To whom it may concern,

What follows is public testimony data exported from the Xinjiang Victims Database (shahit.biz) on Sun, 26 Sep 2021 15:07:20 +0000.

A total of 189 victims with the following criteria is considered:

List: Examples of international / media pressure on Xinjiang authorities The vast majority of testimonies presented come with supplementary materials - video, audio, pictures, and documents - the links to which are included here and which also may be consulted by accessing the testimonies via the original interface at www.shahit.biz.

In compiling this information, all efforts have been made to faithfully and accurately convey that which has been put forth by the testifier. In many cases, the information was imported from public sources. In others, it was submitted to us directly by the testifier.

Despite our best efforts and most professional intentions, it is inevitable that some human error is nevertheless present. Many testimonies were inputted by non-native English speakers and still require proofreading. Finally, the majority of these testimonies have not gone through rigorous corroboration and as such should not be treated as fact. We hereby leave the way in which this data will be used to the reader's discretion.

Sincerely,

the shahit.biz team 45. Berdibek Qadilbek (别乐得别克·哈得力别克)

Chinese ID: 654225196005070914 (Chaghantokay)

Basic info

Age: 59 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): challenging authority|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Quanyshbek Tursynbek, born in 1988, is a Kazakhstan citizen as of August 2017. (son)

Testimony 2*: Quanyshbek Tursynbek, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

Testimony 3*: Gene A. Bunin, independent scholar and curator of shahit.biz.

About the victim

Berdibek Qadilbek is a resident of Kazakhstan (has a residence permit).

Address in China: House No. 8401, Zhiek Village, Zhiek Township, Chaghantokay County, Xinjiang (新疆裕民县吉也克乡吉也克村8401号).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Berdibek went to China on March 4, 2018 to see his wife, who was being held in a concentration camp. He himself was detained one day after his asking the authorities to release her.

He was released in December 2018, but would still remain in China, unable to get his passport. At some point later [presumably in 2019], he was finally able to return to Kazakhstan.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Presumably for asking the authorities to release his wife from camp. [Likely for having connections to Kazakhstan, as well.]

Victim's status Released and back in Kazakhstan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Quanyshbek learned of his father's detention from his sister on WeChat. After his father's release from camp, he would be able to talk to him directly.

Gene A. Bunin learned that Berdibek was back in Kazakhstan through people who were in touch with him.

Additional information

Mention in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/

Victims among relatives

Nursaule Qabdolla (46)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://web.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://web.facebook.com/kunyshbek.tursynbek/posts/ 326130168195502&width=300 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/45_1.jpg photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/45_3.png

Entry created: 2018-10-09 Last updated: 2020-08-01 Latest status update: 2020-03-04 46. Nursaule Qabdolla (努尔沙吾列·喀布都拉)

Chinese ID: 654201195609113924 (Chochek)

Basic info

Age: 63 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Quanyshbek Tursynbek, born in 1988, is a Kazakhstan citizen as of August 2017. (son)

Testimony 2: Quanyshbek Tursynbek, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

Testimony 3*: Gene A. Bunin, independent scholar and curator of shahit.biz.

Testimony 4: Nursaule Qabdolla, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (the victim)

About the victim

Nursaule Qabdolla is a Kazakhstan permanent resident.

Address in China: No. 1 Attachment, House No. 34, Terekti Brigade, Oijailau Livestock Farm, Tacheng City, Xinjiang (新疆塔城市窝依加依劳牧场铁列克特队34号附1号).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

She returned to China on October 5, 2017, to be detained on December 9, 2017 and held in a concentration camp. When her husband visited her on March 4, 2018, she was in poor health, unable to see, and unable to eat because of stomachaches. Her hair had also been cut short.

Twice during her stay, she would be taken to a local hospital for treatment, before being returned to camp.

She was released on December 23, 2018, but did not immediately receive her passport and was kept under house arrest, with her daughter looking after her.

At some point in 2019, she returned to Kazakhstan. Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Released and back in Kazakhstan.

She was extremely skinny upon her release from detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear how the victim's son learned about the detention. [Possibly through her husband, who was able to visit the facility and talk to her through a screen on March 4, 2018.]

Gene A. Bunin learned about her status through people in contact with her in Kazakhstan.

Nursaule's account to BuzzFeed is an eyewitness testimony.

Additional information

Also mentioned in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/

Eyewitness account

[The following account was originally featured in BuzzFeed News. While an attempt to keep the eyewitness pseudo-anonymous was made in the original, with only her first name reported, the relative rarity of the name - together with the other details (age, time of detention and time of release, family situation and husband’s detention status, her city of residence) and the fact that only a few hundred ex-detainee women managed to return to Kazakhstan - essentially strip the account of all anonymity. We have therefore decided to include it, in an adapted and abridged form.]

Maybe the police officers call you first. Or maybe they show up at your workplace and ask your boss if they can talk to you. In all likelihood they will come for you at night, after you’ve gone to bed.

In Nursaule’s case, they turned up at her home just as she was fixing her husband a lunch of fresh noodles and lamb.

Nursaule’s husband was watching TV the day she was detained in late 2017 near Tacheng City, she said. She was in the kitchen when there was a sharp knock at the front door. She opened it to find a woman wearing ordinary clothing flanked by two uniformed male police officers, she said. The woman told her she was to be taken for a medical checkup.

At first, Nursaule, a sixtysomething Kazakh woman whose presence is both no-nonsense and grandmotherly, was glad. Her legs had been swollen for a few days, and she had been meaning to go to the doctor to have them looked at. Nursaule’s stomach began to rumble. The woman seemed kind, so Nursaule asked if she could return to pick her up after she’d eaten lunch. The woman agreed. But then she said something strange.

“She told me to take off my earrings and necklace before going with them, that I shouldn’t take my jewelry where I was going,” Nursaule said. “It was only then that I started to feel afraid.”

After the police left, Nursaule called her grown-up daughter to tell her what happened, hoping she’d have some insight. Her daughter told her not to worry - but something in her tone told Nursaule there was something wrong. She began to cry. She couldn’t eat a bite of her noodles. Many hours later, after the police had interrogated her for hours, she realized that she was starving. But the next meal she would eat would be within the walls of an internment camp.

After a series of blood tests, Nursaule was taken to a separate room at the clinic, where she was asked to sign some documents she couldn’t understand and press all 10 of her fingers on a pad of ink to make fingerprints. Police interrogated her about her past, and afterward, she waited for hours. Finally, past midnight, a Chinese police officer told her she would be taken to “get some education.” Nursaule tried to appeal to the Kazakh officer translating for him - she does not speak Chinese - but he assured her she would only be gone 10 days.

When Nursaule arrived, the first thing she saw were the heavy iron doors of the compound, flanked by armed police.

For several women detainees, a deeply traumatic humiliation was having their long hair cut to chin length. Women were also barred from wearing traditional head coverings, as they are in all of Xinjiang.

“I wanted to keep my hair,” said Nursaule. “Keeping long hair, for a Kazakh woman, is very important. I had grown it since I was a little girl, I had never cut it in my life. Hair is the beauty of a woman.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “They wanted to hack it off.”

After the haircut, putting her hand to the ends of her hair, she cried.

Some former detainees said there were small clinics within the camps. Nursaule remembered being taken by bus to two local hospitals in 2018. The detainees were chained together, she said.

People were coming and going all the time from the camp where she stayed, she said.

Nursaule was never beaten, but one day, she got into a squabble with an Uyghur woman who was living in the same dorm room. Guards put a sack over her head and took her to the solitary room.

There, it was dark, with only a metal chair and a bucket. Her ankles were shackled together. The room was small, about 10 feet by 10 feet, she said, with a cement floor. There was no window. The lights were kept off, so guards used a flashlight to find her, she said.

After three days had passed by, she was taken back up to the cell.

Nursaule never expected to be released.

“It was dinner time and we were lining up at the door,” she said. “They called my name and another Kazakh woman’s name.” It was December 23, 2018. She was terrified - she had heard that some detainees were being given prison sentences, and she wondered if she might be among them. China does not consider internment camps like the ones she was sent to to be part of the criminal justice system - no one who is sent to a camp is formally arrested or charged with a crime.

Nursaule had heard that prisons - which disproportionately house Uyghurs and Kazakhs - could be even worse than internment camps. She whispered to the other woman, “Are we getting prison terms?” The two were taken in handcuffs to a larger room and told to sit on plastic stools. Then an officer undid the handcuffs.

He asked if Nursaule wanted to go to Kazakhstan. She said yes. He then gave her a set of papers to sign, promising never to tell anyone what she had experienced. She signed it, and they allowed her to leave - to live under house arrest until she left for Kazakhstan for good. The day after, her daughter arrived with her clothes.

Nursaule’s daughter, who is in her late twenties, is a nurse who usually works the night shift at a local hospital in Xinjiang, starting at 6 p.m. Nursaule worries all the time about her - about how hard she works, and whether she might be detained someday too. After Nursaule was eventually released from detention, it was her daughter who cared for her, because her husband had been detained too.

Like for other Muslim minorities, government authorities have taken her daughter’s passport, Nursaule said, so she cannot come to Kazakhstan.

Snow fell softly outside the window as Nursaule spoke about what had happened to her from an acquaintance’s apartment in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, where a cheery plastic tablecloth printed with cartoon plates of pasta covered the coffee table. Nursaule spoke slowly and carefully in her native Kazakh, with the occasional bitter note creeping into her voice, long after the milky tea on the table had grown cold.

But when she asked that her full name not be used in this article, she began to weep - big, heaving sobs pent up from the pain she carried with her, from talking about things she could hardly bear to remember or relate, even to her husband.

She was thinking about her daughter, she said, and about what could happen if Chinese officials discovered she spoke about her time in the camps. It is the reason that she, like so many former detainees and prisoners, has never spoken publicly about what was done to her.

“I am still afraid of talking about this,” she said. “I can’t stand it anymore. I can’t bear it.”

“It makes me suffer to tell you this,” she said.

“But I feel that I have to tell it.”

Source: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alison_killing/china-ex-prisoners-horrors-xinjiang-camps-uighurs

Victims among relatives

Berdibek Qadilbek (45) Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://web.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://web.facebook.com/kunyshbek.tursynbek/posts/ 326130168195502&width=300 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/46_1.jpg photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_46.png

Entry created: 2018-10-09 Last updated: 2020-09-15 Latest status update: 2020-08-27 47. Erzhan Tolepbergen

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Sagira Arystanbek, a resident of Kazakhstan. (wife)

Testimony 2: Dinara Erzhan, a resident of Kazakhstan. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Erzhan Tolepbergen, an ethnic Kazakh who had relocated to Kazakhstan but was forced to spend around 2 years in Xinjiang after having his documents confiscated and movements restricted. (the victim)

About the victim

Erzhan Tolepbergen moved to Kazakhstan in 2014 and obtained a permanent-resident card.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

He went to China in February 2017 to renew his passport and had his documents confiscated upon arrival.

Over a year later, in the spring of 2018, he was summoned by the local police and told that his daughter in Kazakhstan had petitioned for him. Following an interrogation, the police confiscated his phone.

By then, Erzhan's passport had already expired and he was told that he had no chance of getting a new one. Following his elderly father's plea to the local government, a new passport was issued, prompting Erzhan to go to Urumqi to start the visa procedures, which took 10 days. The passport he received on January 31, 2019.

Before returning to Kazakhstan, he first went to Chapchal County to see his sister-in-law, during which time he was followed and interrogated by people from state security. Despite them telling Erzhan that his wife in Kazakhstan was a Wahhabi and that this matter needed to be investigated, he still managed to return to Kazakhstan on February 9, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Now back in Kazakhstan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

---

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

Erzhan Tolepbergen went to China in February 2017 to see his sick father, but had his passport confiscated upon his arrival.

In the spring of 2018, over a year later, a district police officer whom Erzhan names as Mirzat Mewlan’imin (米尔扎提·毛拉伊敏) summoned him to the police station and told him that his daughter in Kazakhstan had petitioned for him, asking for help from Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev wasn’t strong enough to get him out, however, Mewlan’imin added, before asking Erzhan about his family in China and eventually going to Erzhan’s two brothers’ work place and confiscating their phones. Erzhan’s phone was confiscated also.

Erzhan’s passport expired during this time, but Mewlan’imin told him that there was no chance for him to get a new one, and threatened to send him to camp if Erzhan came and asked again. This prompted Erzhan’s 80-year-old father to go see Mewlan’imin, saying that he was ready to accept any punishment as he was old and didn’t care, but couldn’t stand seeing his son separated from his children. He also went to see the local Party committee secretary (党委书记), who would tell Erzhan’s father that he was not aware of this and gave permission for a new passport to be issued.

After getting his new passport, Erzhan went to Urumqi to submit the necessary documents to the passport-visa service center. The visa took 10 days, while the passport he would only get on January 31, 2019.

Before returning to Kazakhstan, he decided to visit his sister-in-law in Chapchal County first, previously unable to do so for 2 years because of his ID being confiscated. At a checkpoint during the trip, he got off the bus to scan his ID – he mentions that only ethnic minorities had to get off the bus and go through these checks, not the Han. This resulted in the local police learning that he was going to Chapchal, which led to people from the security bureau following him and interrogating him for hours after he got to his sister-in-law’s house.

They told him that his wife, Sagira Arystanbek (in Kazakhstan), was a Wahhabi, and that he could not go anywhere until this matter was properly investigated. They claimed that his wife being a Wahhabi had been reported to them by the Kazakhstan side. In reality, Erzhan’s wife doesn’t even pray.

He’d ultimately return to Kazakhstan on February 9, 2019.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AOQ2KaS_0Y

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg6Z0hDTUAs Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otAeyfM5U0A Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AOQ2KaS_0Y

Entry created: 2018-10-09 Last updated: 2018-10-09 Latest status update: 2019-02-17 49. Nurbolat Shalait (努尔波拉提·沙拉依提)

Chinese ID: 654122197104123516 (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 47 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-2: Sayagul Nurbolatqyzy was born on March 2, 2000 in Xinjiang, China. In July 2014, she came to Kazakhstan with her mother, and would obtain Kazakhstan citizenship in April 2017.

Testimony 3: Sandugash Nurbolatqyzy was born on May 11, 2004 and goes to school in Almaty. She immigrated to Kazakhstan with her family in 2014.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-3: The victim is the testifiers' father.

About the victim

Nurbolat Shalayit (努尔波拉提*沙拉依提) came to Kazakhstan with one of his daughters on December 8, 2016, with the intention of settling down. In order to catch up with the school year in Kazakhstan, they didn't wait to get all of the money that they had sold their house in China for, receiving only a portion and prompting Nurbolat to go back to China to get the rest on February 3, 2017. However, his passport was taken away upon arrival in China.

In accordance with the law, the victim's wife and daughter had to send him an invitation letter, but could not do this as they did not possess a house in Kazakhstan. Sayagul's uncle, a resident of Almaty, sent the invitation letter later, on June 18, 2017. Although her father got back his passport from the local authorities after receiving the invitation letter, border control refused him passage across the border, insisting on a permit/letter from the local police. The local police took away his passport when he went there to get the permit, however.

Address: 56-1 Hebin Road, Nainiuchang (奶牛场), Yining Municipality, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

DOB: April 12, 1971. Chinese ID: 654122197104123516.

Victim's location

Now back in Kazakhstan. When victim was detained

His passport was confiscated on February 3, 2017.

On March 28, 2018, he would contact his family in Kazakhstan, saying that he may be sent to a re-education camp (as inferred from him telling his wife to take a good care of their daughters, and to be brave). He'd disappear for many months after that, all the way until his return.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

He had to stay in relatives' houses as he had sold his own. Healthwise, he has been suffering from gastritis and enteritis.

According to Sayagul on February 20, 2019 (in a private correspondence), however, he returned to Kazakhstan on February 19.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Previously via WeChat, although the victim became scared of talking about his health problems to his wife at some point, claiming that everything was fine with him.

Testimony 3: He had a phone call with his wife on March 26, 2017 [this date may be reported incorrectly].

Additional information

This story has also been featured in ChinaAid: http://www.chinaaid.org/2018/04/take-good-care-of-children-father-weeps.html

Global Voices also ran his story (albeit a day after he returned to Kazakhstan): https://globalvoices.org/2019/02/19/man-returns-to-his-native-xinjiang-and-disappears-a-story-too-comm on-for-the-headlines/

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WtKrzsGwfg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k0Vjcc6ayo Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmWMuY5bss Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/49_4.png

Entry created: 2018-10-09 Last updated: 2018-10-09 Latest status update: 2019-02-20 65. Zharqynbek Otan (加尔肯别克·吾坦)

Chinese ID: 654126198706082133 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 32 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|contact with outside world Health status: has problems Profession: culinary

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4: Shynar Qylyshova, a citizen of Kazakhstan, born in Kazakhstan. (wife)

Testimony 5: Zharqynbek Otan, as reported by Apple Daily. (the victim)

Testimony 6: Zharqynbek Otan, as reported by The Believer. (the victim)

Testimony 7: Zharqynbek Otan, as reported by Washington Post. (the victim)

Testimony 8: Zharqynbek Otan, as reported by Globe and Mail. (the victim)

Testimony 9: Lazzat Belqozha, as reported by Qazaq Uni. (relation unclear)

Testimony 10: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Zharqynbek Otan is a cook, originally from Mongolkure County but now residing in Kazakhstan with his wife and son.

Residential address during recent trip (according to press conference held by Xinjiang officials): 186 Honuqai Street, Mongolkure County.

Other reported address in China: Bargylzhyn Village, Qarasu Township (喀拉苏乡巴尔格勒津村). [This is reported in a Chinese propaganda video. In one interview, Zharqynbek says that he's from Shagan'usu Township, but Bargylzhyn is equally close to both, so this is consistent.]

Passport number: EE0589969.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan. When victim was detained

He was told by the Kazakh authorities to get a criminal record from the local police in China in order to be able to apply for Kazakhstan citizenship, and went back to China for this reason in January 2017, to be detained soon after and taken to a re-education camp [this seems to be early for re-education camps, though, especially in the north, so it's not impossible that this was some sort of police custody]. In his interview to The Believer, Zharqynbek says that he was detained while crossing the border in Qorghas, and then taken to his birthplace in Ghulja [this may just mean Ili, since Zharqynbek is from Mongolkure County in Ili Prefecture, though Uyghurs often refer to the whole prefecture as "Ghulja"].

According to the Apple Daily report, he was first taken to an interrogation room, where he spent a week before being taken to a detention center for 4 days, where he'd be beaten in the back with a club for an hour every day and wouldn't be given any food or drink for the entire four days (losing consciousness on the third day). Before being taken to the camp, he was also taken for a blood test, during which time he was also injected with an unknown serum (in The Believer interview, he says that they were told this was to protect them from AIDS and the flu). The Believer mentions that he was forced to sign a document before being taken to camp.

After 8 months in detention, he was released in August 2017, but would have to spend over a year under house arrest. His passport had expired and he had no documents, with the police telling him not to leave the house. At one point, the police provided him with a WeChat account so that he could contact his wife in Kazakhstan and tell her to stop her appeals (the police were always present during these calls). Finally, after signing a document promising not to speak about the camps, he was able to get his new passport and return to Kazakhstan in November 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The Apple Daily report mentions that, while in detention, the policeman kept asking him why he had gone to Kazakhstan and why had he been practicing Islam. This was before he was transferred to camp.

In The Believer interview, Zharqynbek says that the police said that he had been to a Muslim state, and then asked him why he had not taken citizenship there and why he had come back to China. Zharqynbek says that he was detained for having WhatsApp on his phone.

Victim's status

Back in Kazakhstan, but struggling with post-trauma, memory, and impotency issues.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Zharqynbek's is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Apple Daily report: https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/受害者/加爾肯別克-奧坦/全文

Washington Post coverage: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/chinas-expanding-war-on-islam-now-theyre-coming-for-the-ka zakhs/2019/03/01/16ebbe76-38ff-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html This victim is included in the list of Mongolkure victims provided to Qazaq Uni (https://qazaquni.kz/2018/09/28/90575.html) by Lazzat Belqozha, also available at: https://shahit.biz/supp/list_005.pdf

---

Mention in the Globe and Mail (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-i-felt-like-a-slave-inside-chinas-complex-system-of-incar ceration/):

Zharqynbek Otan, 31, was released from indoctrination centres into a strict form of house arrest. For more than a year, he barely moved from the home where he was staying with relatives in Xinjiang. “There was a CCTV camera installed in front,” he said. If he wanted to visit family, or even call them on the phone, “I needed permission for that.”

...

Chinese officials stress that detainees get valuable employee training. But Zharqynbek Otan, 31, says he got no training at all at the indoctrination centre he was sent to before being released into a strict form of house arrest. 'I would have been happy if there was such a thing,' says Mr. Otan.

...

Mr. Otan finds himself “constantly distracted” by thoughts of what he has experienced. “Sometimes, I don’t want to live any more,” he said.

---

On March 5, 2020, the Chinese propaganda media outlet CGTN released a short video (https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-05/U-S-claims-of-human-rights-violations-in-Xinjiang-debunked-OB pd7cASsw/index.html), in which they "interviewed" some of Zharqynbek's relatives - his father and sister, as well as his neighbor - who generally claimed that everyone was living well and that neither Zharqynbek nor anyone else in the family had ever been detained.

---

On March 2, 2020, he was also mentioned in a press conference held by the Xinjiang People's Government Information Office (https://archive.vn/2J2qV), where it was acknowledged that Zharqynbek had received "administrative punishment" after entering China on January 16, 2017 with what was allegedly a deliberately damaged passport. The piece goes on to say that he would continue to live with his father after this, until applying to return to Kazakhstan and being issued a new passport on October 26, 2018, leaving China two weeks later. His relatives allegedly said that he was in good health and was never detained.

Eyewitness account

[The following is the victim's first-person account to The Believer magazine, as reported by Ben Mauk.]

It was in some mountainous place. We drove out in a windowless van with a metal grate inside. I couldn’t see anything. Before, at the police station, they’d given me a medical exam. They’d taken a blood sample. I couldn’t understand what my sentence was — what I’d done wrong.

I was born in Ghulja in 1987. I came to Kazakhstan when I was twenty-four. The next year I got married to a local girl. For five years I worked as a line cook in a café. I had a residence permit, but my Chinese passport was about to expire, so I went to the consulate. They told me I had to go back to China to replace it. I crossed the border in January 2017. At the crossing at Khorgos, I was detained. They took all my documents and took my bags. They interrogated me, checked my phone. You know, WhatsApp is illegal in China, they told me. At some point, they asked about my religion, and I told them I prayed five times a day. I told them I was a practicing Muslim.

They took me to Ghulja. There the police interrogated me again. The same questions, but this time they beat me. You’ve been to a Muslim state, they said. Why didn’t you take their citizenship? Why are you here? After beating me, they brought me a piece of paper to sign and put my thumbprint on it. Then they took me to the camp.

At the camp, they took our clothing away. They gave us a camp uniform and administered a shot they said was to protect us against the flu and AIDS. I don’t know if it’s true, but it hurt for a few days.

I was taken to a room equipped with a security camera and twelve or fifteen low beds. There was a toilet in the corner. For eight months, I lived in this camp, although not always in this room. They moved us from room to room roughly every month, seemingly at random. All the rooms were similar to the first. I began to realize it was a huge building — it seemed endless. Once a week we were made to clean some part of it, scrubbing and sweeping. That’s how I learned that all around the building stood a high fence and that every corner had a camera stuck into it.

They had strict rules. This is not your home, the guards would tell us. Don’t laugh or make jokes, don’t cry, don’t speak with one another. Don’t gather in groups. The guards came from every background. There were Kazakh and Uighur guards, but the Chinese guards were the ones who would beat you. They told me just what the police had told me. You’ve been to a foreign country, they said. Your ideology is wrong.

We had Chinese-language lessons. We learned the Chinese anthem and other official songs. We learned Xi Jinping’s policies. I couldn’t speak Chinese and I can’t say I learned anything from the classes. If their purpose was to teach us Chinese, why did they have so many old people in the camp? How could they learn Chinese? What I gathered from those classes was that they just wanted to erase us as a nation, erase our identity, turn us into Chinese people.

It was cold. The whole time it was cold. I’ve got health problems now because of it. I was disciplined more than once. My second night at the camp, I turned off the lights in the room so that we could sleep. It was against the rules to turn off the lights, even at night, but I didn’t know that. So in the middle of the night they burst into the room. I admitted that I was the one who had turned them off. We don’t switch off the lights, they said. Don’t you know the rules? And they beat me with wooden batons, five or six blows on my back. You could be punished for anything: for eating too slowly, for taking too long on the toilet. They would beat us. They would shout at us. So we always kept our heads down.

Since we couldn’t talk to one another, we shared notes in class. I got to know five others in class with me in this way, all of whom came from Kazakhstan. We became good friends. Like me, they’d been detained for having WhatsApp, or else for holding so-called dual citizenship in China and Kazakhstan. I have no idea what happened to any of them.

I tried to behave well in the camp. I understood that because I had relatives in Kazakhstan, I was likely to get out sooner. I saw it happen to others. Even when I was at the camp, although I didn’t know it, my wife was complaining. I don’t think they would have let me out of the camp without those complaints. She was publicizing my case, and in August, after eight months in the camp, they released me to my parents.

The police drove me to their house around midnight. Early the next morning, officials came by. Don’t go out, they said, and don’t let us see you so much as holding a phone in your hands. You have no documents, they said, so you can’t leave the house. They had a reason for everything. It was never their fault, never their decision. It was always due to some rule.

All the while my wife was working to publicize my case. One day the police came and said, It turns out you have a wife in Kazakhstan. She is complaining. We’ll get a WeChat for you. And just like that, they let us talk on the phone. Of course, we cried at seeing each other. It turned out my wife had been filing endless complaints and petitions while I’d been in the camp, and uploading videos to YouTube. The police asked me to tell my wife to stop complaining. They wanted me to convince my wife to come to China with our son. I suggested to them that they should just let me go. You’re a Chinese citizen, they said. You should stay here. I replied that I had a wife and son in Kazakhstan. Well, they replied, this is none of our business.

The officials were always present in the room when I called, so I did as they said. I told her to stop complaining and suggested she come to China. But she refused. I won’t stop, she said, not even if they put you back in prison. I won’t stop until you’re home. The policemen wrote down all my information, and after three days they called to say they were going to let me return to Kazakhstan. They promised they would send my passport as long as I swore not to tell anyone in Kazakhstan about the camps. They made me sign a pledge not to disclose any information about “internal developments” in China, and to return to China once I’d visited my wife and son. I had to sign it to get my passport, but still they wouldn’t give it to me. Your passport is ready, they said, but your wife will not stop complaining! Didn’t you tell her we were going to send you back? Every step was a struggle.

Even when I finally got my passport, even with a plane ticket my wife had bought in my hand, I still found I couldn’t leave. I’d traveled to Urumqi. At midnight, I was at the airport, ready to board. As I was about to get on the plane, they stopped me. We have a notice here that your local police force didn’t authorize your exit from the country. So they called the local police, who said I’d forgotten to sign some form. I threw my passport at the airline employee. I threw all my documents onto the desk. I have the visa, I said. I have the passport. Why don’t you let me go?

I had to go back to my village. I called my wife and she started another campaign. She contacted the embassy. Within fifteen minutes of her making that call, I got a call from local police. They returned my passport again and told me I was free to leave as long as I told them when I was planning to leave the country. I took my passport but didn’t tell them anything. Instead, I went straight to Khorgos. When I reached Khorgos, I got a call on my cell phone. It was the village police, asking where I was. I’m at my nephew’s, I said. I’ll come to you straightaway. I was already at the border, inside the free-trade zone. I took the last minivan of the day to the Kazakh side of the border. The border guards asked my destination. Kazakhstan, I said. Did you get permission from the police? Yes, I said, and held my breath. As soon as I crossed the border, I took the SIM card from my phone and threw it away. I bought a new SIM card and called my wife. I’m here, I said.

And now I’m home, but my health — to put it simply, I don’t have health. For the past five months, I’ve been tired. All the time. I lose my memory. Sometimes I can’t remember anything, and — I’ll be frank — I’m impotent. I went to the doctor and they found microbes in my blood.

All through my detention, I tried to have patience. I told myself that everything that was happening was a test — that I should endure it. When I looked around the camp at my Muslim brothers, at my Kazakh, Uighur, and Dungan brothers, I saw that this was an attempt to divide and destroy our identity: a tool of Chinesification. I don’t think they were ever planning to let me go.

Source: https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

[This is an excerpt from an official press conference held on March 2, 2020 by the XUAR People's Government Information Office.]

China Global Television Network: The CECC’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019-China alleged that:"Xinjiang arbitrarily detained ethnic minorities including the Uygur and tortured the detainees. Nurmuhemmet Tohti, a famous Uygur writer, died in a detention camp; A Uygur named Mutellip Nurmehmet died 9 days after releasing from the Education and Training Center." Is it true?

Xu Guixiang: This question goes to Rishat Musajan.

Rishat Musajan, Mayor of Hotan City: Xinjiang fights terrorism and extremism in accordance with law, which doesn't target any ethnicity, and protect people under the threat of terrorism and extremism instead. This is the important principle we uphold all the time. In practice, we insist that everyone, regardless of his or her identity or ethnicity, is equal before the law as long as he or she breaks the law. Anyone who engages in terrorism and extremism related activities or endangers public safety and property, will surely be brought to justice. In line with the principle of the criminal law that advocates a combination of punishment and leniency, we resort to education and rehabilitation to bring about and educate people who are infected by religious extremism and committed minor offences in education and training Centers established according to the law. So-called “arbitrary detentions of ethnic minorities including the Uygur” have never existed at all.

In real practice, the education and training centers strictly followed the Constitution and laws to prevent any violation of the basic rights of the trainees. Trainees' personal freedom at the education and training centers were protected. The centers were managed in residential education model which allowed trainees to go back home and ask for leave to attend personal affairs. The trainees’ right to use their spoken and written languages were fully protected at the centers. The regulations, curriculum, and menus at the centers all used local ethnic languages as well as standard Chinese. The customs of all ethnic groups were fully respected and protected, and a variety of nutritious Muslim food was provided free of charge. The education and training centers respect the trainees’ freedom of religious belief. The trainees decided on their own whether to take part in religious activities when they went back home. The centers were fitted with clinics on campus providing the trainees with 24-hour medical care free of charge. Minor ailments were treated in the clinics, while acute and serious illnesses will be timely referred to and treated at hospitals.

The allegations in the CECC's report that writer Nurmuhemmet Tohti died in a detention camp; and Mutellip Nurmehmet died 9 days after being releasing from a education and training center are totally fabricated rumors out of thin air. Nurmuhemmet Tohti is a Uygur from Hotan who has never studied in any education and training center. He had been suffering from heart disease for 20 years, in which he either was hospitalized for treatment or stayed at home for recuperation for quite long time. On the evening of May 31, 2019, he was struck by a massive heart attack and rush to a hospital where he died after emergency rescue failed.

Mutellip Nurmehmet, male, Uygur, a native of Urumqi, Xinjiang, had never studied in any education and training center before he died. According to the information reporters obtained through a visit to his home, he died of excessive drinking derived acute alcohol intoxication, alcoholic encephalopathy, respiratory failure and acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

The death of one’s relatives is a heart broken experience. However, some Americans made rumors about it, which made them extremely angry. I think anyone with a conscience would never do such a immoral thing.

...

China News Service: It was mentioned in the CECC’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019-China that the Washington Post interviewed the wife of Zharqynbek Otan, a Chinese Kazakh by ethnicity who had been held in a "Vocation Education and Training Center" for nearly two years before he returned back to Kazakhstan. After release, he suffers memory impairment, among other health problems". Can you give some more information on this?

Xu Guixiang: This question goes to Elijan Anayit.

Elijan Anayit, Spokesperson of the Information Office of the People's Government of XUAR: Zharqynbek Otan is a 33-year-old Kazakh from Zhaosu County of Ili Kazakh Prefecture, Xinjiang. On January 16, 2017, he entered China via Horgas Port from Kazakhstan. Border check found his passport pages from 15 to 20 were missing and his Kazakhstan Visa on Page 22 was deliberately altered by him manually. According to Item 1, Article 71 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Entry and Exit Administration. he was handed an administrative punishment and his passport nullified by local police agency.

