Disney criticized for filming ‘Mulan’ in Chinese region known for alleged human rights abuses

Disney is facing heat once more for its live-action adaptation of “Mulan.”

The reboot, which pro-democracy activists were already boycotting upon release last Friday, was filmed partially in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where the government has allegedly committed human rights abuses against predominantly Muslim minorities, including the Uighurs, The Guardian reports.

Amnesty International took to Twitter Tuesday, sharing a leak to the article and asking, “@Disney, can you show us your human rights due diligence report?”

In the final credits, the studio gives “special thanks” to eight government entities in the region.

Among those entities is the public security bureau in Turpan, which is already known to house multiple re-education camps.

Documents leaked late last year to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists detailed the detainment, indoctrination, and punishment of Muslims put into these high-security prison camps.

The government previously insisted that such camps in western Xinjiang as offering voluntary education and training. China’s UK ambassador dismissed documents involved in the leak as fake news.

“It’s a total transformation that is designed specifically to wipe the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang as a separate cultural group off the face of the Earth,” Ben Emmerson QC, a prominent human rights lawyer and an adviser to the World Uighur Congress, told BBC News at the time.

The “Mulan” credits also gave thanks to the Chinese Communist party’s propaganda department in the region, the “publicity department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomy Region Committee.”

The film, an adaptation of the 1998 animated musical, centers on a young Chinese woman who fights to defend her country.

Last year, star Liu Yifei, 33, spoke out in support of Hong Kong police amid the summer protests, wherein authorities allegedly used excessive force against demonstrators.

“I also support Hong Kong police. You can beat me up now,” she reportedly wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo. In English, she reportedly added, “What a shame for Hong Kong.”

The film’s theatrical release was continuously delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic and last week dropped on Disney+.

Ahead of the release, some, such as Thai student activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal urged people to “#boycottMulan #banMulan to make Disney and the Chinese government know that state violence against the people is unacceptable.”