suppress Chinese enterprises".

"The Chinese government has made it very clear that the allegation of 'forced labour' in Xinjiang is nothing but an enormous lie propagated by anti-China elements to smear China," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said.

In its legal action, the World Uyghur Congress argued that the NCA wrongly failed to investigate whether cotton from the region amounts to "criminal property".

'A moral triumph'

Last year, a judge at London's High Court ruled there was "clear and undisputed evidence of instances of cotton being manufactured ... by the use of detained and prison labour as well as by forced labour".

But the legal challenge was dismissed on the grounds that the British authorities' approach to the law – which was that there has to be a clear link between alleged criminality and a specific product – was correct.

The Court of Appeal overturned that decision, ruling that "the question of whether to carry out an investigation ... will be remitted to the NCA for reconsideration".

A spokesperson for the NCA said: "We respectfully note the judgment of the Court of Appeal and are considering our next steps."