Since then, Zharqynbek Otan has been living in his father's house at No.186 Honghanai Street, Zhaosu Country. His personal freedom has never been restricted and he never studied at any Vocational Education and Training Center. On October 26, 2018, upon his personal application for visiting his family members in Kazakhstan, local authority issued him a new passport through due procedures and he departed China on November 11, 2018. His family members in China affirmed that he was in good health condition with no memory problems before he left, let alone such a thing that he barely recognizes his family members.

With this opportunity, I would like to remind journalists from some American media, the handful of so-called witnesses you had interviewed, especially "East Turkistan" members wandering overseas, not only fabricate rumors themselves but also exploit the international media coverage by every means to mislead public opinion. I hope that your future reports must be based on fact and truth. Don't fall into traps of these vicious people and become a spreader of rumors, which damages your public credibility.

Victims among relatives

Otan Ashiraqyn (2189)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Eu-gG-HXY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKletsht0KA Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOghyPHfJc Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwW207C9Z2w with wife and son: https://shahit.biz/supp/65_5.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/65_6.png propaganda report: https://shahit.biz/supp/65_7.mp4 official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_65.png

Entry created: 2018-10-12 Last updated: 2021-05-01 Latest status update: 2020-03-03 67. Erbol Ergali (叶日布鲁·叶尔哈力)

Chinese ID: 654126199110201036 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 27 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"problematic" association, related to going abroad Health status: has problems Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|6: Nurshat Mamish, born in 1967, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. (mother)

Testimony 5: Erbol Ergali, an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang who is now residing in Kazakhstan. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. (the victim)

About the victim

Erbol Ergali is married and a father of two. He is a businessman, and was frequently doing business between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang.

Address in China: House No. 51, Qotyrqai Village, Aqdala Township, Mongolkure County, Ili Prefecture (新疆昭苏县阿克达拉乡呼图海村51号).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

He went to China to sell his family's real estate, but had his passport taken away by the local police in January 2018.

On February 19, 2018, he was arrested and put into a camp, where he would spend 8 months prior to being released on October 8, 2018. He then remained under house-town arrest for another 5 months, before returning to Kazakhstan in February 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the victim himself, he was initially accused of visiting Kazakhstan and having parents there, though he was later told that it was because he had come into contact with an Uyghur in Kashgar. Victim's status

Back in Kazakhstan.

While on parole following his release from camp, he was reported as having problems with his health and receiving treatment at the hospital. [It is not clear if these have been resolved.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Erbol's is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

---

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

Erbol had been doing business in Xinjiang and would visit the Korgas International Center for Boundary Cooperation regularly. On February 19, 2018, he was put into a camp after being accused of visiting Kazakhstan and having his parents there, where he would then spend almost 8 months before being released on October 8, 2018.

Upon his release, he was told that he’d be under house/village arrest for another 6 months. When needing to go to the county seat to resolve certain matters, he’d first need to get a permit from the village administration. What was particularly inconvenient was that he had already sold his house in the village to buy one in the county seat, but could not actually live there because of the village arrest (he had not yet changed his registration). After four months, he was finally allowed to live at his home in the county seat, and was told that he would be allowed to go abroad.

According to Erbol, the IDs of those who were once in camp are programmed to beep whenever they go through a detector anywhere, prompting security to take the person’s photo (posing with the ID in their hand) and leading to all sorts of trouble/inconvenience.

He was later told that he had been taken to camp because of contacting a criminal while in Kashgar – an Uyghur who was Erbol’s business partner. Erbol didn’t understand how he was supposed to know that someone had once been a criminal, as the Uyghur man was free and doing business, with nothing to prompt Erbol to be suspicious about him. The whole thing was just an excuse. The police also told him that they had prevented him from following a wrong path and becoming a criminal himself. However, it seems that the Uyghur man wasn't a former criminal at all – just a practicing Muslim.

While in camp, Erbol was allowed to see his relatives once a month. There, they learned the Chinese language, Chinese law, and attended anti-religion propaganda lectures. It was easy for them as they were young and were not abused physically, but it was very hard for the older people, who couldn't learn Chinese and were punished as a result. Even an 80-year-old man was punished, according to Erbol, having one hand tied to the ceiling and forced to stand that way for hours. The camp was also hell for the elderly because some people couldn't control their need to urinate, and toilets could only be used during fixed times, and not whenever one needed. Some elderly people, having been unable to relieve themselves during the designated times, would potentially find themselves beaten for asking to use the toilet outside the fixed schedule.

Erbol says that he wasn’t sentenced as he wasn't there on religious charges. Imams, however, could be sentenced to more than 20 years, and would be handcuffed and shackled 24/7. There were 5000 people in the facility, with 4 such facilities in Mongolkure County alone.

Outside the detention facilities, the people who were "free" could not greet their elders with “essalamu eleykum”, which among Kazakhs is more traditional than religious.

According to Erbol, asking for your passport resulted in the officials telling you that they would give it back in exchange for giving up all government subsidies/allowances and pensions.

Once Erbol was summoned by the county-level police, where a representative from the Yining foreign affairs office told him that his case had gotten international attention, before telling him to “be good in Kazakhstan”, because he (Erbol) would be a representative of China. Before that, it had been nearly impossible for him to meet even with the village head, as he would have to stand two hours in front of the village administration building in cold winter weather just to meet the village head to talk about his sister Dinara's case.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2v9Xxur2Bo

Victims among relatives

Dinara Ergali (66), Arai Muqai (4158), Raian Erbol (4159), Nurmuhamet Erbol (4160)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-g-_6LoI8g Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4M2AemuZyQ Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-KtcYQT_lQ Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBd0jnwHaBM Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2v9Xxur2Bo Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uOH6YVaDBw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/67_7.png

Entry created: 2018-10-12 Last updated: 2018-10-12 Latest status update: 2019-02-12 96. Serik Qudaibergen (夏日克·胡达衣贝尔汗)

Chinese ID: 65422119710414181X (Dorbiljin)

Basic info

Age: 48 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: forced job placement When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: religion

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|5|7|8|9|11: Aibota Serik, a student in Almaty and now Kazakhstan citizen. (daughter)

Testimony 2|6|10: Gulshar Qudaibergen, born in 1961, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 3|4: Amangul Toleu, born in 1989, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (niece)

Testimony 12*: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (friend of relative)

About the victim

Serik Qudaybergen (夏日克*胡达衣贝尔汗) is a Chinese citizen. Emigrated to Kazakhstan in 2012 and had a Kazakhstan’s Green Card. He was appointed as an Imam in Koksu countryside in accordance with the law. He has a relevant certificate as well.

Home address: Koksu（阔克苏) Countryside 000334, Kurti (二道桥) Village, Emin （额敏）County, Tacheng（塔城）Region, Xinjiang, China.

DOB: April 14, 1971. Chinese ID: 65422119710414181X.

Victim's location

Dorbiljin (Emin) County, Tarbagatai (Tacheng) Region, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

When victim was detained

February 2018 (but Aibota couldn’t reach him since New Year’s)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear Victim's status

G. A. Bunin (Testimony 12): "At the end of December 2018, I was able to confirm through a source who knows the testifier that the victim has been released from camp and presumably transferred to house arrest."

Testimony 7: the testifier heard that her father has been released from camp and is now working as a guard in a village.

Testimony 9: on January 23, 2019, the testifier sent an invitation letter to her parents and a brother to move to Kazakhstan.

Testimony 10: released in January 2019.

Testimony 11: Aibota was able to contact her father through a voice call twice, last time on February 20, and her father told her she can only call once every month, video calls not allowed. He also asked Aibota to stop petitioning. This was about a week after the BBC story featuring Aibota came out.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

From her mother and brother. However, The testifier contacted her mother and brother in the first week of March 2018 for the last time and completely lost contact with them since. She has no idea about their whereabouts and how they really are.

Testimony 8: From her relatives in June 2018.

Additional information

An official invitation for the Oralman repatriation program, stamped by the Chinese consulate in Almaty, has been sent to the local Emin county police. During a phone call with her father, he informed Aibota that the family has received the letter, but Aibola doubts it, since they are not allowed to receive passports.

This story has also been reported on by the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47157111

Victims among relatives

Qamargul Tilesh (2258), Esbol Serik (2259)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOBaF02MgJw Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-SP4bo_cuU Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-hAaO9tqv0 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTaKdE1An7A Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_VmCqhQ4Tg Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atwbFk9wAhc Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djcL7Txp1rs Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0r_sj0s5i4 Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avs2ueH5ThM Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Lujt6Jy5Y Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoqkDy9p_Mc Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/96_12.png

Entry created: 2018-10-15 Last updated: 2021-01-02 Latest status update: 2019-08-05 120. Erzhan Qurban (叶尔江·库尔帮)

Chinese ID: 654121197807014272 (Ghulja County)

Basic info

Age: 41 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|4|5|6|8: Mainur Medetbek, now a Kazakhstan citizen, born in 1976. (wife)

Testimony 3: Hanisa Erzhan, born in China in 2006, but now living in Kazakhstan. (daughter)

Testimony 7: Erzhan Qurban, as reported by Apple Daily. (the victim)

Testimony 9: Erzhan Qurban, as reported by Radio Télévision Suisse. (the victim)

Testimony 10: Erzhan Qurban, as reported by Die Zeit. (the victim)

Testimony 11: Erzhan Qurban, as reported by Associated Press. (the victim)

Testimony 12: Erzhan Qurban, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (the victim)

About the victim

Erzhan Qurban is a farmer who also used to do odd repair jobs for a living.

Address in China: Group No. 2, Paltiway Village, Mazar Township, Ghulja County, Xinjiang (新疆伊宁县麻扎乡帕勒特外村2组).

Chinese passport: G58818764. Kazakhstan green card: 026898659.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

The majority of the testimonies from his wife, Mainur, say that he went back to China in November 2017 - to look after his elderly mother and to have his daughter, Shugulan, treated. His documents would be confiscated upon arrival (November 29, 2017), with Erzhan being sent to camp on February 6, 2018 (February 8 according to his eyewitness account to Die Zeit).

There are some conflicts in the testimonies regarding the dates, however, as one testimony says that he was sent to a camp on January 1, 2018, while another - from the victim's daughter - says April 2018 [this may simply be an error on the young daughter's part, however].

For reasons that are unclear, the dates differ drastically in the victim's account to the Apple Daily, where he is reported as returning to China in September 2016 and living with his mother under house arrest until being arrested in April 2017, being held for two weeks, and then released. He would later be arrested again and taken to the Yining County No. 3 Middle School and then later transferred to another, more "official", camp in September 2018. [Perhaps this is reporting error.]

According to both Mainur and Erzhan himself, he was released from the camp on November 3, 2018, before being sent to work at a factory on November 8 (in one testimony, Mainur gives November 12 as the date, however). According to Erzhan, he was threatened with being sent back to camp if he refused. He would then spend 53 days working in an assembly line at a factory in the Yining County Jiafang Clothing Industrial Park (新疆伊宁县家纺服装产业园), helping stitch clothes and earning only 300RMB in total. Once a week, he would be shuttled home and allowed to see his daughter. Speaking to Radio Azattyq, Erzhan says that the factory building was three stories high, with 75 people on the first floor ironing shirt sleeves. He and other workers were paid 97 dollars/month, he says [this may have been the nominal rate, not what they were actually given].

On January 20, 2019, he was returned his documents. He returned to Kazakhstan the next day.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Now back in Kazakhstan.

According to the Apple Daily, his health has deteriorated as a result of his stay in the camps, and he has lost his sexual potency. (Erzhan mentions that he believes something may have been put in the prisoners' rations.)

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Mainur learned about Erzhan's situation from relatives in Xinjiang, and later from Erzhan himself when he called her after being released from camp.

Erzhan's is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Apple Daily coverage: https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/受害者/葉爾江/全文

Le Point coverage: https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/les-ouigours-parias-de-la-nouvelle-chine-12-10-2019-2340852_24.php AP coverage: https://apnews.com/4ab0b341a4ec4e648423f2ec47ea5c47

Radio Azattyq coverage: https://www.azattyk.org/a/china-ksinjan-work-human-rights/30488548.html

Erzhan was mentioned, albeit anonymously, in the AP News story about forced labor in Xinjiang (https://www.apnews.com/e7c9af9654fa43ad958b2dc54895d42e):

Mainur Medetbek’s husband did odd repair jobs before vanishing into a camp in February during a visit to China from their home in Kazakhstan. She has been able to glean a sense of his conditions from monitored exchanges with relatives and from the husband of a woman in the same camp. He works in an apparel factory and is allowed to leave and spend the night with relatives every other Saturday.

Though Medetbek is uncertain how much her husband makes, the woman in his camp earns 600 yuan (about $87) a month, less than half the local minimum wage and far less than what Medetbek’s husband used to earn.

“They say it’s a factory, but it’s an excuse for detention. They don’t have freedom, there’s no time for him to talk with me,” she said. “They say they found a job for him. I think it’s a concentration camp.”

Eyewitness account

[The following is a translation of the victim’s first-person account as reported by the German newspaper Die Zeit.]

They picked me up in a minibus on the evening of February 8, 2018.

The re-education camp was located in Yining County – close to the Chinese-Kazakh border – but I am not sure where exactly. It was already dark, and they put black plastic bags over our heads and handcuffs on our hands. There were five young men from my village with me in the minibus. We were taken to a building and, once inside, had the bags taken off our heads.

The room in which I’d have to stay for the next nine months was 5 meters by 5 meters and located on the third floor. There was a sign that said “No. 12” on the door. Our floor alone accommodated 260 men. In my room, there were twelve of us. Later, I heard that there had been more than 10000 men detained at our camp.

The toilet was a bucket by the window, and there was no running water. During the day, we’d sit in rows on our plastic chairs. The food was handed to us through an opening in the door. At seven in the morning, we had to sing the Chinese national anthem, after which we’d have three minutes for breakfast. Then we’d study Chinese until nine at night. Our teachers were either Kazakh or Uyghur.

There were four cameras in our room watching us, which ensured that we didn't talk to one another. Those who spoke despite this would be handcuffed and forced to stand by the wall. "You don't have the right to talk, because you are not humans," said the guards. "If you were humans, you wouldn't be here."

I am just an ordinary farmer and I have never broken the law. To this day, I don't know why I was in a camp. For the first two months, I thought of my wife, Mainur, and my three children. Some time later, I only thought about food.

After nine months, on November 3, 2018, I was released. They sent me to a factory that produced leather and fleece gloves, where I would work in an assembly line for 53 days, earning 300 yuan in total. In the meantime, my wife had applied for a Kazakhstan passport for herself and the children. In Almaty, she told the Kazakh government and human rights activists about my case.

On January 20, 2019, they returned my documents to me. One day later, I was able to leave China for Kazakhstan.

Source: https://www.zeit.de/2019/32/zwangslager-xinjiang-muslime-china-zeugen-menschenrechte

Victims among relatives

Shugulan Erzhan (1108)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMTzsQKGHVk Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCaJy3gSo3E Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otAeyfM5U0A Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j7_v2QiEbI Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEVXn-JIfHQ Testimony 5: https://shahit.biz/supp/120_5.mp3 Kazakhstan ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/120_6.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/120_7.jpg marriage certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/120_8.jpg photo (RTS): https://shahit.biz/supp/120_9.png

Entry created: 2018-10-17 Last updated: 2020-08-07 Latest status update: 2020-03-16 123. Razila Nural (热孜拉·努腊勒)

Chinese ID: 652325199312101829 (Qitai)

Basic info

Age: 26 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Changji Status: forced job placement When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"registration issues", phone/computer Health status: --- Profession: corporate work

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|11|14|15: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, born in 1968, is originally from Qitai County. She immigrated to Kazakhstan with her family in 2016. (mother)

Testimony 10*: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by Mehmet Volkan Kaşıkçı. (mother)

Testimony 12|13: Batima Nural, born in 1997, is now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 16: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by Financial Times. (mother)

Testimony 17: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by New York Times. (mother)

Testimony 18: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by National Public Radio. (mother)

Testimony 19: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by Associated Press. (mother)

Testimony 20: Nurbaqyt Qaliasqar, as reported by Globe and Mail. (mother)

About the victim

Razila Nural studied at Karamay University and then worked for an advertising company in Urumqi.

Address: House No. 21, (Bahudi) Livestock Farm Village, Xibeiwan Municipality, Qitai County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture (昌吉回族自治州奇台县西北湾镇牧场村21号).

Victim's location

Believed to be in Changji.

When victim was detained

Razila returned to China on June 13, 2017, to be detained on August 12 and taken to camp. On August 20, 2018, Razila's family heard that she had been released from the camp and sent to a textile factory to work for free [this is the Xinjiang Jiuxu Clothing LTD (新疆九旭服装有限公司)]. While working there, Razila injured her hands.

According to Mehmet Volkan Kasikci in late 2018:

"...I can update her status. Her family heard that she was 'released' from the camp in late August this year (sometime between August 20 and August 30), but then sent to a textile factory to work for free. As far as they know, the Kazakh No. 3 school in this region has been turned into a concentration camp, and a new textile factory was built near it. As far as I understand, although she was 'released' from the camp, she works at a factory near it, and probably still lives in the camp. Her family heard that she can only sleep 2-3 hours a day, and is 'heavily' injured at work, but they don't know any details."

She left the factory on December 23, 2018, soon after widespread media coverage of her case.

At that time, Razila's location was unclear, and she wasn't able to say where she was during a phone call, as there was a guard behind her.

A photo sent on December 28, 2018 suggested that Razila had changed since her detention: that she was thinner, with something about her face also different. The photo didn't appear to have been taken at a relative's house, and may have been taken at an office or police station.

On January 4, 2019, Razila contacted her mother to tell her that she was well. On January 8, 2018, Razila contacted her mother again through the local government, asking her not to believe “foreign propaganda” and to tell others that she was living well in China and had gone to the camp on her own will.

She was then assigned a job at the local administration office and, as of March 2019, was working there, neither able to go to Urumqi to continue with her previous job nor to go to Kazakhstan to see her family.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

A number of reasons have been reported:

1) In some of the earlier testimonies, her mother reported that she had been taken to learn Chinese, which she claimed was ridiculous since Razila spoke perfect Chinese (and had certificates to prove it). 2) She hadn't gone through the local registration procedures properly after visiting Kazakhstan in May 2017. 3) She had WhatsApp installed on her phone.

Victim's status

Local authorities aren't allowing Razila to go to Kazakhstan, despite the fact that her family there has sent her an invitation letter.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It's not clear how Razila's mother learned of the initial detention.

Some of the post-release events she learned from Razila's friend (who, however, was afraid to say very much). She also spoke to Razila on the phone a few times, though these conversations appear to have been monitored and not fully genuine.

Additional information

Financial Times coverage: https://www.ft.com/content/eb2239aa-fc4f-11e8-aebf-99e208d3e521

New York Times coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html

Associated Press coverage: https://www.apnews.com/99016849cddb4b99a048b863b52c28cb

Globe and Mail coverage: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-i-felt-like-a-slave-inside-chinas-complex-system-of-incarc eration/

National Public Radio mention: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/764153179/china-has-begun-moving-xinjiang-muslim-detainees-to-form al-prisons-relatives-say

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TARrVeGJ0jg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB2R8zDHYRI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfiDl6eHns0 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLaRIiPtwJY Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Afd-Imw68 Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdCOjujyYY Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmZxBttOMqg Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBC5XKtWupw Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqQkaG99Y5o Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9-THZNmxKQ Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ada6xaMAEaQ Testimony 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5cRMxGZHdE Testimony 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZcA5uVmBdA photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/123_4.png diploma: https://shahit.biz/supp/123_5.png minority Mandarin certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/123_6.png Testimony 11: https://shahit.biz/supp/123_9.mp3 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/123_18.png

Entry created: 2018-10-17 Last updated: 2020-10-15 Latest status update: 2020-10-08 147. Nursapa Sayizbek

Chinese ID: 6540221956??????O? (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 62-63 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (8 years) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: critical Profession: religion

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3|5|6|7|8|9|10|11: Quandyk Nursapa, born in 1983, is originally from China but immigrated to Kazakhstan and obtained Kazakhstan citizenship in 2008. (son)

Testimony 2: Unknown, but with a verified identity. (relation unclear)

Testimony 4: Adilhan Izbasar, born in 1976, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Nursapa Sayizbek worked at a mosque in the seventh company of the No. 67 Bingtuan corps, as a government-licensed imam.

Address: No. 5 Company, No. 67 Bingtuan Corps (Jerenbulaq Town), Chapchal County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained

In August 2017, Nursapa went to Kazakhstan to visit his grandsons. He returned to China on August 20, 2017, and was arrested on August 24 [though some testimonies say that he was arrested in September].

Nursapa had previously had a cardiac bypass surgery in July 2017, and his conditioned worsened while at camp. Because of his poor health, he was taken out for 2-3 weeks of medical treatment in late 2017, before being taken to camp again.

On October 21, 2018, Nursapa's relatives were informed that he had been sentenced to eight years in prison. Likely (or given) reason for detention

His son believes it is because Nursapa had officiated a marriage at a mosque.

Victim's status

Serving a prison sentence. According to his son, he has been subjected to physical labor at the prison.

He is also believed to be in poor health, having undergone a total of three cardiac bypass surgeries.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated. [Likely through friends or relatives.]

Additional information

At one point, the police gathered Quandyq Nursapa's relatives and asked them not to contact Quandyq anymore, telling them that he was a dangerous person. Quandyq says that he's just an ordinary person, that he's not a terrorist, that what he wants is justice for his father, and that he will never stop petitioning until his father is released from prison.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jABA2DziFTs Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlfWQZeZGL4 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kELJhpy-i_o Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RyHRq1Bt60 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTJyYwvKqs Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uqjdS3Yvq0 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDDd3SQMrpo Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOHJ0F0b5yo Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8_DlfKet6w Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtLTJ8T4ON8 Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8he2r1mj9fc photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/147_1.png

Entry created: 2018-10-19 Last updated: 2020-11-10 Latest status update: 2019-02-03 153. Mulik Qasen (木律克·哈山)

Chinese ID: 65230219820128431X (Fukang)

Basic info

Age: 36 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Changji Status: documents withheld When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6: Turan Tileubai, born in 1983, is originally from China but is now a Kazakhstan citizen. (wife)

About the victim

Mulik Qasen.

Address (ID): House No. 211, Aqmunara Village, Shanghugou Township, Fukang City, Xinjiang (新疆阜康市上户沟乡阿克木那拉村211号).

Passport number: E19545792.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Changji.]

When victim was detained

Mulik returned to China on August 10, 2016. In December 2016, authorities confiscated his documents, forbidding him from traveling to Kazakhstan.

On November 23, 2018, Mulik called his wife to tell her that everything was okay with him and to ask her to stop her appeals, threatening to divorce her otherwise. She believes that this was said under duress.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Documents confiscated, unable to return to Kazakhstan. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[Not clear, apart from the aforementioned phone call.]

Additional information

In November 2018, the testifier went to the Korgas International Center for Boundary Cooperation to see her husband. However, a large number (7-8 in one testimony, 18 in another) of Chinese police took her passport and other relevant documents, without asking for permission, forcing her to get into a car and later interrogating her. During the interrogation, they brought up her video appeals on social media. The testifier claims that she was injured during the encounter.

She has also lost contact with her sister, Gulbaqyt Tileubai, after meeting her at the Korgas International Center for Boundary Cooperation on November 3, 2018. She heard from fellow villagers that the local police had forced her sister to sign a document ending their kinship.

A person with the victim's name [likely the victim] is stated as having an expired driver's license on a list posted by Fukang City's Public Security Bureau (2020): https://archive.fo/YOzMu

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUv8Go6cBvI Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnazQRClhuo Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ4TY1xNpo8 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gnDnVYD9B0 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc_fCMGJ__E Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAAgjTfupBI Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/153_7.png

Entry created: 2018-10-22 Last updated: 2020-12-28 Latest status update: 2018-11-28 179. Erkin Tursun (艾尔肯·吐尔逊)

Chinese ID: 654101196804220556 (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 52 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (20 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"terrorism", "inciting ethnic hatred", assisting "criminals" Health status: --- Profession: media/journalism

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2*|6|7|8|9|11: Arafat Erkin, originally from Ghulja, but now living in the United States. (son)

Testimony 3: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 4: Arafat Erkin, as reported by Time. (son)

Testimony 5: UN Human Rights Council, the human rights body of the United Nations.

Testimony 10: Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, one of the thematic special procedures overseen by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Testimony 12*: Arafat Erkin, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

About the victim

Erkin Tursun is a journalist from Ghulja who had worked for the Ili TV station for almost 30 years.

After obtaining his undergraduate degree from the history department at Xinjiang University, he would start his career working as a middle school history teacher, where he would organize a number of after-school activities for the kids. In the early 90s, he put together an art troupe named "Arzu" ("Hope"), which consisted of singers, comedians, dancers, and actors and would put on public shows all around Xinjiang. In the middle of the 90s, he started to work for the Ili TV station, while also opening and running a school - the Ili Children's Training Center ("Ili yash-osmurlerni terbiyelesh merkizi") - which offered after-school instruction in dancing, singing, boxing, language, science, journalism, and announcing (the boxing classes would eventually be cancelled by the government). The school would last until around 2013, before being incorporated into the regional government children's training center (伊宁市青少年活动中心), where Erkin would be responsible for the center's Uyghur portion. The school would win many national and even international performance awards over its ~20-year history. The school's journalism course would also continue for some time, making trips around Xinjiang and some of the more developed cities in inner China - including Beijing in the early 2000s - and occasionally meeting with high-profile politicians.

Erkin has received several regional and national awards for the different programs that he's produced, with the government praising some of his work as being beneficial to children and the community at large. One film that he has produced has looked at the social problems facing Uyghurs, such as drug use and a high divorce rate. He was also a host and director of a popular children's TV show, "Umidliq Kozler" ("Hopeful Eyes"), airing on the Ili TV station (actually, this show is still on air, despite Erkin's arrest). He has directed a number of movies, children's songs, musical dramas, and documentaries (e.g., "Chin Tomur Batur", "Sirlik Ongkur", "Rehimsiz Chush", "Tutunge Aylanghan Muhebbet").

The government also listed him as one of the top 10 people in journalism in Ili for 2017: http://archive.is/c3Lvc. According to his son, there is also a mall in Ghulja City that was named by Erkin.

Victim's location

His son believes that it's very possible that he's currently being held in Kunes Prison (新源监狱).

When victim was detained

Before Arafat went to China, his family received a notice from the Ghulja City police, ordering them to hand in all their passports. (Arafat did not, and left for the U.S. soon after.)

Erkin was taken by police on March 5, 2018 and later sentenced. However, communications with his son had already become coded in the years leading up to the arrest, with Erkin occasionally praising the Communist Party in their phone calls.

According to the official confirmation from the Chinese government, he was sentenced on May 5, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The real reason is unclear. His son suspects that it was either his profession (journalism) or the fact that his son was studying abroad.

According to one Chinese state media report, Erkin was sentenced for terrorism. A week later, another said that he was in prison for "inciting hatred and discrimination among different ethnic groups and covering up criminals". The latter was echoed in an official response to the UN's Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which said that Erkin had been sentenced for "harboring criminal and inciting national enmity or discrimination".

Victim's status

Sentenced to 19 years and 10 months, with two years of deprivation of political rights.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Arafat heard it from a friend in Kazakhstan.

That the victim has been sentenced was later confirmed by Chinese state-media reports and official communications through the UN.

Additional information

Erkin Tursun has been featured in several victims' lists, with his case and his son's campaigning covered in different media reports.

Abduweli Ayup's list of detained prominent Uyghurs: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

The Committee to Protect Journalists's list of 48 imprisoned journalists in China: https://cpj.org/data/people/erkin-tursun/index.php

Coverage in Time magazine: https://time.com/5598045/china-tiananmen-uighur-immigration/

Coverage in the New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2019/08/chinas-missing-million-search-disappeared-uyghurs

RFA report: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/host-10222018151844.html

UHRP report: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/Detained-and-Disappeared-Intellectuals-Under-Assault-in-the-Uyghur-Homelan d.pdf

HRC report: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/A_HRC_WGEID_118_1_Advance.pdf

Amnesty International case info: https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR005

The victim's son, Arafat (Alfred) Erkin, was also mentioned by U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in a statement regarding the intimidation of Uyghurs abroad: https://www.state.gov/harassment-of-the-family-members-of-uighur-activists-and-survivors-in-xinjiang-ch ina/

Chinese media have responded to Pompeo’s remarks (http://archive.is/hK2X0), claiming that Arafat Erkin is a member of the World Uyghur Congress and that his father had been sentenced for terrorist actitivities while his mother and siblings were living a peaceful life. His mother was also quoted as begging Arafat to leave the World Uyghur Congress.

State-media report(s)

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1170249.shtml

RELATIVES OF SO-CALLED UYGHUR ACTIVISTS SLAM POMPEO'S DETENTION CLAIM

By Liu Xin and Fan Lingzhi in Yining

Source: Global Times

Published: 2019/11/17

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region released a statement on November 9 refuting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks that claimed the so-called Uyghur activists' family members are detained in Xinjiang.

Pompeo issued a statement on November 5, titled "Harassment of the Family Members of Uyghur Activists and Survivors in Xinjiang, China," claiming that family members of the so-called activists Furkhat Jawdat, Alapat Arkin, Zumrat Dawut have been subject to harassment, imprisonment, and arbitrary detention.

The Xinjiang statement said what Pompeo stated "is simply not the case." The fact is the relatives of the names mentioned live and work normally in Xinjiang, and they are ashamed of the scum among their families.

The Global Times reporters visited the relatives of Furkhat Jawdat, Alapat Arkin, Zumrat Dawut in Urumqi and Yining and recognized that what Pompeo said is not consistent with the truth. No family members of the three people have been mistreated and they lead a normal life with numerous assistance from the residential community.

NO MORE LIES

Zumrat attracted Pompeo's attention for her accusation that she made overseas against the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy. The Global Times reporters learned from Xinjiang authorities that before going abroad, Zumrat, 37, lived in Urumqi. She married a Pakistani national in November 2013. On January 3, the couple together with their three children went to Pakistan and later to the US.

The November 5 statement was not the first time Pompeo mentioned about Zumrat.

On October 2, Pompeo said in a meeting in Vatican that he listened to Zumrat's story and learned that she was summoned to the public security bureau in Xinjiang in April and was sent to a "concentration camp." Pompeo claimed that during her stay there, she was injected with some drugs.

A report on the Chicago Tribune on September 28 noted that Zumrat was forcefully sterilized.

Abduhelil Dawut, one of Zumrat's elder brothers spoke through a video about a month back to quash the rumors, saying "these are outright lies." In the video urging Pompeo to stop disturbing their peaceful lives, he said, "Respect the facts and do not make use of my sister Zumrat Dawut to make up lies."

The Global Times reporter visited Abduhelil, who lives in Urumqi. Abduhelil and his wife now work for a residential community in the city. The interior of their house and the cleanliness suggests that residents live a good life there.

Abduhelil told the Global Times his sister has never been to a vocational education and training center and "when delivering the third child, she was found to have fibroid and later had a surgery."

Abduhelil released a video on October 13 to refute Pompeo's remarks on her sister. Zumrat recently wrote on an overseas social media platform that the Chinese government spread rumors on her uterus being removed. However, no one has mentioned about anything on this.

The whole family was against Zumrat's marriage but Zumrat "was stubborn."

The relations between Zumrat and the other family members were "strained" after that. Abduhelil said, "She treated our father well when she was in a good mood, but when my father said something she did not like, she would slam the door and refrain from speaking to him for a year."

In 2018, Zumrat, her husband and the three children went to Pakistan and never came back. She finally went to the US without informing the family members, including their father.

Their father died of a heart disease last month. Abduhelil had a video chat with Zumrat and "I told her to stop spreading rumors and retract the lies she peddled online previously. She cried and said yes. But later, she continued peddling lies online."

Pompeo claimed that Zumrat's father, who was reportedly "detained and interrogated multiple times by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang in recent years, recently passed away under unknown circumstances."

However, Abduhelil told the Global Times that their father lived a normal life with them, and had neither been "interrogated" nor "detained."

After suffering from serious heart diseases, he died at the age of 80 at a hospital in October 2019 after medical treatment was exhausted. While he stayed at hospital, his relatives looked after him.

