The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has imposed sanctions on a leading British Catholic human rights campaigner who highlighted widespread abuses of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.

The Chinese authorities announced the measures against Lord David Alton and eight other U.K. citizens, as well as four institutions critical of the country’s human rights record.

Alton, an independent member of the House of Lords, noted that the step followed the U.K. government’s introduction of sanctions against four senior Chinese officials last week over China’s treatment of its Uighur minority, and similar sanctions by the EU.

Writing on his website, Alton said: “The imposition of tit-for-tat sanctions is a crude attempt to silence criticism. But the CCP needs to learn that you can’t silence the whole world and that the first duty of a parliamentarian is to use their voice on behalf of those whose voices have been silenced.”