Tesla has faced criticism from US human rights groups over a recently opened showroom in the Xinjiang region of China.

The area is where the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim minority ethnic group, are currently facing a myriad of human rights violations.

Last year, Dominic Raab, who was then the UK foreign secretary, said that there were more than one million people detained in political “re-education” camps in the region and that the Uyghurs were facing invasive surveillance, systematic restrictions on their culture, along with the involuntary sterilisation of women, torture, and the widespread use of forced labour.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on Tesla founder Elon Musk to close the showroom, where it says Chinese authorities are “carrying out a campaign of genocide targeting the Uyghur Muslim minority”.

Tesla first announced the opening of the showroom in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

“No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority,” said CAIR national communications director Ibrahim Hooper. “Elon Musk and Tesla must close this new showroom and cease what amounts to economic support for genocide.”

Hooper noted that last month, Walmart removed products made in the Uyghur region from its Sam’s Club stores.

Last month, the organisation also welcomed President Biden’s signing of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law.

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