The death certificate of Zumrat's father mentioned the cause of death as "coronary heart disease."

Erkin Dawut is one of Zumrat's elder brothers. He was the one who signed his father's death certificate. He thought his father's physical conditions worsened partly because he missed Zumrat very much.

Erkin did not want to talk to Zumrat since "she always uttered lies since childhood."

"She is the youngest one among us. She was my father's favorite. My father grieved as she left without telling him," he told the Global Times.

Erkin was visibly in tears, as he recalled their father. "I keep my father's phone number and hope that he could call me like before," he said.

NOT TO BE MANIPULATED

Pompeo also mentioned about Furkhat Jawdat and Alapat Arkin, claiming that Alapat's mother was also put in the "concentration camp" since 2017 and his father was imprisoned in March 2018.

After meeting with Pompeo on Mar 26, 2019, Furkhat Jawdat claimed his mother was moved to a prison from a vocational education & training center.

The Global Times reporters learned from authorities in Xinjiang that Alapat and Furkhat were born in Yining. Alapat went to the US in 2015 and then joined the infamous violent terrorist and separatist organization "World Uygur Congress."

Furkhat went to the US in 2011 and later became a member of the "World Uygur Congress." Furkhat's father, brother and two sisters have obtained green cards in the US.

The Global Times reporters met with Alapat's mother who currently lives with Alapat's grandmother in Yining.

Gulnar Talat, Alapat's mother, told the Global Times that she lives a normal life and is not under detention. She plans to get medical treatment in Urumqi. She said she wants to tell Alapat that "you should not be influenced by your father or take part in something bad. You should not be manipulated by others."

"Do not believe those who have ulterior motives. We live a good life. You were born and grew up in China. Thanks to the development of the country, you have the opportunity to study overseas. Hope you can study hard in the US and come back to contribute to the country."

The Global Times reporters learned that Alapat's father Erkin Tursun is in prison for inciting hatred and discrimination among different ethnic groups and covering up criminals.

Alapat's deeds worried his relatives. Alapat's uncle Asat Talat hoped to tell his nephew that his father was imprisoned for breaching the laws. "You should neither believe in rumors nor spread it. We sent you abroad to study and to honor the country. Not for something bad," Asat said.

Pompeo also noted about Furkhat’s mother in his November 5 statement. Apart from Alapat, Furkhat's father, a younger brother and his two sisters, all live in the US now.

His mother failed to obtain her visa and now lives in their house in Yining.

Munawar Tursun, the mother, told the Global Times that she talks to her son almost every day. She pointed to a TV set in their house that her son bought online and was delivered to the house days earlier.

Furkhat did not admit that he is a member of the "World Uygur Congress." But he defended the organization on overseas social media and participated in its activities.

Munawar told the Global Times that she knows nothing about what her son has done overseas and persuaded him not to get involved in any illegal activities. "I told him, if he wants me to go abroad, it must be via legal means and that he must not engage in illegal activities."

Munawar believes Rebiya Kadeer, a separatist from Xinjiang, is a scum among the Uyghurs.

Furkhat claimed that the Chinese government harasses Muslim families in Xinjiang and they went abroad to seek asylum.

However, according to Munawar, Furkhat's father went to work in the US in 2006 and the children went to the US one after another within the next five years.

Furkhat's uncle Enwar Tursun told the Global Times that he used to be against all the children going to the US since Furkhat had good academic records and would have had a better future if he stayed in China and he can also take good care of his mother.

"Furkhat, you are a smart boy. What you are doing is wrong. You will regret it!" Enwar said, insisting that the "World Uygur Congress" is a separatist organization. "As for Pompeo, I think he took advantage of my nephew, which is ignominious."

RECEIVING HELP

In order to rally support from the overseas separatist groups, Zumrat, Alapat, and Furkhat distorted the truth and played victims. Separatists from China's Xinjiang share a common interest in hyping Xinjiang issues. "Detention" or "oppression" are the words usually mentioned by them. The Global Times reporters did not find any oppression or detention of their relatives. Instead, family members of these so-called Uyghur activists are taken good care by the local residential communities.

Alapat's mother Gulnar Talat told the Global Times that she was in hospital in Urumqi due to some ailment in her spine. Colleagues and head of the kindergarten where Gulnar works for, visited her and donated 2,000 yuan toward her treatment.

The Yining educational bureau also allowed her to take a long vacation so that she could fully recover.

Furkhat's mother Munawar has become "the relative" of Zhang Liping, secretary of the residential community, who has taken a good care of Munawar.

Munawar has no job or earnings aside from the governmental subsidiaries.

In September, there was something wrong with the water pipes in Munawar's house. Munawar also owed 500 yuan in water fees. Zhang paid that amount herself to help Munawar with the water fees.

"My monthly salary is around 3,000 yuan. I treat her as my family member and would not hesitate to help her," Zhang told the Global Times.

Zhang lost her 25-year-old son in 2017, while Munawar's children are far away in the US. The common emotion of parental love toward their children brings Zhang and Munawar together.

Zhang said she once saw Munawar shed tears while talking about her son. She comforted her by sharing the sorrow of losing her son.

"I often say to Munawar that I envy her because she can see her children via video chat. But I can only see the tomb of my son," Zhang said.

"There are many senior residents in my residential community. They comforted me and helped me get over my pang. As grassroots public servants, we need to devote our heart in helping the residents. The senior residents here also like me and greet me whenever we meet. This makes me happy," Zhang said.

Official communication(s)

Source: United Nations Human Rights Council

------

Report on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

Session: 119

INFORMATION FROM GOVERNMENT

The Government reported that:

Aierken Tuerxun, male, journalist of Yi-Li TV Station, ID no. 654101196804220556, registered permanent residence in Yining City, Yili Zhou. On 5 May 2018, he was sentenced to 19 years and 10 months' of imprisonment and 2 years of deprivation of political rights for harboring criminal and inciting national enmity or discrimination. Victims among relatives

Gulnar Telet (1387), Abdushukur Abliz (1388), Halide Zordon (1389), Halit Abdushukur (5170), Mewjudem Abdushukur (5171), Hebibulla Tohti (1492), Ilzat Gheni (4340), Gulchekre Telet (1247), Eset Telet (5652), Gheni Abdushukur (5654), Gulzar Nizamidin (5653), Turmemet Nurmemet (5655)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA3sZHlE5YA Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxEqExTvaAA NBC coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI6cFiJ8A8w Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qswvjXiu1JI story about mall: https://twitter.com/Alfred_Uyghur/status/1185232088288628736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/Alfred_Uyghur/status/1196530574099406849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 11: https://twitter.com/Alfred_Uyghur/status/1270631630198255617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with kids: https://shahit.biz/supp/179_2.png award photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/179_3.jpg photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/179_4.jpg photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/179_7.jpg photo (3): https://shahit.biz/supp/179_12.jpg proof-of-life video: https://shahit.biz/supp/179_14.mp4 photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_179.png official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_179.png

Entry created: 2018-10-24 Last updated: 2020-09-07 Latest status update: 2021-02-07 198. Zhalyn Muqiat

Chinese ID: 65422319950625??O? (Shawan)

Basic info

Age: 25 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to going abroad Health status: has problems Profession: manual work

Testifying party

Testimony 1|4: Gulbarshyn Muqiat, born in 2006, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 2|5: Baqytgul Aqan, born in 1971, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (mother)

Testimony 3|6: Muqiat Abiken, born in 1971, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (father)

Testimony 7: Zhalyn Muqiat, born in 1995, is now a citizen of Kazakhstan. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang, having spent 11 months at a camp in Shawan County. (the victim)

About the victim

Zhalyn Muqiat is a naturalized Kazakhstan citizen. He appears to have done manual labor for a living, and was working loading goods at the Korgas International Center for Boundary Cooperation at the time of his arrest.

Address in China: Aqzhar Village, Bortungi Livestock Farm, Shawan County, Tacheng Prefecture (塔城地区沙湾县博尔通古牧场阿克加尔村).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Early testimonies from his sister and parents conflict only slightly with Zhalyn's own account, saying that he went to China in June-July 2017 and had his documents confiscated. He had already applied for Kazakhstan citizenship by then (with the application approved as of October 2018). According to his relatives, he was arrested on November 27-28, 2017 and sent to camp.

According to Zhalyn himself, the arrest actually took place about 10 days later, as on December 6, 2017 he was contacted by local officials from his village while working at the Korgas International Center for Boundary Cooperation. They told him that they had arrived in Korgas and wanted to see him the next day. Upon meeting, they told him that they needed him to return to the village (Aqzhar) with them, and that doing so would help him get his passport returned to him, eventually allowing him to go back to Kazakhstan. However, upon returning to the village in the evening on December 7, he was taken to a police station, where he was made to sign a form and was then taken for a medical examination, before being put in the camp on the edge of the Shawan municipality [presumably Sandaohezi], which he said used to be a "prison", with a sign saying as much. He was taken to a room on the third floor. [Judging by his description, this is almost certainly the camp just to the west of the pre-trial and administrative detention centers on the western side of Old Shawan Road.]

He would be there until August or September of 2018, when he was transferred to a new converted camp that had previously been part of the Shawan No. 1 Middle School [now the No. 5 middle school]. On November 23, 2018, he would be released and transferred to his village for village surveillance, which would last 6 months, at which point they told him that he could go look for work.

On May 15, 2019, he was suddenly contacted by the head of the village, who summoned him and told him to go to the Bortungi Farm police station. He was told to pack his clothes and was then put into a car with someone else who had been summoned the same way he had. Both men were taken to Korgas and allowed to leave for Kazakhstan.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Zhalyn, the authorities focused mostly on his having gone to Kazakhstan, and had told him and others who had that they had been to one of the "26 dangerous countries".

Victim's status

Released and back in Kazakhstan.

He has been having kidney problems ever since being kicked in the kidney by a soldier at the second camp he was at, and has said that doctors in Kazahkstan have told him that he needs surgery, as both kidneys now have issues. He cannot strain his body very much physically, and cannot do heavy labor.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The original information regarding Zhalyn's disappearance was obtained from acquaintances.

Zhalyn's testimony is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

---

Eyewitness account

[The following is a translated transcript of the interview between Bekzat Maqsuthan from the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization and Zhalyn Muqiat, who spent 11 months at a camp in Shawan County. It was done in Kazakhstan in the fall of 2020.]

Bekzat Maqsuthan: When did you arrive in Kazakhstan? Zhalyn Muqiat: May 15, 2019. Originally, I was born in Shawan County of the Tacheng Region, in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The first time [when the police contacted me], I was working in Korgas. It was in the winter.

B: At the Cooperation Trade Zone?

Z: Yes. The heads of the village and the [Party] secretaries contacted me. “Where are you working?” they asked. “What are you doing? Where are you?” I told them that I was working in Korgas, loading goods. Then one night they called and said: “We’re here in Korgas, where are you?” Then, they asked: “We wanted to meet you in the morning. Do you have time? We want to have an interview with you.” They told me that they wanted to ask about my wellbeing.

…

They called me in the early morning and told me to come to a certain place. I went there. Then, the work group, who were travelling in a car, told me to take them to my place – they said that they wanted to take pictures there and to send it to the upper-level officials. I agreed and took them to the apartment I was renting. They asked about my situation and told me that I would go with them to Shawan County to sign a document. I was having difficulties getting my passport, and they said that they would return it to me, step by step, and would then see me off to Kazakhstan. I agreed. I didn't think more of it and went there, on December 7, 2017.

We set out in the morning and arrived in the evening, with them bringing me directly to the police station, where they asked me to sign a paper. After signing the first page, I started to wonder what it was and why I was signing it, and asked to have a look at the second page. “Don't look at it, just sign!” they shouted. I signed, never suspecting that I would be taken to a camp. They then told me to get into a car. It was around 11 at night.

They proceeded to take me to a local hospital in the county, examining me to see if I had any diseases. Before putting someone in camp, they would get the paperwork from the hospital to make sure if the person was healthy or not, and whether they could transmit any diseases. They would assign people to different rooms based on the medical results.

So they took me to the hospital, and got the results of the blood test. The village police took me there. I wouldn’t think anything of it until I ended up at the camp.

I was healthy. They had checked everything. We arrived at the camp, and I got out of the car. They handcuffed me. I asked them why they were handcuffing me, to which they told me that I’d know soon. That’s what the policeman from our village said. He was Kazakh. I asked him why I was being taken to that place, to which he said that I shouldn’t talk too much and just follow him. I then realized that the place used to be prison [presumably, pre-trial detention center]. It was written on there. It’s located at the edge of the Shawan municipality. It used to be a prison.

Once we entered, they immediately took off my clothes and did an inspection. They took my phone and any other belongings in my pockets, and gave me slippers. Took off the buttons and other things from my clothes, then gave me slippers and took me inside. The village police left without saying anything, while I was taken to a room on the third floor, as there was space there.

I couldn’t sleep at all. There was one guy who was standing, and I asked him why he was standing. “I’m guarding you,” he said. I didn’t say anything. At 6 o’clock in the morning, the guy next to me told me to guard. I didn't know anything, and asked how long I’d need to guard for. For an hour, he said. This was in the room where we slept. They were afraid that the people there might try to do something.

All of us had breakfast in that same room. It was less than 20 square meters, maybe. There were 9 people at the beginning.

They started calling people [for questioning, presumably]. There weren’t so many of us. For 2-3 days, nobody questioned me. I asked the others why they ended up there and why they were detained. There was a young guy who was 18, an Uyghur guy, who ended up there for reading the Quran as a kid, and for being a “wild imam” [an imam not sanctioned by the government].

Only after a week did they come and ask me if I knew the reason for my detention. They asked me. How would I know? I hadn’t committed any crime, so why was I detained? They told me that I had visited Kazakhstan.

I had visited Kazakhstan, a maximum of 7-8 times, going back and forth.

Yes, that’s what I was guilty of. I said that all of my family lived in Kazakhstan and that I didn't have a house there in Xinjiang. They told me that I would be released soon. After that, a Kazakh guy – a policeman – came. His name was Ualihan. He hates people who have been to Kazakhstan.

B: What does he do?

Z: He’s a policeman. He asked me if there were any Kazakhs [in my cell]. I was the only Kazakh back then. I said so. Then he asked me to stand up. When I stood up, he asked: “Do you know why you are here?” I said I knew… [correcting himself] No, I said, I didn't know. Then he asked me where I had been. I said that I had been to Kazakhstan. He said that my brain needed cleaning, adding: “We don't know if you’ve been in contact with terrorists there. That’s why we need to investigate.”

Days passed. A few other guys were brought into my room. The number of people in the room increased, reaching 25. There were triple bunk beds, six in total. Five people would have to stand, and we would take turns sleeping. [Because of the shortage of beds,] three people would have to stand guard each time. After three months, they said that our brains needed cleaning and that we needed to study. They said we needed to know the law and discipline. They said that we didn't know anything, and started by teaching us the lessons intended for first graders.

B: What did they teach?

Z: Chinese characters. Later, they’d keep us in a room and teach us there.

B: Did you learn anything?

Z: There was no choice but to learn. At the beginning, they said that if we abided by the rules, we would be released once our knowledge and level were higher. We learned characters every day. They taught us 20 characters a day.

For breakfast there, we had a steamed bun and vegetables. For lunch, we’d have rice.

B: Just rice? Was there anything else?

Z: There was. It wasn’t just rice. We were there for about 8 months. No, 9 months. B: About how many people were there?

Z: About three thousand, if I had to guess. Numbers-wise, Han were the fewest, with the majority being Uyghur and Hui. Kazakhs were the third largest group.

B: There is a mix of ethnicities in Shawan, right?

Z: There are lots of Uyghurs. We were there for 8-9 months.

There were no other ethnicities [other than the ones mentioned above]. Just the three main ethnicities, and a few Han. We were there for about 9 months. In one prison. Later, because of the lack of space, we were transferred to the former No. 1 middle school, which had been transformed into a prison [camp]. It used to be a Han school. We were all transferred there in a single day. All the soldiers were mobilized, and they put black bags over our heads. Our hands were shackled. There was a policeman next to each one of us, and would take us up into the bus.

B: You didn’t know where you were?

Z: We didn’t. We only saw the place we had arrived at once we were taken inside and the hoods were removed. They didn't tell us [where we were]. There was a 5-story building for men, and a 4-story building for women. Opposite to each other.

B: Was it bigger than that other one?

Z: Yes, it was bigger.

B: Bigger than the 3000 one?

Z: That place had gotten too crowded, so we were moved to the second place. There hadn’t been any vocational skills training. They said at first that there would be vocational training, but there wasn’t anything like that there. That would only be prepared at the No. 1 middle school.

B: Was this in August-September 2018?

Z: Yes, August-September.

B: ….. What did they teach?

Z: They said that we would learn until we gradually reached the stage of learning vocational skills. Again we were taught Chinese. They didn't teach us anything else.

B: But they told you that they would teach [the vocational skills]?

Z: Yes. When you reach that level, you’ll be able to start training, they said. They also said that we would get a salary once that started. We stayed there for two months, and then they started questioning us.

B: In October?

Z: Around October. They would question each of us individually. They would ask: “How are your studies? Are you against studying at this school? We’re opening up your mind. What’s your opinion of the government?” And we’d answer. Then they’d ask if I would leave to go to Kazakhstan. I’d say that I absolutely would leave.

B: You said that you would leave?

Z: Yes. My parents were there. Why couldn’t I go? They would ask such questions and then let you go. This would happen two or three times.

B: Would they say that some people were appealing?

Z: No, they wouldn’t. We heard about it only after being released. At the camp, if you misbehaved, they would shackle you and take you downstairs, to beat you up.

B: Did that happen to you?

Z: It did. They would tie your legs and hands to the chair.

B: Would they use hanging [to torture you] after taking you to the underground place?

Z: Yes. They also wouldn’t give you anything to eat. You would be there for 24 hours. They would tie you to the tiger chair.

B: They would tie your hands, lower back, and legs, and you would sit there?

Z: Yes.

B: One day and one night?

Z: One day and one night. It happened not long after we were taken to the new school. We were on our way to the classroom, walking inside the lines. You couldn’t be outside the lines.

B: Was there a line leading to the place where you studied?

Z: Yes. We studied on the third floor. The classroom was at the end. 20-25 students would be in there studying. That was the largest number they would teach. We were walking. We weren’t allowed to talk in the hall, but I was careless and talked, and they made me sit. They told me to put my hands on my head and sit.

B: Can you show how?

Z: I sat like this. [demonstrates]

B: Did they tell you to sit like this?

Z: Yes. I sat facing the wall. During that time, someone kicked me where my kidney was. It was a soldier. He was from the army.

B: What kinds of clothes was he wearing?

Z: His uniform was different from what the other people at the camp were wearing. He was from the army. A special person. B: Not a policeman?

Z: No, he was from the army. They’re said to have bad characters. He kicked me and I fell.

B: Kicked you where your kidney was?

Z: Yes. He also said to take me downstairs. So, I was taken downstairs. It didn't hurt then.

B: To the underground floor?

Z: Yes. Again, I was seated, in a chair. 10 or 15 minutes later, it started to hurt. The place where my kidney was started to hurt a lot. There was a policeman next to me, and I told him. He said that they would call a doctor to come. Then the doctor arrived.

B: Which kidney?

Z: The one on the right side. They then gave me some round-shaped medicine, and told me to take it so that the pain stopped. I took it and it worked for about 10 minutes, but then it started hurting again. I couldn't bear the pain and told them. There was an official who told them to take me to the bigger county hospital immediately for a check-up. So they put a black bag over my head, shackled my legs, handcuffed me, and took me to the hospital by car. I had an X-ray.

They were whispering something. Then they told me to stand farther away, outside the line. I stayed there and then they told me to go back with them. They said that it was nothing, and I would just need to take some medicine. They administered me the medicine once or twice, then took me back to the chair, where I would remain despite being sick.

B: You were seated in the tiger chair again?

Z: Yes. I sat there until next morning. They took me back to my room in the morning. Whenever I did something difficult or stretched, I felt the pain in that part. I would tell the doctor.

B: The inner part, or…?

Z: The inner part would hurt.

There were different people there, both old and young. Some of them would be sick.

B: How old were the oldest ones?

Z: I stayed with men who were as old as 80.

B: What were their transgressions?

Z: Mullahs… without a certificate.

B: Mullahs? Maybe they had read the Quran after someone passed away?

Z: Yes, and they had taught some students. They [camp staff] would bring some medicine to them. Old people rely on medicine, as without it they would have headaches and other problems. They need them to be safe there. Who would take the responsibility if they died? I told the guys in charge of bringing medicine that my kidney was hurting. Somebody kicked me and now it’s like this, I said. To which they said that they didn’t have the authority, and that I would heal gradually. They gave me some medicine daily, but stopped giving it after a week. There were days when they tortured me, using different methods. They electrocuted me.

B: Why did they beat you?

Z: “Did you go to a mosque while you were in Kazakhstan? What do your relatives do?”

B: They beat you for that? To answer these questions?

Z: They told me to answer. If you said that you had gone to a mosque, you’d be given a year there. So I told them that I hadn't been to a mosque. I said I was a sheep herder. In October, they started questioning all the Kazakhs at the camp. Those who visited Kazakhstan were questioned separately. Mullahs were questioned separately.

B: In October 2018, right?

Z: Yes. Alcoholics and drug addicts were also questioned separately. Step by step. They locked up the people who had visited Kazakhstan in one place. Mullahs were locked up in another place. That’s how they locked us up. Then later they asked us: after handing out a sheet of paper, they asked if we knew that we were being detained because of certain articles [of the penal code].

When we had just been detained, the Chinese told us that we had visited the 26 sensitive countries.

B: 26 dangerous countries?

Z: Dangerous countries.

B: One of the dangerous countries?

Z: One of them.

B: Kazakhstan was listed as a dangerous country?

Z: Yes. But later they didn't say that. That term disappeared. “Just check what you did while you were in Kazakhstan,” they said. “We need to know the details.”

B: So at the end, they stopped saying that Kazakhstan was one of the dangerous 26 terrorist countries?

Z: Yes. At the camp, there were lots of people who had visited Kazakhstan. So they said so. “You didn't come back to China on time.” We had a green card, so for how long… They hadn't told us, in the beginning, for how long we could or could not stay. How many months we could stay, in which month we should return. They didn't even give us such papers. They said that we didn't come back on time as a means of evasion.

At around the end of October, they questioned us individually: “What have you learned in this learning environment? What have you learned? Politics?” We answered. Then they asked if I wanted to go back to Kazakhstan again. I said I did. So they said: “You’ll need to keep what happened here a secret. Don't go public about it. Everything will stay here.” B: They told you not to say anything about the camps?

Z: Yes. “You’ll be released soon,” they said. We were happy. We thought we’d never leave.

B: That’s what you thought in the beginning, right?

Z: Yes. In the beginning, they said it would be 5 to 10 years.

B: You thought you were being given a long prison term?

Z: Yes. Nobody asked [questions about it]. “You’ll be released,” they said, “but you’ll have to control what you say. Don't tell anyone what you’ve seen and heard here. You’ll be monitored after going there.”

B: Did they say who would be monitoring you? They said that they’d be monitoring you in Kazakhstan?

Z: No, in our village. I was released on November 23. A person came from the village. One of my relatives came. They came and took me to the village directly. I was under village monitoring after going to the village.

B: By officials in the village?

Z: Yes, I stayed with them. I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere else. “You’ll be monitored for three months,” they said. “If you fail, we’ll take you back [to detention].” That’s how they intimidated us. “You’ll be working here,” they said. “You can't go anywhere.” We said okay. We obeyed. County-level officials would also come during this time. Whenever they came, they’d ask us about our wellbeing.

B: Did they ask about your health?

Z: No. At one point, my kidney started to hurt again. It was extremely painful. The village secretary was there and got scared. There was a farm there, and he immediately said that he would take me to the farm to get examined [presumably the Bortungi Livestock Farm, a township-level administrative unit]. He took me to the hospital that was at the village exit. There, the doctor told me that my diaphragm was damaged. He just checked it with his hands and said that this part might have been damaged. Gave me a patch for pain relief. Two days later, they called my uncle and told him that they should take me to the county hospital.

We went to the county hospital and had an examination. They said that everything was normal. When we showed our ID, they could tell that we had “studied”. There is a “dot” in the document of those who had [unclear if a physical dot or a digital marker].

B: So they just lied?

Z: Yes. Many people weren’t treated. It would hurt on and off. I stayed under village surveillance for about 6 months. Then after about 6 months they told me I could work. The head of the village said: “You can work and earn money.” One day, while I was in the county seat looking for a job, I received a phone call. They ordered me to return to the village immediately.

I got scared again. They told me to come to the farm’s police station. I got scared, wondering what I had done wrong this time. I was living in fear, and you’d be afraid whenever you traveled somewhere. When I got there, they said: “Get your clothes ready.” They said it in exactly the same way as they had the first time. The time I got detained.

I asked if everything was ok. They told me to pack my clothes and have them with me. I went to my grandparents’ house and packed up my clothes. I was taken into a car, where there was another man who had been asked to do the same. I asked him what was going on and he replied that he didn't know. We realized only once we arrived at Korgas that we were going to Kazakhstan. It was May 15, 2019.

B: They took you there?

Z: Yes. They took us to the border and watched us as we crossed. On the Chinese side of the border, our passports were taken away and we waited for about an hour and a half. When we asked for our passports, they told us that they would return them soon. Later, a Kazakh guy came and returned our passports. “I hope you understand even without my saying anything,” he said to us.

B: How did you understand that?

Z: It meant to keep our mouth shut after we crossed the border. We crossed the Chinese side and came to the Kazakh border. I arrived in Kazakhstan on May 15, 2019.

B: Were all the Kazakhs released at the same time that you were? Are there new detainees? What do you think?

Z: There were lots of detainees in 2017. In 2018, too. After all the appeals from here, the Kazakhs started being released.

B: Those who were appealed for got released, right? Did someone appeal on your behalf?

Z: My parents.

B: Is there anyone still in detention?

Z: I heard that the mullahs are still in camps. I heard that mullahs hadn't been released while I was there. Then I came here. My health started deteriorating. Whenever I do heavier work that’s particularly physically demanding.

B: Related to your kidney?

Z: Yes.

B: Did you have a check-up?

Z: I did. I was told that both sides were swollen and needed an operation.

B: Both kidneys?

Z: Both.

B: What happened? You were assaulted on one side.

Z: Yes, kicked on one side. I think that, because the place where we slept was damp, it might have also had an effect. We also don't know what we ate. B: Did you have any injections?

Z: No, I wasn’t injected with anything, unless they did it while I was unconscious.

B: Pills?

Z: We would be given painkillers.

B: Nothing except the medicine for your kidney?

Z: Don't know.

B: They might have added something to your meals?

Z: Maybe.

B: How is your health now?

Z: My two kidneys hurt very much. I can't do heavy labor. I’m not in a good state. I’ve lost a year of my life. I’ve lost my health. I want to ask the international [organizations] if there will be any compensation from China. That’s what I ask for.

B: You want compensation for your health?

Z: Yes.

B: We hope that international human rights organizations will help. What else do you want to say? Have you witnessed anyone else being beaten up or tortured? Could you hear such things?

Z: There were such incidents when I was taken underground. I could hear different voices. You didn’t know what was going on. They would be kept in small rooms but the doors would be open. You couldn’t see other people, but you could hear their voices.

B: Voices of those who were beaten up?

Z: Yes.

B: Screams?

Z: Yes.

B: Voices of those being tortured?

Z: Yes. You could hear it. It wasn’t shown to you.

B: So those so-called “study centers” are, in fact, torture centers?

Z: Yes. They call them “learning centers”, so why torture and shackle people there? You’re supposed to be free there. But we would get up at 6 in the morning, finish our meals by 7, and then sit until the evening. B: In your rooms?

Z: In our rooms.

B: How would you sit?

Z: We would have to sit straight, without moving, with our hands on our knees. On a stool. If you moved, you’d be ordered to stand. They could see it through the cameras. They could hear your voice. We weren’t allowed to speak Kazakh.

B: Only Chinese?

Z: Chinese. You’d be taken downstairs if spoke Kazakh.

B: To be beaten?

Z: Yes. Old men would just keep silent as they could not speak [Chinese]. We experienced various hardships.

B: Were you at the camp for 11 months?

Z: Yes, 11 months.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqW6uM82kQ

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlepzWFhiA Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZtPPyqLO3g Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvnDrEpQRm4 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhKVbH8KAkA Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjBW1qIzkMc Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm53nm00XiY Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqW6uM82kQ

Entry created: 2018-10-25 Last updated: 2021-08-06 Latest status update: 2020-09-20 208. Serik Muqai (赛里克·木海)

Chinese ID: 652524197210153412 (Shawan)

Basic info

Age: 47 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: sentenced (20 years) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to religion Health status: critical Profession: religion

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|10: Farida Muqai, a Kazakhstan citizen. She moved to Kazakhstan in 2004. (sister)

Testimony 5: Zhamila Muqai, a resident of Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 6|13: Qasira Muqai, a resident of Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 7: Tursynai Batyr, a resident of Kazakhstan. (sister-in-law)

Testimony 8|9: Maulia Qaliolla, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (niece)

Testimony 11: Qaliolla Muqai, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (brother)

Testimony 12: Farida Muqai, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (sister)

About the victim

Serik Muqai was an officially approved village imam, appointed by the Tacheng Prefecture Islamic Society.

Address: 25 South No. 2 Alley, Mogu Lake Village, Shanghudi Township, Shawan County, Tacheng Prefecture (塔城地区沙湾县商户地乡蘑菇湖村南2巷25号).

Victim's location

In Wusu Prison.

When victim was detained

While there is conflicting information in the testimonies, there seems to be a rough consensus that the victim was detained at some point in 2018:

According to the victim's sister, Zhamila, he was detained at the end of 2017. A Radio Free Asia report says that the victim was sent to a re-education camp in April 2018 [although the information is confusing as the interviewee also talks about him being in detention since 2017].

At some point during his time in camp, he was allegedly taken out for medical treatment.

The victim's brother, Qaliolla, testified that he was detained on April 3, 2018 and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2018.

The victim's sister, Farida, reported that he was sentenced to 20 years in January 2019 in a separate RFA report, however (with his sister Qasira putting the time of sentencing as December 2018 in a separate testimony).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The victim's sister, Qasira, testified that he was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison, with 7 years for teaching religion to children and 13 years for propagating religion.

Victim's status

Sentenced to 20 years in prison. It is very possible that the victim is subjected to forced labor, as there is an agricultural products company based at Wusu Prison.

According to Qaliolla Muqai, Serik's wife pays 1000RMB each month for his meals in prison.

According to the victim's sister, Farida, Serik suffers from diabetes and requires constant hospital visits. He was allegedly taken to the hospital on several occasions, handcuffed.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not stated how his relatives in Kazakhstan learned about his detention. However, the victim's sister-in-law, Tursynai, reports that Serik's wife was given the written verdict of his sentencing.

Additional information

Farida mentions that Serik had previously raised money to build a mosque. In 2018, the mosque was destroyed under the pretext that it was too big for the village.

A Radio Free Asia report mentions that local authorities ordered the victim's wife to sign some documents without an official stamp.

RFA Mandarin coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-09202019064310.html https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql1-09252019064124.html https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-02032020063320.html

RFA follow-up report: After an article detailing the arrest was published by Radio Free Asia, Maria’s (the victim's daughter's) sister in China started receiving threats from the police asking to delete that article.

Mentioned by Voices on Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

Victims among relatives

Qabai Muqai (212), Erzhan Qaqan (209), Qazhet Qyzyr (210), Murat Baiashbai (851), Aqytzhan Batyr (217), Qairolla Muqai (8075)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu2ic-lKDiM Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGFWR_eD1Nc Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGsBaUM28Q4 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxjK_lyjDk Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn95lVYzYqE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f5rXD8472w Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdkH15digTQ Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qWAyi-ZIYA Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1-owvrkfw Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwq-XSWjmE Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/208_6.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/208_7.jpeg relatives with photo of victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/208_11.jpg

Entry created: 2018-10-26 Last updated: 2020-08-26 Latest status update: 2020-04-02 222. Azat Sultan (阿扎提·苏里坦)

Chinese ID: 650102195001094013 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 70 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"two-faced", "separatism", "terrorism" Health status: --- Profession: scholar

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Qutluq Almas, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 2: Xinjiang University staff, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 3: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 4|5|6: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 7: The "Shanghai List", as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 8: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Azat Sultan was born in Urumqi in 1950. After graduating from the language and literature department of Nankai University in 1982, he would go on to work as a teacher at the Urumqi Experimental High School. In 1999, he became a member of the Chinese Writers Association.

He became president of Xinjiang Normal University in 2003. In 2011, he was elected president of the Xinjiang Association of Literature and Art. At the time of his arrest, he was serving as Xinjiang University's vice president, where he was also a literature professor.

He's held a number of other positions over the course of his career, including: Xinjiang Writers Association President, Chinese Uyghur Historical and Cultural Scientific Association Vice President, Xinjiang Twelve Muqam and Classical Literature Research Association Vice President, Xinjiang Lu Xun Research Association Vice President, Chinese Society for Contemporary Literature Board Member, Chinese Minority Literature Research Association Board Member, Editorial Board Member of "Chinese Folk Literature", "Tarim", "Tengritagh", "Xinjiang Social Sciences Forum", and other journals.

Some of his notable papers and articles include "Literary Pleasure and the Development of Literature and Art", "Tragic Consciousness in Uyghur Prose Creativity", and "On Abdurehim Otkur's Prose". Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

Azat was reported to have been detained in January 2018.

According to Abduweli Ayup, he was released in May 2019.

(Police records mention him going through a police check on August 23, 2017 in Urumqi, being deemed "completely normal" (一切正常), and allowed to move on (放行).)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

A staffer for the Xinjiang Association of Literature and Art's political department reported that Azat had displayed "two-faced tendencies". He also said: "[Prof. Sultan's] approach was against our Party - his thoughts showed a separatist tendency. He took advantage of his lecturing position in an uncontaminated place like the university to preach his separatist ideas".

The "Shanghai List", a leaked police document, reported him as a "terrorist suspect" [though it is not clear what this really entailed].

Victim's status

According to a July 25, 2019 post by Abduweli Ayup, he has been released.

In an article published on March 5, 2020 (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1181738.shtml), the state-media outlet Global Times claimed to have gotten in touch with Liu Zhengjiang, a colleague of Azat Sultan, who claimed that he had met Azat "a few days ago". Liu reportedly then contacted Azat, who had been spending the winter in Hainan Island of southern China. [While this should not be taken at face value, it may nevertheless be seen as a potential/partial corroboration of Abduweli's report.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Qutluq Almas cites "credible sources in the region", while Abduweli Ayup's sources are unclear.

The testimonies from the Xinjiang University staffer and the local government employee reported by Radio Free Asia are primary sources close to the case. The Shanghai List and the Urumqi police records are both primary sources coming from the Chinese police.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/professors-09182018151339.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/professor-09242018164800.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/shanghai-list/

Mentioned in an article in University World News: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180928160408284

Victim's 2015 piece for the China Daily: http://archive.is/fAFio

This victim is included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

In late 2012, he gave a lecture at Beijing University about how no religion should be linked to terrorism (https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qisqa_xewerler/terrorluq-12032012165655.html).

His Baidu Baike: https://archive.is/YqC0Q

His profile on the Chinese Writers Association site: https://archive.is/r0Utw

Mention in a blog entry: https://archive.is/zKKqm

One of his books: https://archive.is/acmSr

His article on the economic development of the Silk Road: https://archive.is/75hnX

Local article mentioning his remarks on the Belt and Road: https://archive.is/wOqAf

His online teacher profile page: https://archive.is/c22Lp

An open counter-terrorism letter that he was a signatory to (2014): https://archive.is/HzbGM

Listed as the Uyghur head of the Chinese Writers Association: https://archive.is/CVziV

Notice mentioning his visit to the University of Science and Technology of China: https://archive.is/sLUNf

An article about him and writer Wang Meng: https://archive.is/E5QbK

Radio Free Asia calls transcript

Call No. 1 (with Xinjiang University staff): RFA: When was Gheyretjan Osman detained? Staffer: No, I don’t know anything about that. RFA: What about Azat Sultan? Staffer: No, I don’t have any information about that.

Call No. 2 (with Xinjiang Writers and Artists Union): Staffer: Hello? RFA: Is this the Autonomous Region Writers Union? Staffer: Eh… [cut off by voiceover] [This individual then connected RFA to the political affairs office of the Writers Union.] Staffer: Ah… Okay, wait a second. RFA: Okay. Could you connect me to the office of the head of political affairs?

Call No. 3 (with the political affairs office): Staffer A: Hello?… Okay, let me get my colleague for you, and you can tell him. RFA: Okay, okay. … Staffer B: Hello? RFA: Hi! How are you? Staffer B: Eh, keeping healthy. Good! RFA: So… How long has it been since Azat Sultan was taken away? To the training center. Staffer B: I… So, two years ago, I went down to do grassroots-level work, so I wasn’t here when that happened. I just got back recently. About one… one month ago now. … RFA: So you don’t have any information about Azat Sultan’s situation and where he is. Staffer B: After we got back, we were attending those meetings, you know? The study meetings. According to what was said there, he was “two-faced”. RFA: Ah, “two-faced”. So, regarding Azat Sultan being “two-faced” … Did they say that he did something to get taken away while he was teaching at the university? Or was it some fault or mistake after he became the head of the Writers Union? Based on what you heard. Staffer B: I really couldn’t tell you. RFA: Of course. If you don’t know, then we’ll speak with someone better positioned. So, you know that Azat Sultan was punished under accusations of being two-faced, but you don’t know what concretely he was punished for. You didn’t receive any document or hear this in a meeting. Staffer B: That’s right, yes. I didn’t manage to get any clear news during those. Earlier, I had seen that “cautionary film” (警示片) during a work unit meeting, and there was a clarification about that person there. Yep. … Staffer B: Basically… He expressed things that had an anti-Party or splittist character and, moreover, used such a pure place as a school as a platform, used the convenience of his position of leadership… Used these things to try to bring his plans to reality. To put it simply, for years he had been mocking our Communist Party and our government, teaching these people and making them credulous. They heard such an ideology from a person in a position of leadership, after he was placed in a position to teach thousands and thousands of children. This reactionary walked on the road that went against our Party. That’s what they said. That is my understanding.

Source: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qanun/uyghur-ziyaliy-lager-09182018140232.html

Supplementary materials

Testimony 5: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/abduwali.ayup.3/posts/26 69852106383998&width=350 bio tweet: https://twitter.com/XJscholars/status/1062761831134040065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw TV show appearance: https://shahit.biz/supp/222_5.jpg

Entry created: 2018-10-26 Last updated: 2021-07-01 Latest status update: 2020-03-05 252. Tashpolat Teyip (塔西甫拉提·特依拜)

Chinese ID: 650102195812254535 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 61 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): "two-faced"|"taking bribes", "terrorism" Health status: --- Profession: scholar

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Xinjiang University staff, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 2: Anonymous, as reported by Asialyst. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Anonymous, as reported by "Amy Anderson". (friends, family, and students)

Testimony 4: Amnesty International, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 5: Nury Teyip, as reported by Los Angeles Times. (brother)

Testimony 6: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 7: American Association of Geographers, a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing geography and related fields. (colleague)

Testimony 8: Xinjiang University Honghu Net (新疆大学红湖网), a web portal of Xinjiang University.

Testimony 9: Chinese government spokesperson, as reported by Science.

Testimony 10: Anonymous, as reported by BBC. (colleague)

Testimony 11: Nury Teyip, now residing in the United States. (brother)

Testimony 12: Nury Teyip, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (brother)

Testimony 13: The "Shanghai List", as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 14: Letter from the Chinese government, providing an official reply regarding a certain query or issue.

About the victim A graduate of Xinjiang University (1983) and a geographer with a doctorate degree from the Tokyo University of Science, Dr. Tashpolat Teyip served as the President of Xinjiang University and as a Communist Party deputy secretary from 2010. He is the author of several book contributions and scientific articles on spectroscopy and long-distance sensing, and their applications to measuring land cover and soil types. He has also received an honorary degree from one of France's most prestigious educational institutions, l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes de Paris (EPHE).

Originally from Ghulja City, he had been residing in Urumqi for decades.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

He is reported to have been stopped at the Beijing airport in late March 2017 and told to return to Urumqi, while on his way to a conference in Germany, where he was supposed to attend the launch of a joint center to study underground coal fires, a collaboration between Xinjiang University and the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics in Hanover. [There is a contradiction here, as Nury Teyip in his interview to NBC says that Tashpolat was arrested after returning from Germany.]

His replacement was announced at a meeting of Communist Party cadres on March 31, 2017, and his name was subsequently removed from the official list of Xinjiang University presidents, which lists every Xinjiang University president since 1924. He had previously been praised on the university's website for his "commitment to serving the Party with complete obedience, including 'strictly implementing political ideology'".

At some point after his arrest, he was given a death sentence with 2-year reprieve.

An official statement by the Chinese government offers a different view, saying that he was arrested on May 7, 2018 for accepting bribes, and that an open trial for him was held on June 13, 2019 by Urumqi's intermediate court. A statement of a Chinese government spokesperson in Washington, D.C. mirrors this, saying that he was arrested in May 2018 for corruption.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to those who were close to him, he is believed to have been detained on the charge of being "two-faced".

The official claim by the Chinese government is that he was arrested for accepting bribes.

The "Shanghai List", a leaked police document, reported him as a "terrorist suspect" [though it is not clear what this really entailed].

Victim's status

Originally reported as sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve. However, later statements by official sources suggest that this may have changed. As of December 9, 2019, the official statement from the authorities was that his trial was still ongoing. His brother, Nuri Teyip, who lives in the U.S., had previously said that he had not been able to receive any news regarding Tashpolat or any of his other family members. According to the LA Times report, he has been unable to contact any of them. In a more recent RFA report, he is reported as saying that he heard of Tashpolat being given 20 years in prison, but without being able to confirm this.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Little has been known about his case. His disappearance was reported by those who knew him, with his being relieved from his position as President of Xinjiang University publicly written about on the XJU site. Radio Free Asia was able to confirm some details by contacting XJU directly.

Information about his 2-year death sentence reprieve came from the fact that he was allegedly featured in the same state instruction film as many other Uyghur scholars (as reported by those having seen the film, though it is unclear who).

That he was allegedly arrested and tried for corruption was reported by Chinese state sources, which presumably have direct knowledge of his case.

Additional information

Coverage and sources: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/university-president-02202018173959.html https://asialyst.com/fr/2018/10/19/chine-elite-ouighoure-decapitee-xinjiang/ https://livingotherwise.com/2019/01/22/death-sentence-life-service/ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/execution-09102019175637.html/ampRFA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashpolat_Tiyip https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-09-28/a-uighur-scholar-faces-execution-as-internation al-pressure-fails-to-budge-chinas-xinjiang-policies http://archive.is/b9yX4 http://archive.is/MMlVs https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/10/there-s-no-hope-rest-us-uyghur-scientists-swept-china-s-mas sive-detentions https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49956088 https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/qisqa_xewer/tashpolat-tiyip-12272019172612.html (English: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/death-12272019142753.html) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/shanghai-list/

Announcement of his being removed from his post: https://archive.fo/MMlVs

The American Association of Geographers published a letter on September 17, 2019, signed by 1300 academics, in support of the release of Tashpolat Teyip: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ie4yxXBdQe3MoNmQCZ07-oqyokEWsxb5/view

Various other academic and human rights institutions have called for Teyip’s release, including the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Amnesty International, PEN America, and Scholars at Risk.

This victim is included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Court cases in which Tashpolat Teyip represented Xinjiang University: http://archive.is/nj61l http://archive.is/ViJwf http://archive.is/WtSkz

Awarded the Magtymguly International Prize: http://archive.is/gBaB6

Authored books: http://archive.is/gqVln

Statement by French embassy in Beijing: https://cn.ambafrance.org/Statement-by-the-Spokesperson-on-the-trial-of-Chinese-human

Statement by UNHRC experts: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25454

State-media article praising him: http://archive.is/6ItHG

Official communication(s)

Source: Chinese Government (branch unclear)

------

Receipt is hereby acknowledged of communication No. UA CHN 21/2019 from the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on minority issues of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Chinese Government wishes to make the following reply:

Taxifulati Teyibai (who formerly used the name Tashifulati Tiyifu) is a male of Uyghur ethnicity born on December 25, 1958 in Ghulja City, Xinjiang. He holds a doctorate in engineering and is the former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Xinjiang University, and President of the University. He was placed under arrest by the public security agency on May 7, 2018, in accordance with the law, on suspicion of the offences of accepting bribes and corruption in particularly large amounts.

On the day when the public security agency placed him under arrest it clearly informed his family of the reason for the arrest and of his place of detention. During the procedures, both the Urumqi municipal intermediate people's procuratorate and the Urumqi municipal intermediate people's court informed the accused, Taxifulati Teyibai, in accordance with the law, that in addition to defending himself, he had the right to hire a defence lawyer to represent him. In accordance with his own wishes, his family appointed a lawyer to defend him. At this point the defence lawyer appointed by his family has already met with him eight times. According to the relevant rules of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, during the trial stage, only the defence lawyer may meet with the accused; the family had no right to visit or meet with him.

On June 13, 2019 the Urumqi municipal intermediate people’s court heard this case in an open session. Before the trial, Taxifulati Teyibai, the accused, informed his family through his defence lawyer that they did not need to attend the proceedings. The family respected his wishes and did not come to the court on the day of the trial. From the investigation stage, through the stages of prosecution and trial, all the proceedings fully complied with the rules of the Criminal Procedure Law and all the procedural rights of Taxifulati Teyibai and his defence lawyer were fully guaranteed, in accordance with the law. The trial of this case is still under way. The so-called secret death sentence, with reprieve, is completely false information. Supplementary materials show-of-support testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BZ8ucv7v-o Global Times tweet: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1212957476573732869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/252_1.jpg photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/252_2.jpg Testimony 7: https://shahit.biz/supp/252_3.pdf photo (3): https://shahit.biz/supp/252_4.jpg photo with Turkmen president: https://shahit.biz/supp/252_5.jpg photo (4): https://shahit.biz/supp/252_6.png photo (5): https://shahit.biz/supp/252_7.jpg photo with brother: https://shahit.biz/supp/252_9.jpg old family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/252_10.jpg Testimony 11: https://shahit.biz/supp/252_12.mp4 official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_252.png

Entry created: 2018-10-28 Last updated: 2021-07-02 Latest status update: 2020-01-03 277. Tursynbek Qabi (吐尔逊别克·哈比)

Chinese ID: 654221197302073053 (Dorbiljin)

Basic info

Age: 46 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: manual work

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3|4|5|6|7|9|10|11|12: Oralqan Aben, originally from Emin County but now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (wife)

Testimony 2: Unknown, but with a verified identity. (daughter)

Testimony 8: Abdolla Aben, born in 1976, originally from Emin County but now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (brother-in-law)

Testimony 13: Tursynbek Qabi, originally from Emin County but now residing in Kazakhstan. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. (the victim)

Testimony 14: Oralqan Aben, as reported by Institute for War and Peace Reporting. (wife)

Testimony 15: Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin.

Testimony 16: Tursynbek Qabi, as reported by Globe and Mail. (the victim)

Testimony 17: Tursynbek Qabi, as reported by Eurasianet. (the victim)

Testimony 18: Tursynbek Qabi, as reported by Apple Daily. (the victim)

Testimony 19: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (acquaintance)

About the victim

Tursynbek Qabi, a construction worker. He is married to Oralqan Aben and the couple have three children together.

Address in China: No. 001815, No. 2 Husbandry Team [now absorbed into No. 2], Emil Farm, Dorbiljin County (新疆额敏县也木勒牧场牧业七队001815号).

Chinese passport number: E85853261. Kazakhstan green card number: 042074458. Victim's location

Back in Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

He went to China on September 5, 2017 to attend a funeral, with local police confiscating his passport and Kazakhstan permanent resident card on his arrival. He would then remain under house arrest until his return to Kazakhstan on February 2, 2019 (a detailed account of what this entailed is given in the "Additional information" section below).

During this time, he was subjected to 6 days of underground detention and interrogation (starting on September 28, 2018, judging by the different testimonies, although the Globe & Mail report that includes him reports this as 2017). At one point, he contacted his wife in Kazakhstan to tell her that he was going to divorce her, which she believes may have been done under pressure, as it would limit her legal capacity to appeal for him.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

He is back in Kazakhstan, where he has been struggling with various health issues.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Some of the information about Tursynbek's detention prior to his return to Kazakhstan appears to have come from Tursynbek himself, while he was in Xinjiang (presumably through direct contact with his wife in Kazakhstan). The majority comes from his own eyewitness account following his return.

Additional information

Mention in the Globe and Mail (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-i-felt-like-a-slave-inside-chinas-complex-system-of-incar ceration/):

"On Sept. 28, 2017, Chinese state security took Tursynbek Qabi, 45, to the basement of a prison facility and locked him in a cage that was too small for him to lie down. Accused of taking family members to Kazakhstan, he was kept there for six days, sleeping slumped against the bars on the side of the cell. “It was like an animal cage,” he said. Mr. Qabi was then released to a kind of town arrest − allowed to go home, but not allowed to travel elsewhere without permission. Local officials ordered everyone under the age of 50 to attend nightly Chinese language classes from 6 to 8 p.m., he said.

...

For others who have left China for Kazakhstan, concern remains for family members still in Xinjiang − some of whom have made themselves personally liable for those no longer in China. “My relatives signed documents as guarantors, saying when I am in Kazakhstan, I won’t say anything bad about China,” Mr. Qabi said."

---

Featured by Eurasianet (https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-after-xinjiang-the-long-road-to-recovery):

"When Tursynbek Kabiuly arrived in Kazakhstan in February following a 17-month absence enforced by Chinese authorities, he could see the joy on his wife Oralkhan’s face.

But unless she spoke loudly, he could hardly hear her.

Kabiuly, an ethnic Kazakh who hails from Emin county in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, says he owes the burst eardrum in his right ear to a guard in the police detention center where he was held arbitrarily for six days last year with minimal food and water.

During a trip to a restroom, Kabiuly resorted to slurping from a tap in order to quench his thirst. The guard waiting for him outside lost his temper and struck Kabiuly around the head so hard that his ear bled from the pain.

“If I had complained to his superiors about it, my situation would have gotten much worse, very quickly,” Kabiuly told Eurasianet.

...

The $500 hearing aid that the crowdsourcing project purchased for Kabiuly is one of the more expensive outlays from the funding drive that raised $6,000 and has now entered a second round. At least one other former detainee that reported similar blows to the head in incarceration had hearing loss that could not be treated.

“It’s like a gift from God,” Kabiuly said of the earpiece. “I feel I am getting back to myself again.”

Kabiuly’s Xinjiang nightmare began in September 2017 after he travelled from Kazakhstan, where he had filed papers for citizenship, to Emin to attend a relative’s funeral.

...

Whilst in Xinjiang, Kabiuly witnessed a broad cross-section of the horrors that the Chinese state has inflicted on non-Han citizens in its bid to reshape life there.

Although he was never a resident of one of the now-notorious internment camps, his mother-in-law was.

As Oralkhan and her children petitioned for Kabiuly’s release from China and her mother's release from the camp, Kabiuly and his brother-in-law were confronted with constant surveillance and regular check-ups from authorities.

Under this pressure, Oralkhan’s brother committed suicide, months before their mother was released from the camp.

Kabiuly sent a message to Oralkhan, informing her of his intent to divorce her – a message she instantly dismissed as sent under duress. At one point during this campaign of intimidation, Kabiuly told Eurasianet that Emin authorities forced him to deface several family tombstones.

Kabiuly was given no official reason for his brief but harrowing detention last September.

But it was his links to Kazakhstan – China’s closest economic partner in Central Asia – that were the subject of consecutive interrogations.

“They told me that Kazakhstan was on a list of countries with terrorism. But I think it is China that is the terrorist country. How can a government that treats citizens like livestock talk about terrorism?” he asked.

...

Kabiuly says his main priority after restoring his hearing is rebuilding muscle mass so he can get the type of construction jobs that he landed before a costly and physically draining stint in Xinjiang.

But Oralkhan told Eurasianet her husband is now more withdrawn than the man who went to Xinjiang in 2017, and that he was prone to hiding mobile telephones in far corners of the house when guests arrived, fearing Chinese eavesdropping.

“We have had some strange calls to the house, and I am worried for our children," Kabiuly explained.

"I am getting better with the phones now,” he said smiling as he eyed a smartphone on the table."

---

Coverage in other media: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/ethnic-kazaks-flee-chinese-crackdown https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-09262019084115.html https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/受害者/吐爾遜別克-哈比/全文

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

Tursynbek Qabi went to his hometown in China on September 5, 2017, with the border staff taking away his passport and arranging for a car to take him to his hometown in Dorbiljin County (around 50 km from the Bakhty border crossing). The next day, local police told him not to visit them for the coming month unless there was an emergency, and he was left not knowing what to do.

After some time, he heard that his son in Kazakhstan had injured his forehead and needed to have an operation. Collecting all the necessary documents to prove it, he went to the police, but they wouldn’t return his passport, finding various excuses. They told him not to turn off his mobile phone and to be ready at any time to visit the station. He had to attend a flag-raising ceremony every Monday.

In May [2018], he was summoned to the police station. It was crowded, and everyone there was asked to fill in a form where they had to state their faith, if they were religious, and if they believed in the power of the Communist Party. The police warned that there’d be consequences if they wrote that they believed in God. In the end, Tursynbek wrote that he didn't.

In June, they called him in again, saying that his children in Kazakhstan had filed a petition [for Tursynbek to be allowed to return to Kazakhstan]. Tursynbek told them that he wasn't aware of it. In fact, he didn't even have their contact info, having deleted them from his WeChat account. At the end of August, he was summoned again, with the police informing him that his passport had been cancelled and that he had supposedly signed off on it himself, even though Tursynbek claims to never have signed such a document.

On September 28, two men from national security (国保队) took him to a basement for an interrogation. It was nearly 20 meters underground, in a cell slightly larger than 10 square meters in area and with 6 barred cages in the cell, each smaller than one square meter. There were benches inside, but the cages were so tiny that you couldn't even lie down. Tursynbek would be questioned in a separate room for three hours, in a tiger chair. The men, ethnic Kazakh police, asked him if he knew “Zharqyn 7”, or if he had ever listened to his lectures. Later, he was also asked about his relatives, including the deceased ones, as well as his classmates, primary school teachers, and friends. They asked him to write a report about his current friends.

While he was in the cage, he saw a Kazakh man who had worked as a teacher. His name was Ashel Token. Ashel was accused of talking to people in Kazakhstan over WeChat.

Tursynbek would spend a total of 6 days there, having only rice and steamed buns. He says that it wasn't so hard to eat less, but that it was hard not to drink water. He was always thirsty.

When they were about to release him, they made him say "Long live Xi Jinping, long live the Communist Party", and warned that he should make his family members in Kazakhstan stop petitioning. He then had to have a cadre as his “relative”, despite not even having his own house there. So he’d meet up with his "relative” on the street and they’d agree to report that they lived together. The cadres needed to give their non-cadre "relatives" 30 RMB per night for their hospitality.

Tursynbek’s hometown police would call him in regularly to fill in paperwork, later questioning him daily because he had informed his wife in Kazakhstan about his mother-in-law's (Qalchan Amet’s) detention and his brother-in-law's (Erbolat Aben’s) death. He even thought about divorcing his wife to be free of these interrogations.

On two occasions, he was recruited to be a patrol guard in his village. This involved having to wear a helmet and a bulletproof vest, and to hold a stick. They had to show up whenever the alarm rang in the shops or restaurants. The shop/cafe owners and workers also had to gather if an alarm rang. Each place had its own red button and once, a drunk person pressed it, forcing everyone to show up "armed". They always told them to be on alert against the “evil forces”, though no one knew who they were.

Tursynbek had two acquaintances who were religious and used to never drink, but both of whom do now. Women also have to drink, he says. If you refuse, they say that it's a national beverage, and that you have evil thoughts and need to be cured.

On the day he was called into the office to get his passport back, he saw six huge sacks full of passports there. They made a video of his "happy daily life” before releasing him, with his nephew signing a document as his guarantor. When Tursynbek went to see his [recently released] mother-in-law, there were two people [police and/or civil workers] at her house.

He returned to Kazakhstan on February 2, 2019. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIgxdsU6rQ

Victims among relatives

Qalchan Amet (278), Erbolat Aben (279)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0XJH97Hdk Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otAeyfM5U0A Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MXUDOVnZgg Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_vvMuPWQc0 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InRn2461jYg Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3O8y0yxQjw Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Wt4CCNJho Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTaKdE1An7A Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atwbFk9wAhc Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O0Iaij36N0 Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rTcN7NCJDc Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgKm7asOZg0 Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIgxdsU6rQ at Astana press club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsM6LU8i9BE photo with wife after return: https://shahit.biz/supp/277_14.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/277_15.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/277_17.png

Entry created: 2018-10-31 Last updated: 2020-02-24 Latest status update: 2019-09-26 298. Akbar Alipbai (艾克拜尔·艾力甫巴依)

Chinese ID: 654121197805102551 (Ghulja County)

Basic info

Age: 42 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (17 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Unknown, but with a verified identity. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2|4|5: Baqytzhan Nurdaulet, born in 1966, has been a Kazakhstan citizen since 2004. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Almas Darbai, born in 1979, is a resident of Kazakhstan. (relation unclear)

Testimony 6: Alimnur Turganbai, born in 1977, is a resident of Kazakhstan. (relative)

Testimony 7: Bagdar Orazgaly, originally from Ghulja County but now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (friend)

Testimony 8|11: Gulmira Abduali, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (niece)

Testimony 9: Gulmira Abduali, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (niece)

Testimony 10: Gulmira Abduali, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (niece)

About the victim

Akbar Alipbai has two children. His wife also suffers from health issues.

Address: House 112, Group No. 1, Qulystai Village, Aulie Township, Ghulja County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China (阿吾利亚乡, 库鲁斯台村1组112号).

Chinese passport: E67545383.

Victim's location

[Gulmira Abduali in interview to G. A. Bunin on September 5, 2019 (Testimony 9): Zhana Turme jail in Kunes County.]

When victim was detained March 2018. In June 2018, he was sentenced to 16 years and 10 months.

[Gulmira Abduali in interview to G. A. Bunin on September 5, 2019: Detained on March 29, 2018, spent 3 months in Ghulja, then was sentenced to 17 years and transferred to Zhana Turme (prison) in Kunes County [Kunes Maximum-Security Prison]. No written proof of the verdict as it was given orally.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention reading Quran

[Gulmira Abduali in interview to G. A. Bunin on September 5, 2019: might also be due to his having good relations with imams.]

Testimony 11: for eating together with religious people.

Victim's status in prison (17-year sentence)

[Gulmira Abduali in interview to G. A. Bunin on September 5, 2019: serving his sentence. Relatives can talk to him via a screen at local police station office.]

Testimony 8: On September 18, 2019, he was allowed to meet his wife after the testifer's petition and his wife was told that he would be released in three years.

[There is a good likelihood of the victim being subjected to forced labor, as this practice has been documented at Kunes Prison.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

A group of friends - Serik Dauitbek, Duisen Yrysbergen and Akbar Alipbaiuly have all received the same sentence at the same time for the same reason.

RFA coverage (Testimony 10): https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-10102019072505.html

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCaJy3gSo3E Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-LgrB7iCn0 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSsTOLtNGE Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HueWMl9XGpo Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ZGyM-lMSk Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxueBv4Dlh4 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCoEEmgnmMc Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ1kn2I3-Ds Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cus6BcsrVOQ Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/298_8.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/298_9.png testifier with victim's photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/298_10.png

Entry created: 2018-11-01 Last updated: 2021-07-02 Latest status update: 2021-02-26 314. Sultan Aqyn (苏力唐·阿洪)

Chinese ID: 654121194602154294 (Ghulja County)

Basic info

Age: 73 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: has problems Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|8: Saulebek Sultan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 2|3|4|5|6: Baqytzhan Nurdaulet, born in 1966, has been a Kazakhstan citizen since 2004. (relation unclear)

Testimony 7: Nauryz Sultan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 9: Saulebek Sultan, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

Testimony 10: Saulebek Sultan, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (son)

Testimony 11: Saulebek Sultan, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (son)

About the victim

Sultan Aqyn was a farmer, and had made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2013 with the permission of the local authorities.

Registered address: Group No. 1, Mazar Township Husbandry Team, Mazar Township, Ghulja County, Xinjiang (新疆伊宁县麻扎乡麻扎乡畜牧队1组).

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained

Sultan was first detained in February 2018, for what should have been a 15-day detention according to his son, Saulebek. The exact date is not clear as Saulebek reports the date in one testimony as the 26th, and in a later testimony as the 20th. He also reports that he was held in a "camp". (In an earlier testimony, however, he is reported to have been detained as early as October 2017.) In April-May 2019, Saulebek first heard rumors of the victim having been sentenced [although an earlier testimony reports that he had already heard this in the summer of 2018].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Allegedly for having visited Mecca.

Victim's status

Serving a prison sentence. The exact length is not clear and has been reported as 3, 7.5, 9, and 11 years in different testimonies.

He suffers from health issues, as he is missing one kidney.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

According to Saulebek, his mother is able to talk to the victim via a screen at the police station.

However, Saulebek appears to have learned about the victim's situation from hearsay through relatives, as Saulebek's mother cannot openly talk about this.

Additional information

On September 5, 2019, Saulebek mentioned that his mother - who's alone and under house arrest - called Saulebek a week earlier, from a police station, to tell him to stop appealing.

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql1-10242019070701.html

Mentioned in Voices on Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

Victims among relatives

Gulsinai Bagagumar (3031)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egY2TAx1y9o Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-LgrB7iCn0 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HueWMl9XGpo Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ZGyM-lMSk Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jctgbWZaslA Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izP4hm1PVog Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u2j00QbRk4 Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iij60hJ9lLM Testimony 2: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/100012011741023/videos /504099263333794/&show_text=1&width=450 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/314_8.png testifiers with victim's photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/314_10.png testifiers with victim's photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/314_13.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-01 Last updated: 2020-09-18 Latest status update: 2020-01-21 320. Gulsimqan Bazarbek (古丽斯木汗·巴扎尔别克)

Chinese ID: 652522194005100024 (Dorbiljin)

Basic info

Age: 78 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"registration issues" Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3|4: Bolatbek Raqymbai, born in 1976, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (son)

Testimony 2: Gulsimqan Bazarbek, a citizen of Kazakhstan, originally from Tacheng's Dorbiljin County. She is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang, having spent over 8 months in a camp. (the victim)

Testimony 5: Xinjiang Public Security, the government office in charge of public security and arrests.

Testimony 6: Gulsimqan Bazarbek, as reported by "Azat Erkin". (the victim)

About the victim

Gulsimqan Bazarbek is originally from Tacheng's Dorbiljin County, but has been a Kazakhstan citizen since 2009.

Kazakhstan passport number: N06196204. Kazakhstan ID: 026758650.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

She went to China on December 14, 2017, to go through the deregistration process. When she went to the police to cancel her registration the next day, they took her passport and said that she would get it back soon. This did not happen, however, and in late February 2018 she would be taken to a camp - on the thirteenth floor of a People's Hospital - instead.

In October 2018, she was transferred to the heating company (热力公司) camp.

She was released at the end of November 2018, and would return to Kazakhstan on January 25, 2019. Likely (or given) reason for detention

Believed to have been detained for "dual citizenship".

An official notice from the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, while not addressing her detention, does say that her deregistration case is "currently being looked at" (目前正在审查).

Victim's status

Allowed to return to Kazakhstan.

She is elderly and was found to suffer from heart disease and hypertension.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Her son learned about her status from fellow villagers visiting Kazakhstan. According to Gulsimqan, she was also allowed a phone call with her family soon after her a delegation visited the camp to tell her that her children in Kazakhstan were looking for her.

Gulsimqan's is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Eyewitness account given to Azat Erkin (likely machine-translated from Kazakh): https://erkinazat2018.medium.com/interview-with-a-witness-of-the-chinese-concentrated-camp-555d7a7 aaa32

ChinaAid coverage: https://www.chinaaid.net/2019/12/blog-post_19.html

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview with Orynbek Koksebek, another ex-detainee who is now back in Kazakhstan.]

After being detained, Gulsimqan stayed on the thirteenth floor of a People's Hospital in Dorbiljin County. There were six old ladies in her cell, with 12-13 similar cells. The old ladies were forced to learn “red songs” and the Chinese language, which they found really hard, and would only be able to sing together with the other, younger, inmates, as they could not remember the words.

Although they were not beaten or tortured physically, they did suffer a lot psychologically. They couldn't understand what the government wanted from them.

During a medical check-up, Gulsimqan found that she had heart disease and hypertension. Her relatives would bring her meals from home everyday.

Once, a delegation of three people came to visit them: two Han and a Mongol, together with a Kazakh translator. They told her that her children in Kazakhstan were looking for her, after which she was allowed to talk to them on the phone for ten minutes. She kept asking the authorities why she was there. She was neither receiving pension from the Chinese government nor was she in debt. She just wanted to cancel her household registration so as not to hold two citizenships simultaneously, but they wouldn't give her an answer.

The old ladies weren't allowed to wear headscarfs, Gulsimqan mentions, which for them was really shameful.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmlJ7hnFoDU

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFzzc8Bf3mg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmlJ7hnFoDU Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshkx0Yl_dM Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EwizxeCVgk PSB notice (Testimony 5): https://shahit.biz/supp/320_5.png registration cancellation: https://shahit.biz/supp/320_6.jpeg temporary visa: https://shahit.biz/supp/320_7.jpeg exit stamp: https://shahit.biz/supp/320_8.jpeg

Entry created: 2018-11-02 Last updated: 2021-05-03 Latest status update: 2019-02-28 333. Adia Murat (阿地亚·木拉提)

Chinese ID: 654221195908200062 (Dorbiljin)

Basic info

Age: 59 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: education

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-5: Dana Nurashqyzy

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-5: mother

About the victim

Adia Muratqyzy (阿地亚*木拉提), Kazakh. Born August 20, 1959, Chinese ID no. 654221195908200062. Kazakhstan Green card no. 042075818. Hukou address: Arshat Road (阿尔夏特路) 676, Emin town, Emin county, Tacheng Prefecture. Worked as a teacher of the Chinese language at the Emin No. 5 Primary School, has since retired. Went back to China by request of her former school on August 21, 2017.

Victim's location

Originally from Dorbiljin (Emin) County in the Tarbagatai (Tacheng) Region, but now back in Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Documents were confiscated in August 2017. Detained on March 4, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status

Three months since the detention, the family received information that the victim has become disabled in the re-education camp and now uses a wheelchair, and that she was also hospitalized during June-July. [G.A. Bunin, from meeting with testifier: On July 5, she was transferred from the local Emin township hospital to a hospital in Tacheng, where she would stay around two months before being transferred back to camp.]

Testimony 3: Released to house arrest on November 23, 2018.

Testimony 5: Under house arrest in her sister's home.

[G. A. Bunin: on June 3, 2019, the testifier informed me that her mother has passed customs and is now in Kazakhstan.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Through contacts in China.

Additional information

The victim's husband’s health worsened after he heard the news about the disability.

Testimony 4: the victim's daughter saw a photo of her holding a wine glass (even though she had never drunk alcohol before).

[G. A. Bunin: according to the testifier, she could still stay in touch with her mother during the first week of detention.]

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWdu-X227C8 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe6M2X8h6xU Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPl1bCFvaWA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaucz5HOGko Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzN5g9L0f1A Before and after camp: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_4.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_7.jpg marriage certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_8.jpg letter of appeal: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_9.jpg Kazakhstan ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_10.jpg family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_11.jpeg July 2018: https://shahit.biz/supp/333_12.jpeg Nov. 23, 2018 (after release): https://shahit.biz/supp/333_13.jpeg photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_333.png

Entry created: 2018-11-02 Last updated: 2019-06-03 Latest status update: 2019-06-03 391. Satybaldy Rahymbergen (沙特瓦勒德·热合木别尔肯)

Chinese ID: 654125197908241015 (Kunes)

Basic info

Age: 41 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (22 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|6|7|9: Qalida Aqythan, an elderly Kazakh woman, originally from Kunes County but now a citizen and resident of Kazakhstan. (mother)

Testimony 5: Qalida Aqythan, as reported by Apple Daily. (mother)

Testimony 8: Qalida Aqythan, as reported by The Believer. (mother)

About the victim

Satybaldy Rahymbergen.

Address: 46-1 Second Alley, Qara'agashty Village, Bestobe Township, Kunes County (新源县别斯托别乡喀拉哈西特村二巷046号附1号).

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained

The victim was detained on February 17, 2018. At some point, he was sentenced to 22 years.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Sentenced.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Qalida learned about the initial arrest from one of her daughters-in-law. It was later confirmed by the local village administrator, Nurlybek.

Additional information

According to Qalida, the people responsible for her sons' detention are named Meirban and Tasqyn.

In 2019, two journalists travelled to her children's house in China after interviewing her (the testifier) in Kazakhstan. They could not find anybody who was willing to talk to them. Two of her daughters-in-law were prevented from seeing the journalists. After their (journalists') visit, the village administration helped them to complete and decorate their unfinished house. Now they (daughters-in-law) receive 600RMB as a monthly allowance.

Coverage in the Apple Daily: https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/尋親者/阿合提汗-哈利達/全文

---

Qalida's interview to "The Believer" (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

A small hamlet called Karagash is where I was born, in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. A pasture for cattle. My mother died when I was two years old. I heard my father was a party activist, but — let me be frank — I never knew him. After my mother died, my father remarried and forgot all about me. I was sent to live with my mother’s relatives. I lived with them until I was five. Then they didn’t want me either. I lived here and there, with people who knew my mother and took pity on me. An orphan. I’m illiterate, to tell you the truth. There was no one to support my education.

In 1975, when I was twenty-one, I met my husband. He was an orphan like me. His relatives had moved to China during the famine, before he was born. When they moved back to Kazakhstan, he was left behind without anyone. His name was Rakhymbergen Kittybay. He died last year, on September 9.

I was pregnant eight times. My first four pregnancies, including one set of twins, were unsuccessful. Four sons, one daughter — I lost my first five children. Then my son was born. Among Kazakhs, when you have miscarriages, or when babies die one after another, a new child’s life is understood to hang by a thread. So when my son was born, we gave him immediately to our neighbor. The neighbor kept him and fed him for the first week of his life. We refused to see him at all. Then we bought our baby back. We brought presents, clothes, firewood. We passed the presents through our neighbor’s door and took the child back through the window. It worked. After that, I had more children and they all lived. But until our firstborn son was twelve, my husband held him like this—like an egg. He was always hanging on his father’s neck, even when eating. We were so afraid to lose him.

They were difficult times, those early years of our marriage. I would have my son strapped to my back all day while I worked, cutting cornstalks, threshing wheat. My husband did the same. We were sharecroppers. It was backbreaking work. When we had our second child, I would tie them both to a post in the field like sheep so they wouldn’t wander off.

In the '90s, the state allocated some land to us. Only then did we start to live decently. For the first time in our lives, we didn’t go to bed hungry. We planted wheat, corn, soy, sometimes beets for sugar. Our own crops, on our own land. After the border opened, my husband went to Kazakhstan to try to find his family. He managed to find his mother. His father had already died. From then on, he stayed in Kazakhstan to look after her. He would come to China to visit for five or six days at a time, then go back. I was raising my sons alone. His mother didn’t die until 2007, at the age of 103. After my first son who lived, I had three more sons all in a row. The three eldest all work together in construction, building houses from the ground up. The fourth was still a boy when we moved to Kazakhstan, but the elder three all made lives for themselves in Xinjiang. All of them married. In fact, all of them found Uighur wives. It’s true we lived in an area of mostly Uighurs, but there was another reason: We were poor. We had no savings. When you marry a Kazakh girl, you have to pay a dowry. We couldn’t afford it. Uighurs don’t have dowries. So one by one they stole their Uighur wives and we didn’t pay a penny. We bought only their clothes.

When they started arresting people, my three eldest sons were taken first. They took all three on the same day, last February. They lived together in the same village in Kunes. The wife of my second eldest son called me to say they’d been arrested. The next day, she called me again. Mama, she said, they took my sister. Your daughter-in-law. They took Toktygul. They had arrested my eldest son’s wife. But I don’t know [breaks down crying] what happened to my grandchildren. They had five children. I don’t know where they are.

On hearing the news, my husband came down with a migraine. The next day, when our daughter was taken, it got worse. But we decided to wait and see. I told him to hold out. When we hadn’t heard anything by the end of the month, I called the administrator of Karagash, a man by the name of Nurlybek. I asked Nurlybek what had happened to my sons. Where are they? Where is my daughter-in-law? They’re being reeducated, Nurlybek said. He told me my other two daughters-in-law had also been taken to the reeducation camp. They, too, were being reeducated. Political studies was how he described it. I have fourteen grandchildren in China. Some are very young. I asked Nurlybek where they were. Where are my fourteen grandchildren? They are all studying, he said, and hung up.

After that, my husband could no longer walk. He lay in bed. From the end of February, he never walked again. I took care of him. I couldn’t go anywhere, couldn’t leave the house. He got weaker and weaker. Months went by. We didn’t tell anyone what had happened to our family. Then, on September 9, 2018, he had a bout of strength and shouted all his sons’ names: Satybaldy! Orazzhan! Akhmetzhan! He turned to me. I am entrusting my sons first to Allah, then to you, he said. As for me, I am finished. He died later that day, at 5:00 p.m.

After he died, I spent ten days at home. I didn’t say a word to anyone. Then I decided to find my children. I came to Atajurt and met with Serikzhan. Others wrote letters for me because I can’t write. The letters explain that my children are gone, and that my husband couldn’t stand to see his sons and daughters taken away. That it had killed him.

Only my youngest son is here in Kazakhstan with me. But even he’s married now, and their apartment is too small for me. I live alone, and I don’t have a pension here, so I have to work. My youngest son helps. He goes in together with a dozen other people to hire a truck to bring vegetables out of China. I take my share and resell them at the bazaar. Cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce greens. I can’t afford a stall. I sit on the street with my carrots and cabbages. But my youngest son is good. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke. He used to drink before, but he gave it up. He has a family to take care of.

Victims among relatives

Tohtigul Memetjan (2541), Tahir Satybaldy (5352), Shayide Satybaldy (5353), Zubair Satybaldy (5354), Muhemmed Satybaldy (5355), Parida Satybaldy (5356), Qaisar Orazzhan (5357), Almira Orazzhan (5358), Qewser Orazzhan (5359), Abubakir Orazzhan (5360), Orazzhan Rahimbergen (392), Mihriay Bahar (5361), Arzu Aqmetzhan (5362), Fatima Aqmetzhan (5363), Halit Aqmetzhan (5364), Sapiya Aqmetzhan (5365), Ahmedzhan Rahymbergen (393), Rahymbergen Quttybai (5366) Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwCASoW-XDU Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv-NNBUXmoE Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTCN9rQzjVY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAdNIvFD7Nc Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qmZ0btqnN8 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXvC7F1eCtY Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlujNrjxv1Q Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/391_7.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-06 Last updated: 2021-08-10 Latest status update: 2021-06-05 406. Gulgine Tashmemet (古丽给娜·塔什麦麦提)

Chinese ID: 65400219870917??E? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 32 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3*|7: Gulzire Tashmemet, originally from Ghulja but now residing in Germany. (sister)

Testimony 4: Anonymous, but with a verified identity.

Testimony 5|6: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

About the victim

Gulgine Tashmemet is a student from Ghulja City. From 2010 to 2017, she studied at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), obtaining a BS and an MS in computer science. She was set to commence her a doctorate degree there in January 2018. Most of her tuition was paid by her father, but she also taught classes on the weekends as a part-time job.

Address in Ghulja: 158 Ninth Alley, West Xinhua Road.

Chinese passport number: G33768927.

Victim's location

In Ghulja.

When victim was detained

Gulgine first ran into issues with the authorities when she went back to Ghulja in March 2017 to see her sick father. While there, she was made to sign a statement by the neighborhood police, promising that she would return to China after she finished her classes in Malaysia. She’d lose all connection with her parents if she didn't, and what they said to her was a direct threat: "If you don’t come back, it will be dangerous for your father." By that time, her father was already under suspicion because he had previously sent money to Gulzire in Germany. The police also collected Gulgine's blood samples and confiscated her passport for a month, prior to allowing her to return to Malaysia (for what would be her last time). Gulgine's last trip to China was intended as a visit to her family prior to commencing a PhD in Malaysia. She flew there on December 26, 2017 (Kuala Lumpur to Guangzhou to Urumqi). A few days after arriving, she updated her WeChat picture as a sign that she was fine, but a few weeks into January she changed the background to one resembling a prison cell - a wall in a dark room with a shadow of a person. The testifier thus believes that she was detained sometime in January.

Afterwards, there was no news for years, until the victim suddenly called Gulgine in early May 2020. The video call, which lasted around 8 minutes, also included their parents, with Gulgine telling Gulzire that she was well and now working as an English teacher in the city's development zone (开发区). Gulgine says that everyone looked well, but that their father had lost his ability to speak.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Possibly because she had studied abroad.

Victim's status

Allegedly released and working as an English teacher, though the exact situation remains unclear.

The Xinjiang spokespeople have put this forth as the official version (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187107.shtml), in reply to the PBS documentary where the victim's case was mentioned. China Daily has also released a propaganda video showing Gulgine "living normally" and teaching English.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Gulzire learned of the detention through WeChat and through friends/neighbors in Ghulja.

She learned about Gulgine's alleged release from Gulgine herself, when the latter called her.

Additional information

Amnesty International has previously issued an Urgent Action for Gulgine: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/8644/2018/en/

Her story is also featured in the UHRP report on disappeared intellectuals: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/Detained-and-Disappeared-Intellectuals-Under-Assault-in-the-Uyghur-Homelan d.pdf

She is also mentioned in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Victims among relatives

Raziye Dilmurat (5623), Dilmurat Abliz (5951), Nigare Abdushukur (2396), Irpan Abdushukur (2397), Abdushukur Memetjan (2394), Merhaba Abdushukur (2395)

Supplementary materials Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5gFsnkqOEY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNS0OHvaX_4 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEkFS6yZJ6o Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Pcfj2BMHc China Daily propaganda video: https://twitter.com/ChinaDaily/status/1257558142847717377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Student card (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/406_3.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/406_4.png Student card (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/406_5.png Letter of recommendation: https://shahit.biz/supp/406_6.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/406_7.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-09 Last updated: 2020-05-09 Latest status update: 2020-05-02 411. Abdurehim Heyt (阿不都日衣木·艾衣提)

Chinese ID: 65310119640601??O? (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: 56 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: art & literature

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Tahir Hamut, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Aziz Isa Elkun, an Uyghur writer and now British citizen. (friend)

Testimony 4: Aydınlık, the newspaper of the Patriotic Party in Turkey.

Testimony 5*: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (acquaintance)

About the victim

Abdurehim Heyt, popularly known in Xinjiang as the "Dutar King", is a prominent Uyghur musician and an important cultural figure. After studying at the Kashgar Arts College, he would go on to work at the prestigious Central Nationalities Ensemble in Beijing from 1986 to 1993, after which he returned to Urumqi to join the Xinjiang Song-and-Dance Troupe, for which he performed many songs that promoted "unity and friendship among the peoples of China". None of his songs had ever been banned by the government, and most described him as a "State Artist".

Victim's location

Most likely in Urumqi, as this is where he is believed to have been held and where the (pro-China) Turkish outlet "Aidinlik" reported him as living.

When victim was detained

He was arrested in the early spring of 2017. Following widely circulating online rumors of his death and a condemnation from the Turkish MFA (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2185565/turkey-condemns-chinas-treatment-uygurs-e mbarrassment-humanity), a video of him in detention was posted by the Chinese state in February 2019, in which Abdurehim Heyt said that he was in good health and being "investigated". In July 2019, the Turkish outlet Aidinlik ran a report in which it interviewed Heyt, saying that he was free and working as a musician [this outlet also reported that Heyt had only been detained for 2 weeks, however].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The official reason is unclear, but US-based Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut has suggested that Abdurehim was arrested for his song "Atilar" ("Forefathers"). This is based on the poet who wrote the lyrics, Abdurehim Abdulla {1256}, being arrested at the same time, even though the song had previously been cleared by government censors.

According to Tahir:

"The problem with the poem was that it used the phrase “jenglerde shehit” (martyrs of war); that’s why it was sensitive. Actually, the main message of that song was about remembering the sacrifices made by our fathers and criticising the way young men these days go around partying … but they said that it was connected to jihad."

Victim's status

If the pro-China Aydinlik is to be believed, Heyt is not in "hard" detention and is likely under some sort of residential surveillance.

A reliable source has corroborated this to some extent, saying that Heyt was "back in his community", though it remains unclear to what extent his movements/actions/words are monitored and how much freedom he actually has.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not clear how Abduweli Ayup or Aziz Elkun Isa learned about the detention [likely through the grapevine]. Tahir Hamut says that Abdurehim's colleagues confirmed the news.

Aydınlık visited the victim in Urumqi.

It is not clear which specific channels the anonymous source got their info through.

Additional information

A number of publicly available reports:

- https://freemuse.org/news/uyghur-dutar-king-detained-in-china/ - https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/musician-11022017162302.html - https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/aydinlik-olduruldu-denilen-unlu-uygur-ozan-abdurrehim-heyit-ile-gorustu-tur kiye-temmuz-2019-6 - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/world/asia/china-turkey-uighurs.html

This victim is also included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

He has also been listed in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

His Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdurehim_Heyt

The "proof-of-life" video released by the Chinese state in February 2019 was the direct prompt for the MeTooUyghur social media campaign, in which numerous Uyghurs around the world demanded that the Chinese state show videos of their relatives also.

An interview with the victim from 2016: https://archive.vn/bA0i2

Turkey MFA statement: http://www.mfa.gov.tr/sc_-06_-uygur-turklerine-yonelik-agir-insan-haklari-ihlalleri-ve-abdurrehim-heyit-in- vefati-hk.en.mfa

Miscellaneous media evidence

Context: In early February 2019, there started circulating rumors - originating in Turkey - that the famous musician and poet Abdurehim Heyt, previously reported as detained in the spring of 2017, had died in detention. This was the second known time that such a rumor took off, but this time the source insisted that it was confirmed and true. What followed was a wave of public outrage and an official statement by Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 9 (https://archive.vn/eO1lD), in which the spokesperson, Mr. Hami Aksoy, lamented Heyt's death and denounced the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang as an "embarrassment to humanity".

On February 10, 2019, China Radio International's Turkish outlet posted a "proof-of-life" video of Heyt, in which he confirmed his detention and said the following:

"My name is Abdurehim Heyt. Today is February 10, 2019. I'm in the process of being investigated for allegedly violating the national laws. I'm now in good health and have never been abused."

Video: https://shahit.biz/supp/misc_411.mp4 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Y0CbFWoUo

Supplementary materials

"proof-of-life" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKbI3eZ3i0 Aydinlik coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4wLUDzMUeQ "Atilar" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gChubzVTBFY testimony from Jo Smith Finley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9at_fuveDjY Testimony 3: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/aziz.isa/posts/1021316489 4268198&width=300 TikTok video: https://twitter.com/YetteSu/status/1269319571934248961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw propaganda photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/411_3.jpg propaganda photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/411_4.jpg performance video: https://shahit.biz/supp/411_7.mp4 photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_411.png

Entry created: 2018-11-10 Last updated: 2020-05-30 Latest status update: 2020-06-06 460. Raqyzhan Zeinolla (热合江·再努拉)

Chinese ID: 652723630122033 (Arishang)

Basic info

Age: 51 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"espionage" Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|12|14|15|18|20: Parida Qabylbek, born in 1963, a citizen of Kazakhstan since 2004. (wife)

Testimony 3: Orazbek Alimbek, born in 1983, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (relation unclear)

Testimony 11|13: Galym Raqyzhan, a volunteer at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization, citizen of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 16*: Galym Raqyzhan, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

Testimony 17: Foreign Policy, an American news publication, founded in 1970 and focused on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy.

Testimony 19|21: Parida Qabylbek, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (wife)

Testimony 22: Abai.kz, a Kazakhstan news portal.

About the victim

Raqyzhan Zeinolla was a small-scale trader/businessman, and a married father of two. He emigrated to Kazakhstan and was later granted citizenship there in 2005.

Address in China: Harbuh Municipality, Arishang County, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.

Kazakhstan residence number: 010113875. Chinese passport number: 149013264 (expired in 2005).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained Raqyzhan left Kazakhstan and traveled to China with his wife and two children in 2004 to visit relatives. He was then taken away by Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture's security bureau and given a 13-year prison sentence, accused of spying on China for Kazakhstan.

Having served his prison sentence, he was released on September 7, 2017, only to be transferred directly to a re-education camp. He remained in camp until his release on December 24, 2018, at which point he was placed under house arrest.

On September 9, 2019, Parida reported that he had been staying at his relatives' home for 8 months. According to her, Raqyzhan was blaming her for not getting his passport back, as he thought the local authorities were not returning it because she was appealing for him in Kazakhstan. In a later testimony, Parida said that her husband was blaming her for being a member of an illegal organization. He told her that "China is doing really well" and asked her to stop what she was doing in Kazakhstan. When she'd contact him, he would refuse to talk about anything else, other than the standard few words that "everything is great".

On April 9, 2021, he was finally able to return to Kazakhstan.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Originally accused of spying for Kazakhstan (in 2004).

Parida says he didn't work for the government in either China or Kazakhstan. He had only helped around 20 young people who wanted to study in Kazakhstan to get some documents and cross the border.

[The recent incarceration in camp is likely due to his having been in prison, as many were sent to camp for this reason.]

Victim's status

Reunited with his family in Kazakhstan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The victim's wife and son were able to video chat with Raqyzhan after his release in late 2018, and it appears that they were able to maintain [likely sporadic] contact since.

In April 2021, they met him at the airport in Almaty.

Additional information

Mentioned in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/

Featured in Hola News [link no longer working]: https://holanews.kz/view/news/28285

Radio Azattyq report: https://rus.azattyq.org/a/kazakhstan-xinjiang-husband/30379103.html

Abai.kz report: https://abai.kz/post/131521 Parida holds two people, named Bazyr and Monka, accountable for falsely accusing her husband.

At one point in 2020, she met with one of the embassy personnel in front of the Chinese Embassy in Astana. He told her she would get an answer in three weeks, while mentioning that her husband might have remarried or committed a crime. A staff member at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Margulan, told Parida that the Kazakh government has sent a note to China concerning his case. However, a person from the embassy said that they hadn't heard of his case.

The document given by the immigration office in reply to Parida's inquiry in 2013 states that her husband, Raqyzhan Zeinolla, had become a Kazakhstan citizen in 2005, in accordance with the President's N1302 Decree of March 12, 2004. The National Security Bureau of Kazakhstan also confirmed, in 2009, that her husband is a Kazakhstan citizen.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXMfBUSrrI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKA4mpS1vU Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4sQIAgeYTc Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hmz5UI6YgY Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvYkBti0Oc0 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgFxmD0CIP4 Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdBL8Ay9m6c Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9wYvkvC0x8 Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEcxpzuGVv0 Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygiwFznIAMg Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbNsFCMaQjU Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoggRziW4Ds Testimony 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P94lPSxqeXY Testimony 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUjzlOsyO1c Testimony 18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA3cgUX-R1c Testimony 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvQ6Sd8KZ0k Testimony 20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEUPbAx5iYw Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/100012011741023/videos /442893772787677/&show_text=1&width=450 confirmation of KZ citizenship: https://shahit.biz/supp/460_19.jpg Chinese passport (blurry): https://shahit.biz/supp/460_20.png after return: https://shahit.biz/supp/460_21.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-12 Last updated: 2021-04-09 Latest status update: 2021-04-09 471. Zharqyn Asanqadyr

Chinese ID: 654126197712104314 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 41 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: house/town arrest When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Nurbakit Kanashov

Testimony 2-3: Ershat Asanqadyr. He was born on December 8, 1982. His Kazakhstan PIN is 821208399102. He has been employed at the China National Logging Corporation's branch in Kazakhstan for over 10 years now. Kazakhstan phone number: 87016974238.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1: relative (says brother, but don't share same last name)

Testimony 2-3: brother

About the victim

Zharqyn Asanqadyr used to work at No. 1 Middle School, part of the No. 76 Military Corps (Bingtuan) located in the Ili Prefecture's Zhaosu County. He finished his Bachelor's at Ili University, with honors, and had been working at the school as a math teacher since 2000. He has certification to teach advanced mathematics and a second-level national certification in computers. The Xinjiang Ili Press has published many of Kazakh-language scientific articles and literary works, with him considered a young poet and writer. He has also taken part in numerous cultural events and has acted as a host to countless weddings. He and his wife have three underage children together.

Address: No. 11, Alley 7, 76 Tuanzhongxin Road (团中新路), Tu'ergenbulake City (吐尔根布拉克镇), Zhaosu County.

DOB: December 10, 1977. Chinese ID: 654126197712104314. Chinese passport: G464332973.

Victim's location

Presumably in Zhaosu County, of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. When victim was detained

Testimony 3: In January 2018, local Bingtuan officials and police came to the school and threatened Zharqyn, trying to get him to sign a confession that he was religious. He refused to, and was allowed to return home. On March 23, 2018, the testifier received news that Zharqyn had been taken away to an "education camp", without any reason given, and would return after 15 days.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 3: Not clear. Ershat reports hearing that it was because Zharqyn was a good organizer. According to his letter, the officials originally tried to get him on religious grounds.

Victim's status

Testimony 3: Still in camp, it would appear. The 76th Bingtuan leader would console the family on several occasions, and even brought them a form to sign in November 2018, after which Zharqyn was supposed to be freed three days later. However, this has not happened, and the testifier believes that the leader lacks any good intentions, with the contents of the signed formed unclear (according to his letter, his family "was so happy that they signed it without even reading what it said").

Update from G. A. Bunin: on February 4, 2019, Ershat Asanqadyr confirmed to me that Zharqyn was released on February 3 and now appears to be under house arrest, as the two voice chatted on Feb. 3 via QQ (in Kazakh). He said that they haven't chatted since and that it doesn't seem convenient as there seem to be people at Zharqyn's home watching him.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 3: From Ershat's letter, it seems that he kept in touch with his family over WeChat, and learned about his brother's situation from them. However, on December 8, 2018, the local police threatened his family, saying that they would take them to camps if they contacted Ershat, thereby forcing Ershat to cut his ties with them electronically.

Additional information

Testimony 3: Despite the wife and three children relying on Zharqyn for support, his wife suddenly left the family, leaving the kids to Zharqyn's sick mother.

Ershat, Zharqyn's brother, says that he heard that this was all a plot by the local leaders and officials to get rid of Zharqyn because of his organizational skills.

Supplementary materials video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO4i3fp5BmY video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inzbMiA0VR8 appeal letter: https://shahit.biz/supp/471_3.pdf Zharqyn's poems (Kazakh): https://shahit.biz/supp/471_4.pdf Letter of appeal to UN (English): https://shahit.biz/supp/471_5.pdf Photos of Zharqyn: https://shahit.biz/supp/471_6.pdf Entry created: 2018-11-13 Last updated: 2018-11-13 Latest status update: 2019-02-04 478. Peyzohre Omerjan (拍孜佐合热·依麦尔江)

Chinese ID: 65400219580320??E? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 63 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (19 years) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3|5|6|7: Mehbube Abla, originally from Ghulja City, but now living in Austria. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Mewlude Abla, originally from Ghulja City, but now living in Norway. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Mehbube Abla, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (daughter)

Testimony 8: Mehbube Abla, as reported by Global Voices. (daughter)

About the victim

Peyzohre Omerjan was a tailor.

Chinese passport: G33760594.

Victim's location

[Unclear, as she has been sentenced.]

When victim was detained

She was taken from home on September 5, 2017 and put in camp, held in the same facility as her son, Adiljan, not far from their home. In June 2018, she was reportedly given a 20-year sentence and transferred to a women's prison in Ghulja City [presumably the Ili Women's Prison]. However, this sentence was voided in October 2018 and she was returned to camp. In October-November 2019, the family heard that she had been taken out of camp and re-sentenced, now being given 19 years.

On August 29, 2020, Mehbube reported that she "received greetings" from her mother, without specifying how these greetings were transmitted, and if her mother contacted her directly or not.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

[Presumably] in prison serving a 19-year sentence.

Mehbube's aunt is reportedly paying 300-400RMB [presumably per month] for Peyzohre's food and clothing in prison.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Mehbube generally does not state how she learned the various details regarding her family's detention. However, her aunt did call Mehbube's sister in Norway to tell her that she had visited Peyzohre in prison, that Peyzohre was allowed visits twice a month, and that she was "doing fine". (Mehbube believes that the aunt was forced to call them as part of an attempt by the Chinese authorities to put a stop to her activism. The first thing that the aunt said was: "Don't ask me anything - just listen to what I have to say." The call from the aunt came just after a period when Mehbube had been very active on social media [campaigning for her family].)

However, she does report receiving "greetings" from her mother in August 2020 [though it's not stated how she received them].

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qanun/uyghur-weziyiti-07182018142844.html

Global Voices feature: https://globalvoices.org/2020/12/04/dont-come-back-or-you-will-disappear-uyghur-mother-pleads-with-h er-daughter-abroad/

The victim was also included in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

[There is a high likelihood that she was subjected to forced labor while at the Ili Women's Prison, as this practice has been documented there.]

Victims among relatives

Ablajan Hebibulla (477), Adiljan Ablajan (479), Gulbahar Eysa (6648), Shepqet Tohtasun (3384)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1EwRWt-8Vw Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jjOk9HZ8RY Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwHOvZBirPA Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7Q9WpaT4g Testimony 2: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/mavli.abdula/videos/2064 192526950746/&show_text=1&width=450 Testimony 5: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/mahbuba.abla/posts/3229 271170441437&show_text=true&width=300 Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/478_4.jpg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/478_5.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-13 Last updated: 2021-04-13 Latest status update: 2021-04-06 507. Sania Sauathan (沙尼娅·沙吾阿提汗)

Chinese ID: 654124196303060026 (Tokkuztara)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-7: Margulan Baiturghan, lives in Kazakhstan with his father and brother. Kazakhstan citizen.

DOB: April 11, 1999.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-7: Mother

About the victim

Senya Sawutkhan (沙尼娅*沙吾阿提汗). Kazakh, born on March 6, 1963. Expired passport no. G20357472. Lives in Gongliu county, Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture. Works in the Family Planning Office. Has Kazakhstan’s Green Card. As the family sold all their property before moving to Kazakhstan, she has not got a permanent living place.

Victim’s address: Fifth West Alley 31, North Xingfu Road, Gongliu county-seat, Gongliu county, Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture

Kazakhstan Green Card: 026766252

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Not detained. On 10 August, 2017, the county authorities asked her to go back to China from Kazakhstan, and when she did, they confiscated her passport and Green Card.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear Victim's status

Suffers from asthma, thyroiditis and nephritis.

She called her family in Kazakhstan on December 29, 2018 around 8 o'clock in the morning. According to Margulan, she was terrified and was almost in tears when she phoned. She called them under the supervision of the local police, because at 6 am on the same day they had uploaded their video appeal online. There were several short phone calls, the shortest lasting 7 seconds and the longest 57. They managed to record only one phone call, where Sania talks to her husband and begs him to get their sons to stop appealing.

(Margulan had started his appealing on August 6, 2018. 6 days after his appeal, the local police phoned his mother and promised to issue her a new passport soon, as her passport was expiring on April 20, 2018. However, she couldn't get a passport until now. She was told to get 15 stamps from different government bodies, but she couldn't get the 15th and failed to have a new passport issued.

Testimony 4: in February, the police again had said that she could now get a passport issued, but this turned out to be a false promise.

Testimony 5: She has finally received her passport.

Testimony 6: She has returned to Kazakhstan (early March 2019, most likely).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear

Additional information

Testimony 7: the victim told the testifier that all their calls (between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan) would have to be monitored by a police officer.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEi5rLtOtaY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYZmTZHMJnI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52fRlqqc67U Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSM7zsSbYeM Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3eXrT5l9mU Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6buRA7JprA Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKr_uNvYwEw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/507_8.png

Entry created: 2018-11-14 Last updated: 2018-11-14 Latest status update: 2019-03-05 514. Ulzhan Zhenisnur (乌俄勒江·金恩斯努尔)

Chinese ID: 654221198807012138 (Dorbiljin)

Basic info

Age: 30 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: documents withheld When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Qurmet Zhumagazy, a Kazakhstan citizen. (cousin)

Testimony 2|4|5: Madengul Manap, born in 1967, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (mother)

Testimony 3: Aiytkamal Zhumagazy, born in 1973, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (aunt)

Testimony 6: Madengul Manap, as reported by The Believer. (mother)

About the victim

Ulzhan Zhenisnur, born on July 1, 1988, is a Chinese citizen. He holds a Kazakhstan Permanent Resident card. He had an operation on his kidney and had an operation for appendicitis. He and his wife owned a barbershop in China.

Address: Maitas village, (玛依塔斯村), Lamazhao township (喇嘛昭乡), Emin county, Tacheng prefecture.

Chinese passport: E62051641.

Victim's location

[In Tacheng, presumably.]

When victim was detained earlier: November 19, 2017

Testimony 3: December 24, 2017.

Testimony 4: December 19, 2017 (put into a camp)

Testimony 6: Victim and his wife were interrogated at the border (no date given), asked the mother to send photos + proof that the son was going to kindergarten in Kazakhstan. Two days later, the mother received info from relatives in China that her son had been taken to 'study', six months passed withour any news, in June 2018, the mother received a photo showing her son in hospital, his head shaved and nurses helping him to stand. He was taken back to camp after 20 days in hospital. Silence until November 2018, when he was released. Since Nov 2018, the son has only called twice (from the phone of a police office). He said that this was the only way he could communicate with them and told them not to worry and that they were OK. his now 5 year old son has been in the care of the grandmother for about two years now.

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 3: Released from camp on November 20, 2018, but documents still confiscated.

Testimony 4: released on November 25, 2018, no news since then.

Testimony 5: he phoned his mother on January 23, 2019 and February 19, 2019, from the police office, and asked her to stop appealing and said that he was well.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

During his detention in the re-education camp, he had an operation to his kidney.

Testimony 6: the victim's mother's interview to The Believer (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

I’ve been complaining since last January. A year and a half. But I’m sharing this picture of my son in the hospital for the first time. I’ve been afraid they would find out who sent it. There are many, many Kazakhs who haven’t complained yet, who haven’t told their story. They’re afraid. I had to make a decision for myself. What do I have left to be afraid of?

The living conditions in Kure village, when I was still living there, were free at the time, but there were rumors. We heard they were detaining mullahs. Our village had two mullahs, and one day both disappeared. Word got around. Then we heard that Uighurs were being detained. Then they started sending police officers to our ceremonies. At a wedding, there would be policemen at the door checking guests’ citizenship. I didn’t think much about it at the time. Ordinary people weren’t being detained; not yet.

I moved to Kazakhstan, and in 2016 my youngest son joined me. He bought land and built a house in a village called Batashtuu. His intention was to move here for good. After he built his home, he and his wife went to China. They owned a barbershop there and wanted to sell it. They left their son in my care. It was supposed to be only a short trip. When they got to China, their transit visas were taken away.

The day they crossed, he called me at the border. I’m being interrogated, he said. Please send my son’s photos. I need proof he’s in kindergarten. I sent the photos by phone, but I’m not sure he got them. Two hours later, the phone was switched off. Two days later, my daughter-in-law wrote to my eldest son, who lives in Kazakhstan. Your brother was taken to study, she told him.

That was it for six months. Until June 2018, we heard nothing from him or anyone else. The first news we heard came in June, and it was this photo from the hospital. His wife had been called there to visit him. He’d had an operation. I don’t know what the operation was, or even what organ was operated on. We don’t know anything and our daughter-in-law can’t tell us. I don’t even want to tell you who sent me this photo.

After twenty days in the hospital, he was taken back to the camp. More silence. Months passed. Then, in November, he was released. Now he’s out of the camp, but we have no direct communication with them. Since November, my son has called us only twice, both times from a police officer’s phone. It’s the only way I can communicate with you, he told me. Don’t worry about us. We are OK, he says. Everything is OK.

But it seems he can’t get back his passport. It’s been almost two years now. My grandson is five and I’m still taking care of him. I need help. I want my youngest son back in Kazakhstan. He was supposed to take care of us, his parents. That’s the custom. Now my husband and I are alone in this big house and working odd jobs. Our son built this house for all of us. It’s ready; it’s a lovely house. But now it’s empty.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcLdjBVEhoM Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GRb1NWNepk Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ZJSm0cehU Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYt8HtPO_DU Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLRMho0Fi_U Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/514_6.png

Entry created: 2018-11-15 Last updated: 2020-04-14 Latest status update: 2019-04-20 587. Abdulla Abdumijit

Chinese ID: 653122??????????O? (Shule)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rizwangul Ghopur, born "Rizwangul Abduqadir", now resides abroad. (aunt)

Testimony 2: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Abdulla Abdumijit, under 20, younger brother of Arzigül Abdumijit, son of Helimgül Abduqadir, from Yapchan township, Yengisheher County, Kashgar prefecture

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained not clear, no news, not even known if detained, elder sister Arzigül was reportedly detained in 2017 June possibly for contacting her aunt (testifier) abroad

Likely (or given) reason for detention elder sister Arzigül was reportedly detained in 2017 June possibly for contacting her aunt (testifier) abroad

Victim's status

Testimony 2: [presumably not in detention as he appears in the propaganda short.]

Testimony 2: In the video, he says he recently acquired his driver's license after he graduated last year [presumably referring to 2020]. He says that his mother, Helimgul Abduqadir, bought him a car and that he is now looking for a job while helping the family with the business. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: heard from third party

Testimony 2: this is a state media outlet with direct access to the victim (putting him on camera).

Additional information

---

Victims among relatives

Helimgul Qadir (589), Arzigul Abdumijit (555), Fatima Abdumijit (588), Abduzayir Abdumijit (586)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCG4MDWMPg Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/587_2.mp4 propaganda video still: https://shahit.biz/supp/587_3.png

Entry created: 2018-11-17 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-01 589. Helimgul Qadir (艾莱姆古丽·喀迪尔)

Chinese ID: 65312119????????E? (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rizwangul Ghopur, born "Rizwangul Abduqadir", now resides abroad. (sister)

Testimony 2: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Helimgül Abduqadir, 37 years of age, from Yapchan township, Yengisheher County, Kashgar prefecture.

Testimony 2: she appears to run a grocery store or supermarket as a family business [as shown in the propaganda video].

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained not clear, no news, her daughter was reportedly detained in 2017 June possibly for contacting her aunt (testifier) abroad

Likely (or given) reason for detention her daughter was reportedly detained in 2017 June possibly for contacting her aunt (testifier) abroad younger sister earlier punished (fine and 2 yrs open re-education) for giving birth outside the plan and applying for a passport.

Victim's status not clear How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: heard from third party

Testimony 2: this is a state media outlet with direct access to the victim.

Additional information

---

Victims among relatives

Arzigul Abdumijit (555), Abdulla Abdumijit (587), Fatima Abdumijit (588), Abduzayir Abdumijit (586)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCG4MDWMPg propaganda video still: https://shahit.biz/supp/589_2.png Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/589_3.mp4

Entry created: 2018-11-17 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-01 641. Ebeydulla Omer (艾白都拉·吾麦尔)

Chinese ID: 652801199???????O? (Korla)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Bayingolin Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Hebibe Omer, originally from Korla but now living in Turkey. (sister)

Testimony 3: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Abaydullah Omar, 23, helped with his mother's business.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Bayingolin, as that's where the family seems to be from.]

When victim was detained

Taken to a camp together with his mother in Oct 2017. At some point was released because of mental health issues but then taken back to camp.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear. Testifier says that he's never applied for a passport and has never been abroad.

Victim's status

Testimony 1-2: In camp.

Testimony 3: the victim appears on camera to say that he's living very well and now has a 25-acre pear orchard, and that claims about his disappearance are false.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Testimony 3: a Chinese state media outlet put the victim on camera.

Additional information

Hebibe says that her brother loves exercising and had no health problem in the past.

Hebibe also mentions that her family has been under special attention following an incident she had with a police when she was little (because of an East Turkestan flag).

Victims among relatives

Zeynepgul Omer (640), Mubarek Abduqadir (4931), Abduqadir Abdukirem (4338), Zeynepgul Abdukirem (5852), Abdulla Memet (644), Abdugheni Abduqadir (4932), Abduqeyyum Abduqadir (4339), Memetabdullah Omer (643), Ehmetjan Memet (642)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOoT8U29A0 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_0P0wSQ0Os Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOojzPHE_KI

Entry created: 2018-11-18 Last updated: 2021-03-29 Latest status update: 2020-01-02 684. Bekri Ibrahim (白克力·吾拉音)

Chinese ID: 65212219441021??O? (Pichan)

Basic info

Age: 75 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyg-Kaz Likely current location: Turpan Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: deceased Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Omer Bekri, also known as Omir Bekali or Omerbek Eli, is the first ex-detainee eyewitness of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. A businessman from Turpan, he was a Kazakhstan citizen at the time of his arrest. (son)

Testimony 3: Omer Bekri, as reported by Associated Press. (son)

Testimony 4: Omer Bekri, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (son)

About the victim

Bekri Ibrahim.

Address: Kariz Kol Village, Dighar Township, Pichan County, Turpan (新疆鄯善县迪坎尔乡坎儿孜库勒村).

Chinese passport: G38347291.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Turpan.]

When victim was detained

April 24, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear, but the arrest took place just months after Omer returned to Kazakhstan and started telling media about his experiences. [It is probably safe to assume that his father and other family members were taken in retaliation.]

Victim's status He was initially reported as being in "camp" [perhaps this was just police custody, however]. In October 2018, Omer posted news of his father's death on his Facebook.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated. [Presumably through contacts in the region.]

Additional information

One of earliest articles, from early 2018, mentioning this case (translation): https://livingotherwise.com/2018/08/24/stories-kazakhstan-citizens-arrested-china/

First major media story where this case was mentioned (May 2018): https://www.apnews.com/6e151296fb194f85ba69a8babd972e4b

Victims among relatives

Rizwangul Bekri (5195), Adile Bekri (687), Osman Bekri (5193), Abdurahman Bekri (686), Qamber Bekri (5194), Omer Bekri (3623), Aminihan Sadiq (685), Patigul Emet (522), Shirmemet Tashmemet (523), Eli Tashmemet (524), Reyhangul Tashmemet (1868), Halid Shirmemet (1865), Mujahit Shirmemet (1866), Hediche Shirmemet (1867), Sumeyye Eli (5650), Abdulla Eli (5651)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twL1dsDrwuY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7l7pqF2dQ photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/684_2.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/684_3.jpg photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/684_4.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-20 Last updated: 2020-06-10 Latest status update: 2019-12-07 738. Zhenis Orazqan

Chinese ID: 65420119660812??O? (Chochek)

Basic info

Age: 52 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: media/journalism

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-2: Zhenis Akzhan (born in 1996), migrated to Kazakhstan in 2009 and became a Kazakh citizen in 2016.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-2: The victim is the testifier's father.

About the victim

Zhenis Orazqanuly (DOB: August 12, 1966), Chinese citizen, has residence permit in Kazakhstan since 2016. He entered China in August 2017, and his passport was taken. After 2-3 months he was taken to a concentration camp, and there was no further communication. According to what his son heard, he was first in a camp in Urumchi, then sent to a camp in Tarbagatai (Tacheng), but they had no idea about his situation. He had retired in 2009 due to health problems. [Testimony 2: In 2008, he retired from work at Emin county’s TV station.]

Victim's location

Possibly in the Tacheng Prefecture.

When victim was detained

Passport confiscated in August 2017 (taken to camp 2-3 months later).

Testimony 2: Passport confiscated on August 20, 2017, when he was coming back to China to organize a second wedding. Arrested on November 25, 2017. He was first detained at Tacheng city, later sent to Urumqi, and sent back to Tacheng 6 months after that.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear. Victim's status

November 22, 2018: Turkish scholar Mehmet Volkan reports hearing from victim's friends/relatives that he has been released.

November 25, 2018: M. Volkan says that he hasn't actually been released.

December 2, 2018: M. Volkan confirms he has been released and is at home.

May 20, 2018: returned to Kazakhstan on May 18, according to a local source, has two months before having to return to China.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Presumably through friends/relatives.

Additional information

From Mehmet Volkan: "On November 15, I gave an interview in Turkish and mentioned their names. Then they [friends/relatives of detained] sent me their stories and I have translated into Turkish and told them I was going to contact international authorities. If you understand Kazakh, this is what they said: "I have sent this (the post) to my relatives and told them Volkan is going to internationalize the issue. After that we heard the happy news"."

Turkish blog mention: https://falancamesele.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/kazak-arkadasimin-toplama-kamplarina-alinan-akrabal ari-icin-yardim-cagrisi/

Victims among relatives

Kenzhegul Zhumazhan (739)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLeCwygJwxs photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/738_2.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-23 Last updated: 2019-05-20 Latest status update: 2019-05-20 739. Kenzhegul Zhumazhan

Chinese ID: 65????19660826??E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 52 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-2: Zhenis Akzhan (born in 1996), migrated to Kazakhstan in 2009 and became a Kazakh citizen in 2016.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-2: The victim is the testifier's mother.

About the victim

Kenzhegül Zhumazhan (DOB: August 26, 1966), Chinese citizen, has residence permit in Kazakhstan since 2017. Had her passport confiscated upon returning to China in August 2017. She had health and lung problems, and had an operation (presumably, this happened in China). Her husband was taking care of her when he was detained. Her children had the opportunity to contact her a few times during this process. She had told them that she was going to be taken to a camp after she was to be released from the hospital, after which she was detained on April 25 of this year. As far as her son knows, she was allowed to stay in the hospital for five days (unclear when exactly) because of her worsening health in the camp, but was sent back after the 5 days. At that point they [friends/relatives] lost track of her.

Kazakhstan Residence Permit no. 024172746

Victim's location

Unclear.

When victim was detained

Passport confiscated in August 2017. Taken to camp April 25, 2018.

Testimony 2: Passport confiscated on August 20, 2017, when she was coming back to China to organize a second wedding. She was arrested on April 25, 2018. Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear.

Victim's status

November 22, 2018: Turkey-based scholar Mehmet Volkan reports hearing from victim's friends/relatives that she has been released.

November 25, 2018: M. Volkan says that she hasn't actually been released.

December 2, 2018: M. Volkan confirms she has been released and is at home.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Presumably through friends/relatives.

Additional information

From Mehmet Volkan: "On November 15, I gave an interview in Turkish and mentioned their names. Then they [friends/relatives of detained] sent me their stories and I have translated into Turkish and told them I was going to contact international authorities. If you understand Kazakh, this is what they said: "I have sent this (the post) to my relatives and told them Volkan is going to internationalize the issue. After that we heard the happy news"."

Turkish blog mention: https://falancamesele.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/kazak-arkadasimin-toplama-kamplarina-alinan-akrabal ari-icin-yardim-cagrisi/

Victims among relatives

Zhenis Orazqan (738)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLeCwygJwxs photo with husband: https://shahit.biz/supp/739_2.jpg

Entry created: 2018-11-23 Last updated: 2018-11-23 Latest status update: 2018-12-10 853. Rozimemet Atawulla (如则麦麦提·阿塔伍拉)

Chinese ID: 653221199???????O? (Hotan County)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: forced job placement When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|5: Memettohti Atawulla, originally from Hotan, but living in Turkey since 2016. He recently completed a political-science master's program at the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi. (brother)

Testimony 4: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Rozimemet Atawulla owned and operated a small business, making 4000 to 5000 yuan per month (prior to his detention).

Address: No. 1 Neighborhood, Urnush Village, Seghizkol Township, Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hotan.]

When victim was detained

Rozimemet was arrested in March 2017/2018 [testimonies differ], after which he was believed to be taken to the Jiya concentration camp in Lop County.

According to the Global Times, a state media and propaganda outlet, he "graduated" from the camp in April 2018 and began to work at a factory.

This is contradicted, however, by Memettohti coming in contact with his relatives and local police in May 2019, during which time he learned that his brother was still in camp.

The Global Times article and video that featured the victim were released in December 2019 [suggesting that he is likely to have been released by then]. Likely (or given) reason for detention

For "political" reasons, according to his brother.

Victim's status

According to the state media source, he is working in a shoe factory in Hotan and living with his family in a "house built with the help of the local governments". He reportedly takes a bus to the shoe factory every morning with his neighbors, works for eight hours per day, and earns 2500 yuan per month. [In reality, his exact situation remains unclear, but it is likely that he is no longer in hard detention.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The Global Times, a state media outlet, had direct access to Rozimemet.

In May 2019, Rozimemet's brother, Memettohti, was contacted by local police via WeChat and allowed to speak to some of his family. During this time, he learned of Rozimemet's status. (The police also told Memettohti to "not make noise" if he wanted to be able to contact his family in the future.)

Additional information

In the Global Times article (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1174468.shtml), the testifier Memettohti is denounced and referred to as an "unspeakable scar (for the family)".

Memettohti's reply to the state-media report: https://uighurtimes.com/index.php/china-stillnoinfo-campaign-is-not-a-rumor-i-am-just-a-student-where- is-my-mother/

The victim was mentioned during a Xinjiang press conference: https://archive.is/g2k91

Victims among relatives

Beyshihan Hoshur (856), Memeteli Atawulla (854), Memettursun Islam (855), Memetabla Salamet (10992)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tui2R58dD38 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR4ZkNFTu1c Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/Uyghur_0903/status/1094972277811277824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Global Times report: https://shahit.biz/supp/853_4.mp4

Entry created: 2018-11-25 Last updated: 2020-11-10 Latest status update: 2020-01-07 854. Memeteli Atawulla

Chinese ID: 65322119????????O? (Hotan County)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: forced job placement When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5: Memettohti Atawulla, originally from Hotan, but living in Turkey since 2016. He recently completed a political-science master's program at the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi. (brother)

About the victim

Memet'eli Atawulla is married and has two children.

Address: No. 1 Neighborhood, Urnush Village, Seghizkol Township, Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hotan.]

When victim was detained

Testimonies conflict with regard to the victim's initial detention, with one saying that he was detained in August 2017 and another July 2018. He was reportedly held at the Jiya concentration camp in Lop County during this time.

On one occasion, he was transferred to a hospital, with his mother, Beyshihan, being called to pay the hospital fee. Authorities initially prevented her from seeing her son in person, but a police officer would allow her to visit him for ten minutes later. The officer told her that she was "lucky" that her son was not in prison.

According to news received in April-May 2019, Memet'eli was released from the camp and sent to work at a factory in the village.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

For "political" reasons, according to his brother. Victim's status

Working at a factory. [He presumably still has some health problems.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

In May 2019, local police contacted Memet'eli's brother, Memettohti, via WeChat and allowed him to speak with some of his non-detained relatives. During these conversations, Memettohti was able to learn of his brother's status. (The local police also warned Memettohti to "not make noise" if he wanted to stay in contact with his family.)

Additional information

The testifier's piece published by the Uyghur Human Rights Project: http://chineseblog.uhrp.org/?p=437

The testifier's piece published by Uyghur Times: https://uighurtimes.com/index.php/china-stillnoinfo-campaign-is-not-a-rumor-i-am-just-a-student-where- is-my-mother/

Victims among relatives

Rozimemet Atawulla (853), Beyshihan Hoshur (856), Memettursun Islam (855), Memetabla Salamet (10992)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tui2R58dD38 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR4ZkNFTu1c Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/Uyghur_0903/status/1094972277811277824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Entry created: 2018-11-25 Last updated: 2020-11-21 Latest status update: 2020-01-07 878. Turdakun Abylet

Chinese ID: 65302419831001??O? (Ulughchat)

Basic info

Age: 35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kyrgyz Likely current location: Kizilsu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"registration issues" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Both testimonies are delivered by Muslihiddin Salimov, a Kyrgyz from Kyrgyzstan.

Victim's relation to testifier

The victim is Muslihiddin's friend.

About the victim

Turdakun Abylet is originally from Kizilsu's Ulughchat County. After coming to Kyrgyzstan in April 2015, he would go on to obtain Kyrgyz citizenship in 2017.

Victim's location

Presumably at his family's home in Ulughchat County, Kizilsu Prefecture.

When victim was detained

He returned to China after the Chinese authorities summoned him so that his father would be released from re-education camp. Turdakun was then detained in May 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Muslihiddin, not going through the de-registration process.

Victim's status

There has been a lot of confusion regarding his status.

Everyone agrees that he spent a prolonged amount of time (over a year) in a re-education camp. Then, in early December 2018, it was announced by the Committee in Support of the Chinese Kyrgyz - and reported by Radio Azattyk (https://www.azattyk.org/a/29662559.html) - that he was freed, but would stay at home to look after his sick father. The Committee mentioned that it would try to lobby the Kyrgyz government so as to get him his passport, allowing him to return to Kyrgyzstan. Specifically, the Committee wrote the following on a public forum:

"Freed last week [early December] as we learned. We talked to Abylet - he said that he needs to stay to take care of his sick father (we gather they were in detention together). But we're to follow up with the Kyrgyz authorities to have consular officers visit him, make sure he's got his passport and can leave PRC. If necessary evacuate him to the border post. They live just a few km away from Torugart pass."

However, a January 2019 article that followed soon after, in The Qazaq Times (https://qazaqtimes.com/en/article/54783), had the Committee claiming that Abylet's "release" had been staged. Nevertheless, later conversations between Gene A. Bunin and Committee members in the spring and summer of 2019 seemed to suggest that he was not in detention, though his prospects to return to Kyrgyzstan were not bright.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

On numerous occasions, Muslihiddin has reported having phone conversations with Turdakun, though it's not clear if all the updates to his case were obtained this way, as the Kyrgyz authorities also appear to have been involved.

Additional information

His case was previously mentioned in a Radio Free Asia story from August 2017 (https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/kyrgyz-08212017162912.html):

"He said that in some cases, Xinjiang police are even detaining citizens of Kyrgyzstan traveling to the region, citing the case of a young man named Tudahun, who had recently become a Kyrgyz national.

“He was detained as soon as he entered China a few weeks ago,” he said, adding that it was unclear what had happened to him."

---

This victim is also included in the list provided by the Committee in Support of the Chinese Kyrgyz: http://shahit.biz/supp/list_001.pdf

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCTCIOZWS4o Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5EYtv9dBeI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_XRt_feBTY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwU_gTJUSlo Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0Ri46SrTQ news of "release": https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/Ulugqat/posts/212215203 040892&width=450 Kyrgyzstan citizen ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/878_7.png

Entry created: 2018-11-27 Last updated: 2019-05-20 Latest status update: 2019-06-15 960. Shalqar Zhenishan (恰勒哈尔·金恩斯汗)

Chinese ID: 654324199703261518 (Kaba)

Basic info

Age: 21 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: --- When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1+2+4+5: Gulbaqyt Zhen’ishan, born on March 20, 1999, citizen of Kazakhstan.

Testimony 3: Beisen Temirhan.

Testimony 4: Nurbaqyt Kelgenbaiqyzy, born on December 30, 1982, citizen of Kazakhstan.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1+2+5: brother

Testimony 3: unclear

Testimony 4: cousin

About the victim

Shalqar Zhenishanuly (恰勒哈尔*金恩斯汗) came to Kazakhstan in 2014 and he went back to China in November 2017 for a gall-stone operation. Both his parents passed away when he was young. While he was in a hospital he used WhatsApp messenger to contact his uncle in Kazakhstan, this was the reason for his detention.

Address: Baisholaq village (拜乔拉克村) 20, Qiba’er township (齐巴尔乡), Habahe county

Chinese passport: E28613956. Kazakhstan registration no. 210720180751.

Victim's location

Habahe County, Aletai Region, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

When victim was detained

Testimony 4: His documents and phone were confiscated on December 2017 in the hospital. After the operation, he went back to his brother’s house in Baisholaq, where he was arrested in February 2018.

Testimony 5: Went to China on November 22, 2017. On January 2018, he had gallbladder and pancreatitis operations. Was sent to a concentration camp a week after his operation.

Likely (or given) reason for detention using WhatsApp

Victim's status

M. Volkan on January 15, 2019: Released on December 25, 2018. Recently contacted his family via WeChat to tell them not to petition for him. They heard from someone that he might have been sent to a factory.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

His Kazakhstan citizenship appeal had been accepted in November 2017.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcnvKzQfNJY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCL06qdEjV0 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TxaywZ7a7M Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/100012011741023/videos /508854026191651/&show_text=1&width=300 Testimony 2: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php%3Fstory_fb id%3D511306922613028%26id%3D100012011741023&width=300 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/960_6.png

Entry created: 2018-12-02 Last updated: 2018-12-02 Latest status update: 2019-02-12 991. Malik Masmakun

Chinese ID: 65302319????????O? (Akchi)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Kyrgyz Likely current location: Kizilsu Status: house/town arrest When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3: Jusup Malik, an ethnic Kyrgyz from China and now citizen of Kyrgyzstan. (son)

Testimony 4: Bubuazhar Orozobai, originally from Akchi Township in Kizilsu Prefecture, but now a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. (daughter-in-law)

Testimony 5*|6*: Jusup Malik, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (son)

About the victim

Malik Masmakun, born sometime in 1946-1950, is a farmer and an imam from Kizilsu's Aqchi County.

Address: Pichan Village, Akchi Municipality, Akchi County, Kizilsu.

Victim's location

At his home in Aqchi.

When victim was detained

According to Jusup in a video testimony, he was taken to camp in September 2018. However, Bubuazhar says that he was released at the end of 2018 after spending a year in camp, making it likely that Jusup misspoke, with the detention actually having taken place in September 2017.

On December 18, 2018, Jusup received a message from Bubuazhar saying that his father had allegedly just come home.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status Now under house arrest. His relatives are worried about his health as he is elderly and has had health issues in the past.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Jusup had originally learned about his father's detention from his sister-in-law, over WeChat (before she was also detained).

Additional information

Mentioned in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/

His case has been mentioned in a Radio Azattyq article: https://rus.azattyk.org/a/защитите-нас-китайские-кыргызы-обратились-к-властям-кыргызстана-/2962 9611.html

This victim is also included in the list provided by the Committee in Support of the Chinese Kyrgyz: http://shahit.biz/supp/list_001.pdf

Victims among relatives

Nurmambet Osmon (984), Sulaiman Orozobai (995), Oruunqan Osmon (3863), Gulshaiyr Sultan (992), Amantur Malik (901), Aidarbek Osmon (997), Orozobai Mamaizhuma (3864), Almambet Kadyrkul (998)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_XRt_feBTY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwU_gTJUSlo Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0Ri46SrTQ Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXrT3IfvL7A

Entry created: 2018-12-04 Last updated: 2020-08-02 Latest status update: 2019-06-16 992. Gulshaiyr Sultan

Chinese ID: 65302319910918??E? (Akchi)

Basic info

Age: 27 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kyrgyz Likely current location: Kizilsu Status: house/town arrest When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Most of the testimonies are delivered by Jusup Malik uulu, a Chinese Kyrgyz who originally came to Kyrgyzstan in 2013 as a student. He is now a Kyrgyz citizen. One testimony is delivered by his wife, Bubuazhar Orozobai.

Victim's relation to testifier

The victim is Jusup's sister-in-law, the wife of his brother Amantur (901). For Bubuazhar, she is the wife of her brother-in-law.

About the victim

Gulshaiyr Sultan kyzy is from Kizilsu's Aqchi County. She is married to victim Amantur Malik uulu (901).

Victim's location

At her home in Aqchi, presumably.

When victim was detained

Jusup reports that she was detained in September 2018, but this is likely an error, seeing as this is rather late and given the information in other testimonies. It is more likely that she was detained in September 2017.

At some point in late 2018 or early 2019, she was released from camp and (presumably) transferred to house arrest.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Jusup, for wearing a hijab.

Victim's status From the sound of it, under some sort of house arrest, but this has not been explicitly confirmed with the testifier.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It isn't clear. The victim was the one who told Jusup of his brother's and father's arrests, but it is not clear who told him about her own.

Additional information

Her case has been mentioned in a Radio Azattyq article (https://rus.azattyk.org/a/%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%B D%D0%B0%D1%81-%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D 0%BA%D1%8B%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%8B%D0%B7%D1%8B-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82 %D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8C-%D0%BA-%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1 %8F%D0%BC-%D0%BA%D1%8B%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%8B%D0%B7%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD %D0%B0-/29629611.html):

"Присутствовавший на встрече Жусуп Малик уулу принес фотографии своих родственников, рассказал, что уже больше года не может связаться с ними. По его словам, в одном из лагерей Китая находятся его отец Малик, брат Амантур и супруга брата. Изначально задержаны были отец и брат Жусупа, но потом забрали и его невестку:

- Мой отец сейчас там. Сам он родился в Китае, сейчас ему 72 года. В лагере также находятся мой родной брат Амантур, 1988 года рождения, и его жена, 1991 года рождения. В последний раз я связывался с ней через WeChat. Она рассказала, что их забрали в лагерь, но по какой причине это случилось и когда они выйдут, мы не знаем, не можем с ними связаться.

Мои родственники - простые, рядовые граждане. Отец занимался сельским хозяйством, а брат работал водителем, его супруга была домохозяйкой. Я читал в Интернете, что сначала задерживали тех, кто выезжал за пределы страны, имеет отношение к религии. Мы всегда придерживались мусульманства, наши аксакалы читают намаз. Но ни к чему другому мы отношения не имеем.

Жусуп в 2013 году приехал в Бишкек получать высшее образование, в 2016 году он решил остаться на исторической родине и получил гражданство КР. Он говорит, что пока жил в деревеньке Пычанкент близ села Ак-Чий в Кызыл-Суйском автономном районе КНР, то на кыргызов не оказывалось никакого давления и ни о каких лагерях политического перевоспитания он не слышал. Теперь же, по его словам, под стражу заключаются родственники большинства тех, кто приехал в Кыргызстан и получил здесь гражданство:

- Почти у всех кыргызов, приехавших сюда, родственники находятся в заключении. Много здесь и тех, кто боится говорить об этом. Боятся, что если скажут об отце, который содержится в лагере, то заберут мать, оставшуюся на свободе. Я почти полтора года молчал. Надеялся, что моих близких отпустят. Хотя родители сразу открыто заявили бы, если задержали бы, например, меня… Но в итоге сердце не выдержало, соскучился по папе, тоска замучила… Хоть и уехал, чтобы быть на исторической родине, но родители есть родители...

Жусуп говорит, что не может найти себе места, когда думает о том, каково сейчас его отцу и родственникам, находящимся в заключении, а также его престарелой маме, которая осталась в одиночестве. Поэтому он привел на встречу в Бишкеке своих соотечественников, которые оказались в такой же ситуации, чтобы рассказать об этой проблеме."

---

This victim is also included in the list provided by the Committee in Support of the Chinese Kyrgyz: http://shahit.biz/supp/list_001.pdf

Victims among relatives

Nurmambet Osmon (984), Sulaiman Orozobai (995), Oruunqan Osmon (3863), Malik Masmakun (991), Amantur Malik (901), Aidarbek Osmon (997), Orozobai Mamaizhuma (3864), Almambet Kadyrkul (998)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_XRt_feBTY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwU_gTJUSlo Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0Ri46SrTQ Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXrT3IfvL7A

Entry created: 2018-12-04 Last updated: 2019-07-04 Latest status update: 2019-06-16 1072. Sarsenbek Akbar (沙尔山别克·阿克拜尔)

Chinese ID: 654127197401030836 (Tekes)

Basic info

Age: 45 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|other Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1|5: Akbar Enkelesh, born in 1942, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (father)

Testimony 2|3|4|6|7|8|9|11|12|14|17: Gulnur Qosdaulet, born in 1972, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (wife)

Testimony 10: Gulzira Auelhan, a concentration camp survivor, now in Kazakhstan. (relation unclear)

Testimony 13: Sarqythan Qydyrbai, born in 1945, a resident of Kazakhstan. (mother)

Testimony 15: Qushtar Sarsenbek, born in 2001, a resident of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 16: Nurlan Umbetov Orazalyevich, born in 1972, a resident of Kazakhstan. (brother-in-law)

Testimony 18: Gulnur Qosdaulet, as reported by Time. (wife)

About the victim

Sarsenbek Akbar was a Party secretary and a government employee, formerly serving as the governor of his village. He was also a veterinarian and a trader.

He got married to Gulnur Qosdaulet in 1996, in China, with the couple eventually relocating to Kazakhstan. According to official business listings (http://archive.is/8nzqK), they used to own the Tekes County Cashmere People’s Business Development Ltd. (特克斯县雪绒民贸开发有限公司).

Address: 12 Sixth Alley, Baqalyq Livestock Village, Shily'ozek Township, Tekes County, Xinjiang (新疆特克斯县齐勒乌泽克乡巴喀勒克牧业村6巷12号).

Chinese passport: E33541616. Kazakhstan green card: 039354096.

Victim's location

Judging from his wife's accounts, he appears to be in Tekes County. When victim was detained

There is some conflicting info regarding his initial detention.

According to the very first testimony from his father, he went to China in 2017 to visit his recently married daughter and would be refused exit at the Khorgas customs while trying to return to Kazakhstan. The customs asked him to register his return with the Tekes County police station, and he would be arrested upon going there on February 25.

All subsequent testimonies say that Sarsenbek only went to China on October 25, 2017, as he was doing business between the two countries. His passport was then confiscated upon arrival at the Khorgas customs and he was arrested briefly, to be released on October 28 [it is not clear where he was held for these 3 days]. He was arrested again in Tekes County and put in "camp" on November 2, 2017.

It is not clear where the discrepancy between the accounts comes from.

Following his detention, his wife would make several trips to China, successfully meeting with him (through a glass barrier) on at least one occasion. In late 2018, she heard that he was to be released, but after making another trip to the region learned that he had instead been transferred to another camp, with Gulnur being told by the police that his case was still being investigated.

In mid-2019, the family started hearing that he was to be sentenced. However, the most recent news, as of December 2019, is that he's been released.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The initial testimony from his father says that the arrest was due to Sarsenbek failing to register with the county police station upon arriving in China. Later testimonies say that he was detained for using WhatsApp and for communicating with his family in Kazakhstan.

Victim's status

According to the most recent news, Sarsenbek appears to be released, but his exact condition isn't clear and he is still in China.

He suffers from third-degree limp impairment (missing four fingers on his right hand).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Gulnur made a number of trips to the region, meeting both with the victim and with the local police.

On some occasions, Gulnur was also able to talk to relatives in Xinjiang on the phone. For a certain period, starting in late 2018, she was also able to call her husband.

On February 2, 2019, Sarsenbek also called Gulnur, from three different numbers, and told her that he would get his documents in 20 days' time if only Gulnur stopped petitioning. (However, this period passed and the documents were not returned.)

Additional information Gulnur reports having received many threatening calls from Chinese officials, telling her that her husband would never be released if she continued petitioning. They also called her and her husband "criminals", threatening to organize for Gulnur’s arrest in Kazakhstan.

Gulnur has reported the phone number of the camp where Sarsenbek was detained as +8669996680676.

The victim's sister, Tursynhan Akbar, was threatened with being sent to the camp together with her daughter if she didn't stop their relatives from speaking up about the case.

Coverage in Time magazine: https://time.com/5735411/china-surveillance-privacy-issues/

This story has been mentioned in Voices on Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the video appeals from the victim’s wife, as delivered at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

Gulnur Qosdaulet went from Kazakhstan to China on November 9, 2017, a week after her husband Sarsenbek Akbar’s arrest, in order to get more information regarding his detention. While there, she was questioned for four hours but fortunately was not detained. She went to the local police with the hopes of seeing her husband, but was not given permission and had to return to Kazakhstan without any result.

In February 2018, Gulnur made another trip to China and this time was able to see Sarsenbek, talking to him through a glass barrier. Her husband’s face was swollen, and the police told her that he was currently under investigation.

She made another trip in May 2018, this time bringing an invitation letter from the Kazakh authorities. The police, however, refused to look at the letter and other relevant documents. Instead, they threatened Gulnur and said that she could be put into a camp like her husband. They would do this on the grounds of her having “dual citizenship”. During this time, they took shots of her from different angles, took her blood samples, and took her iris scans.

None of this stopped Gulnur, and she would later be told by the police that Sarsenbek could be released with the approval of the head of the village, on the condition that Sarsenbek sign away his land. Sarsenbek refused, however, as this was completely illegal.

In October 2018, Gulnur went to China again, having heard that Sarsenbek was about to be released. However, this did not happen, with the authorities transferring him to a different camp – a former Kazakh secondary school – instead. She was not allowed to see him.

When asked why her husband hadn’t been released yet, she was told by the police that the people of Baqallyq Village, where Sarsenbek used to be governor, had allegedly written a petition against him for something he had done while he still held that position. They also told her that Sarsenbek’s re-education had been completed only now, and so only now would the investigation of his case begin.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uedFXxuRsqI Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-koqTaYQwfg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g8_k_-FLfI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uedFXxuRsqI Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMCL_pxDhgU Testimony 13-16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij6EQrwaXGk Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaJ6SxvZH38 Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKQU-8_L00 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWBf2VJ9wqQ Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djh2OLhacdY Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JyIAnQ4mqA Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiftNF8zRek Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6yWpJv8Fog Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsVU0Pe0F-I Testimony 17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2feLPh9bnA company listing: https://shahit.biz/supp/1072_15.png wife with victim's photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1072_16.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1072_17.png

Entry created: 2018-12-07 Last updated: 2020-10-04 Latest status update: 2019-12-12 1178. Qurmanbek Kaken

Chinese ID: 65410197811090512 (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 49 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: --- Profession: government

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1+3: Zhainash Kakenqyzy, born on June 21 in China, is a Kazakhstan citizen now. Her Kazakhstan ID number is 042288295.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1+3: brother

About the victim

Qurmanbek Kaken is a Chinese citizen. He was a village head and he gathered Kazakh youth in the village to teach them entrepreneurship and as the China-Kazakhstan are good neighbors, he suggested them to go to Kazakhstan to build a bridge between the two countries. The next day he was questioned and investigated by the local security bureau and found that he was a member of a wechat charity group and sent 300 RMB to a person in Kazakhstan as a donation. Therefore he was arrested immediately.

Address: Emin County, Tacheng Region, Xinjiang, China (though https://abai.kz/post/60892 lists him as being from Toli County)

Victim's location

In Tacheng, presumably.

When victim was detained put into camp on April 30, 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention donating 300 RMB to a help seeker in Kazakhstan.

Victim's status presumably still in camp

(https://abai.kz/post/60892: sentenced to 10 years)

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

After her appeal her sister-in-law phoned her from China and told her to stop appealing.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96vGSD5_gqY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atwbFk9wAhc Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt_XG5gQbDE

Entry created: 2018-12-09 Last updated: 2019-06-14 Latest status update: 2019-01-13 1225. Aitugan Turlan (艾托安·托尔兰)

Chinese ID: 654126197510251914 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 45 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to religion Health status: --- Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Kulan Turlan, born in 1977, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (sister)

Testimony 2|3|4|8|9: Aitalim Beisenbai, born in 1980, now resides in Kazakhstan. (cousin)

Testimony 5|6|10|11|12: Aqan Turlan, born in 1980, now resides in Kazakhstan. (brother)

Testimony 7: Sakem Bolpan, born in 1962, is now a resident of Kazakhstan. (uncle)

Testimony 13: Ershat Asanqadyr, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (from same town/region)

Testimony 14: Aitalim Beisenbai, as reported by National Public Radio. (cousin)

About the victim

Aitugan Turlan is a Chinese citizen from the 76th production corps in Mongolkure County. He worked in the Qarasu village government office and was responsible for the village's religious affairs from 2011 to March 2018. He's a graduate of Tarim University, and had worked for the government for a total of 18 years.

Residential address: 32 Liberation Road, Tasarna Village, Qarasu Township, Mongolkure County, Xinjiang (新疆昭苏县喀拉苏乡塔什尔那解放路32号).

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili.]

When victim was detained

He was detained by police on March 5, 2018 at around 1 (not clear if afternoon or night), in front of his wife and child.

On October 10, 2018, he was transferred to another camp, where - according to what the testifier's heard - he's been [forced to work as] an instructor/teacher.

There are some reports that he may have been sentenced since.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The testifiers have heard of a number of accusations against him, all of which essentially relate to his work in the religious affairs office.

According to one accusation, he had allocated more land than was required for the construction of a local mosque, adding 20 square meters above the quota. According to another accusation, he was guilty of having appointed an imam who would, at one point, officiate the marriage of a 16-year-old girl at a mosque.

Victim's status

He appears to still be in detention, though it's not clear what type exactly, as there have been some reports of him being sentenced to 2-3 years.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated, though it is mentioned that Aitugan's father frequently relays messages through others, telling the testifiers to stop appealing.

Additional information

Mentioned in National Public Radio report: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/764153179/china-has-begun-moving-xinjiang-muslim-detainees-to-form al-prisons-relatives-say

Mentioned in Voices on Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

The phone number of the village administration office where the victim used to work: 869996238003.

On January 24, 2019, at 4:02 in the afternoon, Aitalim got a phone call from the Chinese consulate in Almaty, with the caller introducing himself as Erbolat and asking if Aitalim had appealed for his relatives. Aitalim was invited to come to the consulate, but refused, saying that they could answer his request through the Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5V6tQxNoRI Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZWnJq2q1I Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ld5WNBTVok Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rh2bAC762I Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkRDptGvSE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COUFL9zUFDE Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdWA_cmZOMA Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjo3smtNal4 Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tnUuCynmRw Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSc0gkVfqyE Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIRMNwamGOE Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcqlyPHhQ4 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1225_11.png relatives with victim's photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1225_14.jpg

Entry created: 2018-12-11 Last updated: 2020-02-10 Latest status update: 2021-02-27 1233. Nuria Abilqasym (努丽娅·阿布勒卡生)

Chinese ID: 654128196803290026 (Nilka)

Basic info

Age: 50 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: other When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-7: Rufia Abilqasym, born on September 27, 1987, is a Kazakhstan citizen. Her Kazakhstan ID number is 038914073.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-7: aunt

About the victim

Nuria Abilqasym is a Chinese citizen, a graduate of Xinjiang University. She's retired.

Address: Wenhua Road 7-1, Nileke town (尼勒克镇), Nileke county, Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture.

She has a Kazakhstan residence permit. Tax no: 680329499084.

Victim's location

Nileke County, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: Detained on October 27, 2017.

Testimony 4: October 23, 2017.

Testimony 5: October 3, 2017 (October 21 according to translator)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 3: having Instagram and WhatsApp on her phone Victim's status

Released from camp on October 3, 2018. Now under house arrest.

Had freedom to connect with relatives in Kazakhstan for a few days, but then she told relatives she has to go to a hospital and contact has been lost. Her documents are still confiscated. A health check in a Chinese hospital diagnosed cervical spondylosis and bronchitis.

Testimony 6: she has to attend day-time Chinese languages classes after being released from the camp.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Testimony 3: she was forced to give up her Kazakhstan residence permit.

Testimony 4: On New Year’s Eve, Nuriya called Rufiya and told her Chinese police will soon call Rufiya. Her aunt said that when they do, Rufiya has to apologize to the police for publishing petitions and giving interviews to foreign media. Rufiya refused to do so.

Victims among relatives

Omirali Abilqasym (1234)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ENiZR4XJGM Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSsCECc7uXE Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB4_kc_hMpY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoOnLeHkN0s Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96-L7smqTY Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4_F0DBSkM Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMPhZT_1oP0 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1233_8.png

Entry created: 2018-12-11 Last updated: 2019-06-05 Latest status update: 2019-01-21 1239. Azamat Abaibek (阿扎马提·阿巴依别克)

Chinese ID: 654122198611154637 (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 33 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (11 years) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3|4|5|7|8|9: Gulmira Abaibek, born in 1989, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (sister)

Testimony 2: Unknown, but with a verified identity. (relation unclear)

Testimony 6: Gulmira Abaibek, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (sister)

About the victim

Azamat Abaibek.

Address: Kichik Boghra Village, Chong Boghra Municipality, Chapchal Xibe Autonomous County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁哈萨克自治州察布查尔锡伯自治县琼博拉镇克其克博拉村).

Victim's location

Qarabura Prison in Kunes County.

When victim was detained

Local police detained Azamat in March 2016/2017 [testimonies differ], before taking him to a camp in June. He was later sentenced to 7/11 years in prison [testimonies differ].

(After initially being held incommunicado for two and a half years, Azamat started being able to contact his family via phone once a month.)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Allegedly detained for learning to pray from the village imam (who was sanctioned by the government).

Victim's status

Serving his prison sentence. As of March 2020, it had been six months since he had last seen his family. His sister has also heard that Azamat is doing unpaid labor there. [This practice has been documented at Qarabura Prison.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated.

Additional information

Azamat's parents are both ill, and he has underage children as well. His absence has placed significant financial strain on the family.

At one point, Gulmira stopped her appeals as her parents had received threats. However, she later reported that local police had also visited her parents and helped them financially in reaction to her appeals, asking the parents to tell Gulmira to stop her campaigning. They also told them that it was the authorities, and not their daughter, who were looking after them.

Azamat is listed in a local government subsidy spreadsheet: https://archive.vn/EMXSS

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-03112020081034.html

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUw6W5X6n2s Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kELJhpy-i_o Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOKMvtwCjY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl4GENbZ9b8 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJ-m0AUzvA Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=schSFkqczlY Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAUl35g4Is Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5kIcXKNWmM

Entry created: 2018-12-12 Last updated: 2021-08-10 Latest status update: 2020-11-08 1240. Shattyq Daulet (恰特合·达吾列提)

Chinese ID: 654122198812021013 (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 32 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (19 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"inciting ethnic hatred", "disturbing public order" Health status: critical Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Erqanat Beisen, born in 1986, is a Kazakhstan citizen as of 2017. (cousin)

Testimony 3|4|7|11: Baqytqan Qurmanali, a resident of Kazakhstan. (aunt)

Testimony 5: Adilhan Izbasar, born in 1976, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (relative of friend)

Testimony 6: Alia Beksultan, now a Kazakhstan citizen. She moved to Kazakhstan in 2015. (relative of friend)

Testimony 8: Official right-to-legal-counsel notice, sent by a local procuratorate to inform the prosecuted party of their right to seek legal counsel.

Testimony 9: Official arrest notice, provided following the formal arrest of a suspect in the People's Republic of China.

Testimony 10: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (aunt)

About the victim

Shattyq Daulet ran a small phone-repair business.

Address: House No. 56, No. 8 Company, No. 67 Corps, Jirenbulaq Municipality, Chapchal County (察布查尔锡伯自治县捷仁布拉克镇67团8连56号).

Victim's location

A prison in Kuytun. [Presumably Kuytun Prison.]

When victim was detained

In one of the testimonies, the victim's aunt reports his detention as being in April 2017. [However, this is likely an error, as in a later testimony she reports it as April 2018. There is also a local media article praising the victim in June 2017, which would be unlikely to be published if he was already detained by then.]

The initial detention seems to have taken place in February 2018. The victim was released on bail on February 2018, but appears to have been detained again in April, before being formally arrested on May 5, 2018. On May 7, 2018, he was notified by the Ghulja Reclamation Area People's Procuratorate that they had received the public security bureau's case materials and were starting the review and prosecution process (notifying him of his right to attorney).

His aunt has reported that he was later given a 19-year prison term.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

His aunt has listed attending Friday prayers (even though he's not religious), helping people in need, and visiting Turkistan in Kazakhstan as all being possible reasons for his arrest.

In her testimony for a large number of people who were all detained together for attending the birthday party of imam Nauryzbai Izbasar's daughter, Alia Beksultan lists Shattyq as being one of the detainees. Shattyq's aunt adds that he was arrested together with 16 other couples present, the group being accused of having illegal connections to Kazakhstan and Shattyq being accused of sponsoring this group.

In the official notice from the local procuratorate, it is stated that he and 6 others are charged with "inciting ethnic hatred, inciting ethnic discrimination, and gathering a crowd to disturb public order" (煽动民族仇恨、民族歧视、聚众扰乱社会秩序罪).

Victim's status

Presumably serving a 19-year prison term. [There is also a likelihood of his being subjected to forced labor, as this practice has been documented at the Kuytun Prison.]

He suffers from a serious illness, having first been diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (慢性髓性白血病) by the Bingtuan No. 4 Agricultural Division Hospital on October 27, 2014, and being transferred to the No. 1 Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University for 8 days on November 7, 2014. In 2017, he went to Beijing twice for in-hospital treatment, but ultimately could not afford it and had to give it up midway. The illness recurred on April 10, 2018, with him being admitted to the No. 1 Affiliated Hospital for treatment (prior to being arrested).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not clear how his aunt and others in Kazakhstan learned about the detention [presumably through contacts in Xinjiang].

The procuratorate and arrest notices are official sources, however.

Additional information

Baqytqan mentions that the local authorities have started pressuring the victim's relatives following her video appeals.

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-04022020072302.html

Business listing for his phone-repair shop: http://archive.is/iYo4A

A local media report praising him: http://archive.is/PDoXx

Nauryzbai Izbasar's entry (for more details about the incident): https://shahit.biz/eng/viewentry.php?entryno=379

Official notice(s)

Original: https://shahit.biz/supp/notori_7.pdf Translation: https://shahit.biz/supp/nottran_7.pdf Side-by-side: https://shahit.biz/notview.php?no=7

Victims among relatives

Saltanat Beisen (1241)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z0yJhOTofg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOKMvtwCjY Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fg2L7EwLjA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD8PHpDM3wg Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wx_u8S1TFs Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECwKpbmejRE Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWAivmR7NDI Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BzI5MRWRO0 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1240_5.png medical results: https://shahit.biz/supp/1240_9.png arrest notice (Testimony 9): https://shahit.biz/supp/1240_11.png

Entry created: 2018-12-12 Last updated: 2020-08-08 Latest status update: 2020-12-19 1251. Amantai Abyl

Chinese ID: 652722198102100914 (Jing)

Basic info

Age: 37 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1+2+3+4+6: Gainigul Aitqali, born on January 31, 1982.

Testimony 5: Tursyngazy Seithan

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1+2+3+4+6: The victim is the testifier's husband.

Testimony 5: unclear

About the victim

Amantai Abyl. Born in Külerten in Zhyn region of the Bortala prefecture on February 10, 1980. According to his wife, he was tricked by the Zhyn regional police - they told him that he had to return to China in order to register his "statement of purpose" (that is the literal translation of the Kazakh word for the document, used to enter Kazakhstan without a visa). On June 17, 2017, he arrived in the Zhyn region and his documents were taken. On October 15, 2017, he was taken to a concentration camp. After more than 5 months, his wife got a phone call from someone in China, and she was told that she could talk to her husband once every two weeks through that number. She says she recognized that her husband was losing his capacity to remember (he was asking his children's names, ages etc. - he has 4 children). On the second day of this month, he was allowed to see his father. He told his father that he was working at a textile factory, that his work was too difficult, and that he had very little time for rest, and earned 650 yuan per month.

It is not clear whether he was "released" from a camp and then sent to a factory. It's possible that the factories are within the camp facilities themselves. On December 9, 2018, his wife wanted to talk to him as was allowed by the rules, but found that the number was not in use anymore.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan. When victim was detained

Started on June 17, 2017, when documents were confiscated. Sent to camp on October 15, 2017. Later sent to a textile factory, where he was employed for 650 yuan/month and could not be reached by phone by his wife.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear.

Victim's status

From past conversations, it appears he's having memory issues and is very fatigued.

On January 2, 2019, Turkish scholar Mehmet Volkan reported (in a private conversation) that he heard of the victim being released and allowed to return to Kazakhstan.

On January 8, Mehmet Volkan further confirmed that he has returned to Kazakhstan but must not talk about the situation in Xinjiang as he has guarantors there who will suffer if he does.

Testimony 6: He returned home to Kazakhstan in January 2019.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Through different phone conversations once every two weeks and through the victim's father (who was able to see the victim in person).

Additional information

His story has since been featured in the Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/eb2239aa-fc4f-11e8-aebf-99e208d3e521?fbclid=IwAR3kf2aZxiOqPw3lgyRQf1J k-t0WVWokt8GFdTSpN2wOTt_zZd0_WP3WV4c

The New York Times has also written about his case: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html

Victims among relatives

Quanyshbek Abyl (1261)

Supplementary materials video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzyuJUiz6d8 video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNGooAhQUeI video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjQiS_qGCsY video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpEEOf6JRY0 video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-BDUu2v9gA video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH-s_tXf8KU photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/1251_1.png notarized Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1251_2.png KZ residence permit: https://shahit.biz/supp/1251_3.png marriage certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/1251_4.png

Entry created: 2018-12-13 Last updated: 2018-12-13 Latest status update: 2019-01-19 1276. Gulzia Nurbek

Chinese ID: 65402219840514??E? (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 34 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (13 years) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: housemaker

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1: Gulbaqyt Abilzhan

Testimony 2-3: Shalqar Baqyt, born on December 6, 1992. His ID number is 031666085.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1: fellow-villager

Testimony 2-3: unclear

About the victim

Gulzia Nurbek, a housewife.

Address: Chabuchaer County, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China.

DOB: May 14, 1984.

Victim's location

Possibly in Ili. According to Testimony 3, she was allegedly taken to a camp/prison in inner China.

Believer: women's prison of Ghulja

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: Put into camp in March 2018.

Testimony 3: detained in March 2017. Allegedly taken to a prison or a camp in inner China after 3-4 months.

From the Believer: the victim spent three months in a camp and was taken to a prison afterwards. She has been convicted and sentenced, reason for imprisonment is unknown.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 2: no apparent reason

From the Believer: The testifier does not know why she has been sentenced to prison, he suspects, it has to do with religion, but doubts so as his aunt was not very observant and didn't even pray, but she might have seen an imam at some point.

Victim's status

Believer: in prison, serving a 13-year sentence

[There is a high likelihood that she is subjected to forced labor at the Ili Women's Prison, as this practice has been documented there.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Shalqar's interview to the Believer (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

In Kazakh we say “sister,” not “aunt.” The truth is, she really is a sister to me. We’re separated in age by only a few years. We used to talk on the phone every month, just to say hello.

In 2017, they started to take Uighurs and Kazakhs from their villages. I don’t know why. My aunt spent three months in a camp. After three months, she was placed in a prison. No one knew this at the time. It was only a few months ago that I heard from one of our relatives that she had been convicted and sentenced. Without any reason, without any guilt. This January, I started writing petitions and complaints here in Kazakhstan. I gave interviews and I posted videos online. The next month, her husband was called by the local authorities. They told him to get in touch with me to tell me not to complain.

At the time, her husband didn’t even know what had happened to his wife. He was in the dark. When they called him, he learned that she was being held in a women’s prison in Ghulja. She had been sentenced to thirteen years.

I don’t know why she was sentenced. I heard it was for religious reasons, so probably she visited an imam at some point. But she wasn’t such an observant Muslim. She didn’t read namaz. And her husband wasn’t sent to a camp. I don’t know why. He’s left alone to take care of their daughter, so maybe that’s the reason. But why her? My aunt worked as a housewife. She didn’t have any education. She was just an ordinary person.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-9OXmfJWWw Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPUBdpslhSA Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3RF-eRdpPE Entry created: 2018-12-14 Last updated: 2021-01-27 Latest status update: 2019-05-01 1337. Nagima Sultanmurat

Chinese ID: 654126197311053026 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 45 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1: Lezzat Belqozha

Testimony 2+3+4+5+9: Dilina Asaubai, born in 1998. Immigrated from China to Kazakhstan in 2016, now lives there with her father, who is already a Kazakh citizen. Kazakh ID: 041055880.

Testimony 6-11: Zhapar Asaubai

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1: No known relation

Testimony 2+3+4+5+9: Mother

Testimony 6-11: wife

About the victim

Naghiman Sultanmurat, a herdswoman, born on November 5, 1973. From Aghiyaz Village, Qarasu Township, Mongolkure (Zhaosu) County.

According to Testimony 2, her name is Nagima Soltanmurat, with her registered address at Aksai village (阿克萨依村), Karasu township (喀拉苏乡), Zhaosu county, Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture.

Victim's location

Back in Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Documents confiscated on August 27, 2017, while she was visiting China. She was then under town arrest and unable to leave the locality. Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Not in detention. Split from family.

Testimony 4: The local authorities are not allowing her to visit abroad, requiring her family members to come and go through de-registration process. Her family members, who are already Kazakh citizens are afraid of going to China as many Kazakhstan nationals are being detained in China.

Testimony 6: She was forced to sign a document on giving up their grassland, which is 705 mu(approximately 50 hectares) and which is valid till 2047, to get her passport. However, after singning the document, the local police refused to return her passport saying her family members should go deregistration process, only then she will be able to get her passport back.

Testimony 7: Her husband, the testifier, did a video appeal on January 6, 2019 and the local police arrested her on January 8, then released again on the tenth. Now they've lost contact with her.

Testimony 8: returned to Kazakhstan safe and sound on January 21, 2019.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear.

Additional information

This victim is included in the list of Mongolkure victims provided to Qazaq Uni (https://qazaquni.kz/2018/09/28/90575.html) by Lezzat Belqozha, also available at: https://shahit.biz/supp/list_005.pdf

Testimony 9: She was being taken to a detention center on January 9, 2019 as the video testimony was taking place. She was reportedly being forced to give up her husband‘s grassland of 705 mu.

Testimony 11: The testifier is from Aksai village of Karasu township in Zhaosu county, He has a range land in the village. His wife had to spend a year and seven months as the local authorities asked her to disown the land. The have the documents which prove their ownership. His wife was forcefully signed the document and although Asaubai himself was not there, they wrote his name and signed the document on his behalf illegaly. Now they cannot receive any subsidy for the land.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqsfMWg0TjY Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgUBj5glc-o Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty6wA1wir84 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDdLnkDO9E Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Pijc9IVYw Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djcL7Txp1rs Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgKm7asOZg0 Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s6CWgr7Cq0 Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tobciPzptI Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVj7qHTqA94 Kazakhstan ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1337_11.png

Entry created: 2018-12-16 Last updated: 2019-09-21 Latest status update: 2019-10-02 1358. Nurlan Kokteubai (努尔兰·库合都伯)

Chinese ID: 654122196309144818 (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 56 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"problematic" association Health status: has problems Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Qaster Nurlan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 2|3: Maqpal Nurlan, born in 1991, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Ularbek Omar, a resident of Kazakhstan. (relation unclear)

Testimony 5|7: Nurlan Kokteubai, a retired schoolteacher from Chapchal County. He moved to Kazakhstan in 2011, but was detained in 2017 in Xinjiang and sent to "re-education". (the victim)

Testimony 6: Nurlan Kokteubai, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (the victim)

Testimony 8: Official notice of education and training, as given by local authorities to a family member of someone taken to a "training center".

About the victim

Nurlan Kokteubai is a former schoolteacher from Ili's Chapchal County. In 2011, he and his wife moved to Kazakhstan, with their children - now Kazakhstan citizens - joining them also.

Address: Akkoi Stud Farm, Chapchal County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

After being called back to China, he went there in late August 2017 and was summoned by the local police in early September 2017, which ended with him arrested and being brought to the re-education camp. Nurlan says that he was taken on September 3, while the official document says that he started his "training" on September 6 [Nurlan also notes that his wife's signature on this document was faked]. Because of heart problems, Nurlan was taken to the hospital on September 14, where he would then spend 8 days before being returned to camp. In November 2017, he fainted and had to be taken to the hospital again, this time for 10 days. On January 10, 2018, he had a heart attack and would be hospitalized until being returned to camp again on January 28.

He was found "innocent" and released on April 3, 2018, after which he would remain under house arrest until January 2019. On January 21, the police finally told him that he could return to Kazakhstan, which he did on January 24, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to what the camp authorities told Nurlan, for "being in contact with terrorists".

His detention notice says that he was taken to training for "being suspected of having dealings with individuals suspected of terrorist activities".

Victim's status

He is now in Kazakhstan, but notes that his health has degraded significantly and that he needs treatment.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Nurlan's is an eyewitness account.

The "education and training notice" is an official document from the local authorities.

Additional information

The New Yorker feature: https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/china-xinjiang-prison-state-uighur-detention-camp s-prisoner-testimony

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-11072019073837.html

Additional eyewitness testimony from Nurlan:

“When I went to my hometown in August 2017, I witnessed the local government collecting and destroying books and other written materials in Arabic and Kazakh… …Since my village is mainly Kazakhs, I'm talking only about Kazakhs here… …A group of five people would come to each house and order you to take out all religious books and even those books about Kazakh heros, as well as Abai Kunanbai's books. They asked the home owners to burn them in front of the government workers… …They've also taken away the Turkish carpets, removed gravestones from the tombs, stopped Kazakh-language teaching, and confiscated all the imported products from Kazakhstan (especially candy from the shops).”

All the villagers started attending evening classes. Before Nurlan was taken to a camp, he first had a medical check-up in the village, but the camp staff didn't approve it. He had another check-up the next day in the county hospital, which he had to pay 500RMB for. Among the 110 people living on the same floor with him, 2-3 were Kazakh, a few were Hui, and all the rest were Uyghur. There were Kyrgyz as well, he believes. However, the Kyrgyz could not be distinguished from Kazakhs unless you saw their ID cards.

They would have one lecture almost every week. He mentions that some Uyghur guys would occasionally be taken somewhere and would come back beat up. They were young, no older than 30. They would be taken by 4-5 policemen at night. [Serikzhan Bilash mentions in the video that this is organ harvesting, to which Nurlan says “yes”.]

Nurlan's wife had to pay 500-1000RMB as they were told that a specialist from Ghulja City would come to inject a certain liquid into his artery, but it was instead done by an ordinary doctor employed at the hospital where Nurlan was receiving treatment.

He was interrogated for the first time in September, six months into his detention.

He heard of an Uyghur driver from his village being told by the camp staff that his sexual ability was really something, following a conjugal visit between the driver and his wife in the camp, which Nurlan takes as proof of the staff being able to monitor them via video cameras.

When Nurlan and his wife had to attend daily lessons, the village cadre asked them to speak only in Chinese. Nurlan refused to do so, saying that Ili is a Kazakh autonomous prefecture where they had the right to speak Kazakh.

When his son Kaster came to his village from Kazakhstan, he was questioned by a Kazakh girl working for the village police office, which included asking him in detail what he did in Kazakhstan. He left four days later, sick of such questioning.

One day, the village cadre showed Nurlan a photo of his daughter, claiming that she was a member of a terrorist group in Kazakhstan.

Nurlan also mentions an Uyghur man named Halmurat, who he says is 52-53 years old and from Kan Village, where he worked as a school principal. They were in the same room at the camp, with Halmurat taken somewhere else later.

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

I was born and raised on the Akkoi stud farm in Chapchal County. From September 1979 to July 1997, I worked as a schoolteacher. I myself am a graduate of a vocational secondary school. In 2011, I came to Kazakhstan and obtained a Kazakhstan green card. My wife was also a teacher, but she's retired now. Our children moved to Kazakhstan too and got Kazakh citizenship here.

In July 2017, my wife was called to go to China, and then I went too since they summoned me as well. I went around August 20, 2017. Some days later – on September 3, 2017 – the village police called me to the police station. I thought that they were going to collect my passport, but when I got there they told me that I had contacted terrorists and that I needed to go to the No. 3 Middle School. Or at least, it had been the county’s No. 3 Middle School until it was changed into a vocational school and later transformed into a re-education “school”. I told them that I could go since I hadn't committed any crime – I figured they would just interrogate me and then release me.

However, what they did was take me to my cell in that “school” – eight people in one room. There were lines drawn, and criminals were not allowed to step on them. Upon entering the black gate I was searched. My wife had to stay outside the gate and I was taken inside. I didn't know what the line was and so I just walked on it, prompting a police officer to shout at me to stay inside the line. He told me that the line was for criminals.

I heard from one person that there were about 14000 people there. They were mainly Uyghurs and Kazakhs and a few Hui.

There was a teaching building, and after crossing that building there was the dormitory. The room door was chained in two places and couldn’t be opened widely. There were four bunk beds for eight people, and the inmates were mainly Uyghurs. I asked them when they were going to interrogate us and they said: they aren’t going to interrogate anyone – we came here in April and nobody interrogated us. I started shouting, demanding to know why I ended up there. The police came and told me to shut up.

My heart started to hurt – I was completely innocent and had ended up there for no reason. On September 14, they took me to the hospital. I had never had heart problems before. I went on to spend 8 days in the hospital, with two policemen guarding me at all times, even when I’d go to relieve myself. I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone. Then I was taken back to the prison.

The documents say that the goal is for the learners to study politics, the national language, law, and vocational skills. These are lies. None of these was available. It was just a prison.

In November, I fainted and the ambulance took me to the biggest hospital in the municipality. After spending some time in the emergency room, I was later taken to another room. After ten days, I was taken back to the prison at night.

There was no learning at all. All we did was watch TV – broadcasts of only one channel, which circulated videos about Xi Jinping's visits to numerous countries and how he was helping these poor countries develop. Nothing else. We didn't learn any skills.

We had to line up to go to the toilet and would only be given 5 minutes, the guards standing next to you with their batons. The alarm woke us up at five in the morning, and we would take turns “guarding” each other throughout the night – two people at a time, two hours per rotation. We were given plastic stools and would wear plastic slippers. The stools we’d have to sit still on while watching the TV programs about Xi.

The dining hall was roughly 100 meters from our dorm. There, we’d have to line up again and sing a “red song” before the meal, and then finish our meal in five minutes. The food was good at the beginning – beef and chicken. But later it’d get worse, and we’d mainly have porridge with steamed buns.

On January 10, 2018, I had a heart attack and was taken to the county hospital. This time, I saw how the former epidemic-prevention station had been transformed into a hospital for inmates. I was taken there. While I was there, my wife was allowed to come and look after me. They injected 250 ml of liquid into my cardiovascular system. Back in the prison, we had been divided into three groups and I was in the lightest. I refused the injection originally, but they threatened to transfer me to the strictest group if I insisted. Despite them telling me that a specialist would come to do this, it was done by an ordinary doctor in that hospital. A Han nurse told me to drink at least 5-6 liters of water to be safe, warning me that the medicine could destroy my kidneys otherwise. She did this out of kindness – the doctor hadn't told me anything.

On January 28, I was taken to the prison again. This time, there was netting erected along the lines intended for criminals. Once a month, we were taken to shower, but because around 80 people had to shower together, it was very difficult to breathe and I’d refuse. In March, they told us to learn 3000 Chinese characters. We stayed on the first floor and didn't go to the classroom since we were sick, and the instructors gave us beginner-Chinese textbooks.

It was only in March that they told us our crimes. According to them, I was guilty of "being in contact with terrorists". I was interrogated, during which time they told me that I had visited Kazakhstan many times. I explained that my children were in Kazakhstan and that I was visiting them. They asked me if I had been to Syria. The State Security Bureau checked and found that I hadn’t been to any country other than Kazakhstan. On March 19, they told me that I wasn’t guilty of any crime, and a Kazakh guy there told me that I was going to be released soon. One day, at 3 in the morning, two people came to our cell and woke me up, asking me how many times I had visited Kazakhstan. I signed a document and was released on April 3, 2018. Before leaving the "school", I was searched and made to promise to not say anything to my family members.

They divided families into three categories: the “safe” households (放心户), the “dangerous” households (危险户), and the “key” households (重点户). My brother's family was in the “key households” category, with cadres staying in their home for almost entire days. My wife had to give a speech in front of groups of teachers, saying that she regretted her husband having connections to terrorists during his time at the camp.

Then we started attending courses: we had to learn the “three explanations” (三个讲明白) and “six clarities” (六个讲清楚). I gave speeches in front of a crowd four times, expressing regret for my wrongdoings and expressing my gratitude to the Party, while saying that I would fight against the “three evils”. The Han cadres in the village told me that Kazakhstan had become a bridge for Kazakhs going to Syria and becoming terrorists. We also had lessons about the “Chinese dream”, which included Chinese one day replacing English and the RMB replacing the US dollar. One day, a woman named Yuan gave a speech, saying that we were terrorists and that Shonzhy and Zharkent in Kazakhstan were the most dangerous regions for Xinjiang.

I heard that the head of the neighboring village had told villagers at a flag raising ceremony that ordinary people, with the exception of cadres, could still travel to Kazakhstan if they wanted. So I went to the village head and explained my situation, saying that my children were in Kazakhstan, and asked for my passport. In return, he told me that I would remain under house arrest until my death.

Cadres at the village office would collect my recordings of everyday affairs. I had to write down what I did and whom I met with and how my thoughts changed on that day, and then give it to the cadre. One day, two cadres were there – one Han and one Kazakh, named Murat. I asked him about my passport, to which he said that I shouldn’t bring this topic up. Then I started talking in Mandarin and asked the Han what I did wrong, asking him if I had committed any crime, if I had lied or killed someone, if I had betrayed the country. I told them to take me to prison if I had done something wrong. I told them that I was loyal to the Party. I had a heart attack just then, and they had to take me home.

One day, a policeman came and said that my daughter in Kazakhstan was appealing. I told him I didn't know anything about it. It’s true – I really wasn’t aware. They asked me to make a phone call, and I called my son. They told me what to say and not to say in advance, and so I told him that everything was great. They told me to tell my son to stop the appeals. On January 21, the police came and told me that I should leave for Kazakhstan on January 24. On the day that I was going to leave, Village Secretary Tian told me that it was not good to say anything bad since we were born and raised in China. He also mentioned that my daughter in Kazakhstan should cherish China for having grown up there. After I left for Kazakhstan, the village cadres wouldn't stop visiting my wife and asking questions. I arrived in Kazakhstan on January 24, 2019, and my wife arrived in February.

I’ve been suffering from memory loss ever since being released from the camp. Recently, I've started seeing blood in my urine. I need help getting a medical checkup. My wife, too, has developed health problems and can no longer walk.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGTBy-fl4E

Official notice(s)

Original: https://shahit.biz/supp/notori_6.pdf Translation: https://shahit.biz/supp/nottran_6.pdf Side-by-side: https://shahit.biz/notview.php?no=6

Victims among relatives

Ainur Aqryq (1359)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kELJhpy-i_o Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu9g39sZkTQ Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7huzr1p7pMg Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jdWrrub6g Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGTBy-fl4E at Astana press club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsM6LU8i9BE Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnj0qzGFKdE Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1358_5.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1358_7.jpg

Entry created: 2018-12-17 Last updated: 2020-03-15 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 1359. Ainur Aqryq (阿依努尔·阿尔克)

Chinese ID: 654122196512144821 (Chapchal)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Qaster Nurlan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 2|3: Maqpal Nurlan, born in 1991, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Ularbek Omar, a resident of Kazakhstan. (relation unclear)

Testimony 5|6: Nurlan Kokteubai, a retired schoolteacher from Chapchal County. He moved to Kazakhstan in 2011, but was detained in 2017 in Xinjiang and sent to "re-education". (husband)

Testimony 7: Nurlan Kokteubai, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (husband)

Testimony 8: Ainur Aqryq, as reported by The New Yorker. (the victim)

About the victim

Ainur Aqryq used to work as a schoolteacher in Ili's Chapchal County.

Address in China: No. 85, Group No. 4, Team No. 1, Sheep Rearing Farm, Chapchal Xibo Autonomous County, Xinjiang (新疆察布查尔锡伯自治县种羊场一队4组85号).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

She went to China on May 30, 2017 after being summoned by the school where she had previously worked. Soon after arrival, she had her passport confiscated. While not detained, she would still be forced to live under strict surveillance, as well as attend regular political meetings and ceremonies.

On January 1, 2018, she would deliver a public confession about her husband at a flag-raising ceremony in a square located outside of the mayor's office in Aqqoi Farm. She was made to write the confession in Chinese by an employee at her former school. More than a thousand people were at the ceremony, where she reportedly said that "because she was unable to control her husband, he had become involved with terrorists, and that this was why he was living in the camp a few miles down the road". After the confession, relatives in the village began to avoid her, and "former colleagues from her old school stopped saying hello when they saw her on the street".

After Nurlan had a heart attack in early January 2018, a camp administrator visited Ainur and told her that her husband had been hospitalised after a "cardiac event". The camp administrator ordered Ainur to go to the hospital in order to take care of Nurlan while he recovered. Cameras monitored Ainur and Nurlan throughout Ainur's stay there. Ainur recalls: "If I attempted to talk to him, a voice would come over the loudspeaker and tell us to stop."

She returned to Kazakhstan on March 1, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

According to her husband, the nearly 2 years of being forced to stay in Xinjiang - with his being detained or in the hospital during some of this time - has had a very negative impact on her health, making it difficult for her to walk. She also suffers from hypertension.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Both the victim and her husband are back in Kazakhstan and have spoken about their situation.

Additional information

While still in Xinjiang, the victim and her husband were forced to contact their daughter, Maqpal, following her second video appeal - to tell her to stop appealing.

According to Ainur's husband, the Chinese authorities have recently been calling her to come back once more to sign some documents.

The New Yorker feature: https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/china-xinjiang-prison-state-uighur-detention-camp s-prisoner-testimony

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-11072019073837.html

Victims among relatives

Nurlan Kokteubai (1358)

Supplementary materials Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kELJhpy-i_o Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu9g39sZkTQ Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7huzr1p7pMg Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jdWrrub6g Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGTBy-fl4E Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0XBhH5Hcx0 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1359_5.png

Entry created: 2018-12-17 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-26 1387. Gulnar Telet (古丽娜尔·塔拉提)

Chinese ID: 652401197007150021 (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 49 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: has problems Profession: education

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|3|4*|5: Arafat Erkin, originally from Ghulja, but now living in the United States. (son)

Testimony 2: Arafat Erkin, as reported by Uyghur Human Rights Project. (son)

Testimony 6: Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, one of the thematic special procedures overseen by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

About the victim

Gulnar Telet was a mathematics teacher at the Ghulja No. 5 Elementary School. She speaks fluent Chinese.

Victim's location

Previously in a camp not far from the electric power plant, but now appears to have been released. [Presumably at home.]

When victim was detained

Taken to camp in December 2017. In September 2019, her son learned that she had been released in early 2019, but had to undergo a major surgery.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

No reason given, to the best of her son's knowledge. May be because of his studying in the US.

Victim's status

Presumably at home, but had to undergo a major surgery after her release in early 2019. The person who told Arafat the news waited until recently (September 2019), possibly because the surgery was life-threatening. This person told him that "right now she can walk". On November 9, 2019, she was cited in a local propaganda piece by the Global Times as stating that she was never in a camp and that Arafat's father had harmed society. In the piece, she also told Arafat not to lie and to leave the World Uyghur Congress (of which he had never been a part). A week later, she appeared in a Global Times propaganda video (https://archive.vn/rOpoZ), in which she looked weak and pale, blinked frequently, and relied on a TV stand for support. (The Chinese state media claims that Gulnar was in a hospital because of "some ailment in her spine".)

Two days after that, Arafat finally got a reply from the Chinese side via the UN's Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances - to whom he had submitted his mother's case in January 2019. It said that his mother was "now" living an ordinary life, which appears to contradict the earlier statement in the propaganda (that she had never been detained).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

News about her detention came to Arafat from a Kazakh family friend who fled to Kazakhstan. [The recent news may have come from a different source.]

That she was in terrible health was also confirmed by the state-media TV report.

Additional information

An UHRP report (https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/Detained-and-Disappeared-Intellectuals-Under-Assault-in-the-Uyghur-Homela nd.pdf) notes that communications between the victim and her son became coded in the years leading up to the arrest, and she would occasionally praise the Communist Party in their phone calls.

Media coverage: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2019/08/chinas-missing-million-search-disappeared-uyghurs

Chinese media response: http://archive.is/hK2X0

Victims among relatives

Erkin Tursun (179), Abdushukur Abliz (1388), Halide Zordon (1389), Halit Abdushukur (5170), Mewjudem Abdushukur (5171), Hebibulla Tohti (1492), Ilzat Gheni (4340), Gulchekre Telet (1247), Eset Telet (5652), Gheni Abdushukur (5654), Gulzar Nizamidin (5653), Turmemet Nurmemet (5655)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVIW3MQWKwA NBC coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI6cFiJ8A8w Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/Alfred_Uyghur/status/1196533530286841858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/1387_1.jpg photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/1387_3.png Global Times propaganda feature: https://shahit.biz/supp/1387_5.mp4 Testimony 6: https://shahit.biz/supp/1387_7.png photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_1387.png

Entry created: 2018-12-17 Last updated: 2020-04-16 Latest status update: 2020-02-07 1391. Rysgul Qurmanali (肉斯古丽·库里满阿里)

Chinese ID: 65412319920819180X (Korghas)

Basic info

Age: 26 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: house/town arrest When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-5: Nurbaydy Nyg’men, born on December 3 1989, immigrated to Kazakhstan from China in 2010, received citizenship in 2013

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-5: Wife

About the victim

Zhurmana’ly Rysgu’l (Chinese 肉斯古丽*库里满阿里), already an immigrant to Kazakhstan, her repatriation certificate number - 4737.

Chinese address: Qingshui Animal Husbandry village (清水牧业村), Qingshuihe town (清水河镇), Huocheng county, Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture.

Chinese passport: E62910567. Kazakhstan green card: 026898309.

Victim's location

In Huocheng county.

When victim was detained

Went back to China on October 11, 2017, arrested two days later on October 13 and put in camp on the same day.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 4: picture of a mosque on her phone

Testimony 5: crossing the border too many times, in addition to the photo Victim's status

Testimony 2: released on November 6, a day after the video petition, yet under house arrest now.

Testimony 4: police officers have informed Rysgul that she will not be allowed to Kazakhstan because of her husband’s petitioning

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear

Additional information

The couple have a son, Baqytali Nygmet (KZ passport: N11226338), who was born on August 6, 2016 in Esik, Almaty oblast. He’s a Kazakh citizen, but was left to live in China with his grandfather following his mother's detention.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qphunbSQoU8 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaTJs7AHEDA Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPUBdpslhSA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbEPttJGmZo Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IqqLboImRU Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1391_6.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1391_7.png

Entry created: 2018-12-18 Last updated: 2020-11-22 Latest status update: 2019-02-23 1396. Kunikei Zhanibek (古妮开·加尼别克)

Chinese ID: 65422319860805002X (Shawan)

Basic info

Age: 33 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: forced job placement When problems started: July 2018 - Sep. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3|4: Aibota Zhanibek, born in 1984, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (sister)

Testimony 5*: Aibota Zhanibek, as reported by Mehmet Volkan Kaşıkçı. (sister)

Testimony 6*: Aibota Zhanibek, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (sister)

Testimony 7: Aibota Zhanibek, as reported by National Public Radio. (sister)

Testimony 8: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Kunikei Zhanibek is a graduate of Xinjiang University, where she studied English language and literature. She also speaks Arabic.

ID address: 61-211 West Tacheng Road, Shawan County, Xinjiang (新疆沙湾县塔城西路61-211号).

Chinese passport: G60454753.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Tacheng.]

When victim was detained

Kunikei was put in a camp around July-August 2018. She was released from the camp on December 25, 2018; however, she was sent to a factory not long afterwards, following a period of house arrest. Kunikei first worked at a carpet factory, then at a factory that produced airplane towels. She was later given an administrative job in her locality.

(Urumqi police records note that Kunikei's phone was checked on March 20, 2018, in the Shuimogou District and not far from the Liudaowan Pre-Trial Detention Center.) Likely (or given) reason for detention

Kunikei was detained for visiting Malaysia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.

Victim's status

No longer in detention [but apparently still in some form of forced job placement].

She recently got married, but had to ask for state permission to do so.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated, though Aibota has had some direct contact with her (both Kunikei and their father have been contacting Aibota recently to tell her to stop her video appeals).

Additional information

National Public Radio coverage: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/764153179/china-has-begun-moving-xinjiang-muslim-detainees-to-form al-prisons-relatives-say

Victims among relatives

Nurzada Zhumaqan (1395)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=welZPGQrayo Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yAaRXd7oWw Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNU4Xt54s7w Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAkMOYOuNBs Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1396_5.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1396_6.png

Entry created: 2018-12-18 Last updated: 2021-06-22 Latest status update: 2019-10-08 1459. Duman Qurmash (杜曼·库尔玛西)

Chinese ID: 654126198901163019 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 30 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: documents withheld When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Lazzat Belqozha, as reported by Qazaq Uni. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2|3|5: Saule Ybyraim, born in 1973, now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (mother)

Testimony 4: Zhambugul Tursynmurat, now residing in Kazakhstan. (aunt)

About the victim

Duman Qurmash.

Residential address: 11-16 Agayaz second district, Karasu township, Zhaosu county (昭苏县喀拉苏乡阿合牙孜二区11-16号).

Chinese passport: E71438400.

Victim's location

[Presumably at his home in Ili.]

When victim was detained

November 13, 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Not in detention, but separated from family.

Testimony 3: An official named Azimzhan is not signing the paper which gives him the right to leave for Kazakhstan. They are requiring his father to come to China.

Testimony 4: he was taken by the police for questioning in early December 2019.

Testimony 5: The local police asked for the testifier's family's phone numbers and copies of passports. It seems the victim has been under pressure for contacting his relatives in Kazakhstan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[Presumably from communicating with the victim directly.]

Not clear how the information about him being taken in for questioning was obtained.

Additional information

This victim is included in the list of Mongolkure victims (Testimony 1) provided to Qazaq Uni (https://qazaquni.kz/2018/09/28/90575.html) by Lezzat Belqozha, also available at: https://shahit.biz/supp/list_005.pdf

Testimony 3: the victim's father is in bad health.

Victims among relatives

Qurmash Tursynmurat (1366)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agHy8FaX4y8 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuaOIDV34Fo Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKvpMFBdXdU Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpkazVXU7JA Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1459_2.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1459_3.png

Entry created: 2018-12-20 Last updated: 2020-02-05 Latest status update: 2019-12-07 1524. Baqytkeldi Adu (巴合提开力也·阿都)

Chinese ID: 654126196410061617 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (26 years) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: religion

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|7|8: Qyran Baqytkeldi, born in 1996, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. (son)

Testimony 6: Nurzat Asan, born in 1970, is a Chinese citizen with residence in Kazakhstan. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Baqytkeldi Adiluly (阿都*巴合提开力也) is a Chinese citizen. He was the muezzin and cashier in a mosque.

Testimony 3: He was an imam. The testifier heard that his father was sentenced to 26 years of prison.

Regular address: Renmin Street 17, Kashazhar township, Zhaosu county, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China (新疆昭苏县喀夏加尔乡人民街17号).

Victim's location

Testimony 7: Qarabura Prison in Kunes County.

When victim was detained earlier: November 2017

Testimony 7: he spent three months in a camp and then was given a prison term.

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status earlier: in a re-education camp Testimony 3: heard to be sentenced

Testimony 5: sentenced to 26 years in February 2018

Testimony 6: sentenced to 25 years.

Testimony 7: sentenced to 26 years.

Testimony 8: the victim's wife, Kulshai Ahmet (testifier's mother), cannot contact the testifier now. He was sentenced in February 2018 to 26 years.

[There is a high likelihood of the victim being subjected to forced labor, as this practice has been documented at Qarabura Prison.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Testimony 8: After the testifier's video appeals his father had been allowed to meet his family members once every half year and once every three months through video calls.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH-ZQCBgVlA Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atwbFk9wAhc Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkOX1FYNJlA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=devmUNu9CHE Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYOyESjuDCc Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebpfL6SyHvQ Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npn-zZ2t-Uk Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2qABmB52k Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1524_6.png

Entry created: 2018-12-23 Last updated: 2020-10-16 Latest status update: 2020-01-27 1561. Tahir Talip (塔依尔·塔力甫)

Chinese ID: 65312219460715??O? (Shule)

Basic info

Age: 74 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: art & literature

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Rune Steenberg, an anthropologist from Denmark. (friend)

Testimony 3: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Tahir Talip was born in the Yamanyar Township of Kashgar's Yengisheher County. A lifelong poet with hundreds of published poems, he published his first at the age of 15, in the newspaper that he worked for at the time. He learned Mandarin as a young man and spent some time working as a translator for the local authorities. From 1978 until his retirement in 2003, he worked for the Kashgar Daily (Qeshqer Geziti), where he would become a senior editor.

Tahir was a prominent cultural figure, and his poems were often published in textbooks and read in schools. One of his best known poems is called "Chunki Men Hesiyatliq Hayat Adem" ("Because I'm a Living, Feeling Human Being").

He was a father of five - three sons and two daughters - three of whom were detained.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

Fell out of contact in August 2017, though it's not clear if he's been formally detained or just kept under close surveillance. Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

He does not appear to be in hard detention (having appeared in a Global Times propaganda short), but the exact restrictions he is subject to are unclear.

He had been struggling with heart disease for some time.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not clear how Abduweli Ayup learned about his disappearance or potential detention. Rune is well acquainted with the victim and his family (and presumably heard through mutual friends/acquaintances).

The Global Times is a state-media outlet with direct access to the victim.

Additional information

The victim is included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

He is also listed in the Uyghur Human Rights Project report about prominent disappeared Uyghurs: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/UHRP_Disappeared_Forever_.pdf

Victims among relatives

Ilham Tahir (1562), Koresh Tahir (1554), Amannisa Tahir (6118)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI2oUJTYOpc Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/1561_2.mp4 propaganda video still: https://shahit.biz/supp/1561_3.png

Entry created: 2018-12-23 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-01 1565. Adilgazy Muqai (阿地力阿孜·木哈依)

Chinese ID: 650203197211180076 (Karamay)

Basic info

Age: 47 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (9 years) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|"extremism", "terrorism", "disturbing public order" Health status: has problems Profession: energy

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|4|5|6|7|9|11: Bikamal Kaken, born in 1976, now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (wife)

Testimony 3: Bulbulhan Karipkan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (mother)

Testimony 8: Bikamal Kaken, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (wife)

Testimony 10: Bikamal Kaken, as reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. (wife)

Testimony 12: Bikamal Kaken, as reported by The Believer. (wife)

Testimony 13: Zhang Xiao, as reported by Global Times.

Testimony 14: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Adilgazy Muqai is a Chinese citizen who, nevertheless, has been approved for Kazakhstan citizenship since September 2017. Prior to retiring in 2016 because of health reasons, he used to work in the oil industry in Karamay, generating steam for the oil pumps.

He and his wife, Bikamal, have two (underage) children together.

Address: No. 7, Building 30, Beidou Neighborhood, Karamay District, Karamay City, Xinjiang (新疆克拉玛依市克拉玛依区北斗小区30幢楼房7号).

Victim's location

[Unclear, as he has been sentenced.]

When victim was detained He was initially arrested on his way back from Kazakhstan on May 2, 2017 at the Korgas border crossing, originally being sent to a camp in Karamay proper, but later being transferred to one in the Maytagh district as the first was too crowded. At some point after the Chinese spring festival of 2019, he was reportedly transferred to another facility (unclear if camp or a detention center).

As reported by Zhang Xiao of the Chinese mission in Kazakhstan, he was given a 9-year prison sentence by the Karamay City Intermediate People's Court in December 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to his wife, he was detained because of their having an alcohol-free wedding party back in 2013. A copy of the Quran was also found at their house.

His wife also believes that her giving birth to their children in Kazakhstan may be a reason, as officials reportedly came to the victim's sister's house and told the sister that the wife of the victim was as guilty as the victim, because the wife had given birth to their children in Kazakhstan.

The official reasons, as reported by the Chinese ambassador in Kazakhstan, were "encouraging acts of extremist terrorism" and "disturbing the region's social order" (the victim was allegedly found "acquiring, storing, and spreading a large number of video and audio files which encouraged terrorism and religious extremism").

Victim's status

Serving a prison sentence.

He presumably has certain health issues, as signaled by his early retirement.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Bikamal and Bulbulhan presumably learned about the detention and subsequent transfers from relatives.

Zhang Xiao is a Chinese ambassador and presumably got the information from the Xinjiang government directly.

Additional information

The victim was written about, albeit anonymously, by dpa international (http://www.dpa-international.com/topic/energy-executives-abroad-ensnared-china-xinjiang-crackdown-1 90221-99-75048):

"Kaken Bikamal’s husband, who also used to work for a Chinese oil and gas company in Kazakhstan, was detained in April 2017 in Karamay, she said.

"They said if he didn’t go to China, they would stop paying his salary," Bikamal said.

Now, she and the couple’s two young daughters support themselves with the help of relatives and local nonprofits." ---

Bikamal's interview to The Believer (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

In China, my husband was working at the Karamay oil fields. He’s a steam worker, generating steam for the oil pumps.

When he retired, we moved to Kazakhstan with our two children. Then my daughter was born here, in December 2016. In May 2017, when she was six months old, his oil field boss called and said he had to come back to China. There was no reason. You have to visit us, they said. Just come. He did as he was told. As soon as he crossed the border at Khorgos, he was taken away. First they took him back to the oil fields. From there, they took him to a reeducation camp nearby—the Maytau camp. The police brought my husband’s bag to his sister’s and told her they were interrogating him. She knew this meant he was heading to study.

It’s been two years now and he hasn’t been released. I heard he was transferred to a second camp, and as far as I know, he’s still there. The irony is that not long before he went to China, he’d submitted our paperwork for Kazakh citizenship. As of September 2017, we’re all Kazakh citizens! But I can’t even tell him. I have no communication with my husband. Last winter I heard that my mother-in-law had a meeting with him at the camp. But there was a mesh screen between them. They could speak only by phone. I asked her why he was detained, but no one knows. We don’t have any debts. We have no legal issues. I just can’t think of a reason.

My relatives did tell me this: They said officials came to my husband’s sister’s house and told them I was as guilty as my husband, due to the fact that I gave birth to my child in Kazakhstan, and implied that if I came to China, I, too, would be detained. They simply said it was the wrong thing to do, to go to Kazakhstan and have a child.

State-media report(s)

Source: https://archive.vn/P7BRG

CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO KAZAKHSTAN REFUTES US EMBASSY’S SMEARING OF XINJIANG

By Liu Xin and Deng Xiaoci

Source: Global Times

Published: 2020/6/26

It is an old trick for the US to use amateur "actors" to play victims and smear the vocational education and training centers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Zhang Xiao, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan, told the Global Times, responding to the US Embassy in Kazakhstan's recent attempt to release stories on its website and social media accounts, claiming they are "interviews" from people or relatives of those who have been mistreated in Xinjiang.

The series of stories as well as the recent Uygur bill signed by the US President Donald Trump last week, attempts to "hype up" the topic of Xinjiang, interfere with China's domestic affairs, creates obstacles for harmony in Xinjiang among the region's ethnic groups, restricts the region's economic development and stability, and sows unnecessary discord between China and its Central Asian neighbors, Ambassador Zhang said. The stories, titled "Voices from Xinjiang," are from those who claim they or their relatives were detained in "training centers" in Xinjiang; for example, one woman, named Bikamal, now based in Kazakhstan, claims her husband is being detained in "camps" in Xinjiang.

Ambassador Zhang clarified that Bikamal's husband, Adelhaze, was actually sentenced to prison for nine years in December 2019 by the Intermediate People's Court in Karamay for encouraging acts of extremist terrorism and disturbing the region's social order. In fact, Adelhaze was found acquiring, storing, and spreading a large number of video and audio files which encouraged terrorism and religious extremism, violating China's Criminal Law.

Bikamal claimed her husband was detained in a "camp," but the fact is her husband is serving his prison sentence, and was never in any training center.

Bikamal and her husband were never fined for having more than two children, and US Embassy's propaganda is "full of lies, without a single sentence of truth," Ambassador Zhang said, noting that it updated "my knowledge of its [the US'] bottom line."

For a long time, the US has crowned itself as defenders of human rights, falsely pretending to care about Muslims from around the world; however, it has only stained the world with Muslim mistreatment. For example, after the Cold War, the US has taken its military operations to many Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, bringing pain and suffering to Muslims (and non-Muslims) around the world. In fact, the majority of those individuals detained and tortured in Guantanamo Bay are Muslims, Zhang noted.

The current US administration, since it took office in 2016, only continued to block those wishing to enter the US from Muslim countries, and its policies reflect the country's anti-Muslim agenda, vigorously trampling international laws. It's hard to believe that a country that is so very anti-Muslim would truly argue that it cares about the human rights of Muslims in Xinjiang, several thousands of miles away.

With its domestic failure of dealing with COVID-19, and endless protests and social disputes, the US has ramped up its efforts to cover Xinjiang-related topics in an attempt to shift its troubles from domestic issues to blaming China, distracting the public's attention, Zhang noted.

The Chinese government's moves to curb terrorism and extremism have earned the support of people from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang as well as across the country; and they also benefit those countries in Central Asia, as well as the international community, the Ambassador said.

In fact, there have not been any violent attacks in Xinjiang for nearly three years, and with only three deaths related to COVID-19 among the region's 24 million people, there is clear evidence that the region has been developing, and its people's health is guaranteed.

"No matter how hard the US hypes up topics related to Xinjiang, it can never change the Chinese government's resolution to crack down on terrorism and extremism; it can never impede China's development, nor can it drive a wedge between China and Central Asian countries. It can only hurt itself," Ambassador Zhang said.

Victims among relatives

Nurdana Qabden (1566) Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZr_XjF4888 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvxp4lWwpd0 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFXugIcAXvk Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqrIVdVp5w Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNdKZ7ci7q4 Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9J9KfyR_dE Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MIjzkvC-QY Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iij60hJ9lLM Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8RLCQJrkY Kazakh + Chinese IDs: https://shahit.biz/supp/1565_7.png Testimony 9: https://shahit.biz/supp/1565_11.png

Entry created: 2018-12-23 Last updated: 2020-06-28 Latest status update: 2020-08-07 1577. Gulbahar Haitiwaji (古力巴哈尔·买哈木提江)

Chinese ID: 650103196612022327 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 53 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"disturbing public order" Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3|4|6: Gulhumar Haitiwaji, originally from Xinjiang but now a citizen of France. (daughter)

Testimony 5: Gulhumar Haitiwaji, as reported by Le Point. (daughter)

Testimony 7*: Gulhumar Haitiwaji, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (daughter)

Testimony 8: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations.

Testimony 9: Anonymous, as reported by Slate. (daughter)

Testimony 10: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Gulbahar Haitiwaji is an ethnic Uyghur woman who had been living in France with her husband and two daughters since 2006. She is the only one in the family who has not received French citizenship, but nevertheless holds a 10-year residence permit.

Victim's location

In France.

When victim was detained

On November 25, 2016, Gulbahar received a call from her former employer in Xinjiang, asking her to return to China in order to sign pension documents. She was immediately taken into custody upon her arrival at the office in Karamay, with her passport confiscated and with her being forbidden from leaving the region.

She was officially arrested on January 29, 2017 at the Karamay airport, as she was returning from Urumqi, after which her family in France would no longer be able to contact Gulbahar directly. A letter from the French Foreign Ministry, which Gulbahar’s family in France received on November 13, 2017, states that Gulbahar was officially arrested on January 29, 2017 and remained in custody until June 5, 2017, when she was released on bail. According to some media sources, she was then put into a “re-education” camp (on June 9, according to one source) for the time of the investigation. It was unclear what kind of investigation was being carried out or how long it would take. The victim herself also confirmed that she was transferred to a camp after half a year in pre-trial detention.

On December 27, 2018, Gulbahar's daughter, Gulhumar, publicly posted that the family had learned that her mother had been sentenced to 7 years in prison.

In March 2019, Gulhumar suddenly started receiving phone calls from her mother, with the latter telling her that she had been released to house arrest and that Gulhumar should delete all of her public posts about the case if she "ever wanted to see her alive again".

In August 2019, the victim was able to return to France.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to her daughter Gulhumar, Gulbahar was sentenced to prison for “disturbing public order”. However, it is unclear what formal weight this had, given how she was supposedly released to house arrest just months later. [Many ex-detainees have reported being sentenced in late 2018 while at camp, in sham trials, only to be released later.]

Victim's status

Back in France.

She has high blood pressure and needs to take medication daily.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It appears that most of the information that Gulhumar and other family members initially got they got through the victim's mother, who was allowed to visit the victim once a month. However, Gulbahar’s mother stopped contacting the family in France in May 2018, when she was pressured by the Chinese police to stop calling abroad.

Information from the foreign affairs ministry was almost certainly obtained through dialogue with Chinese diplomats/authorities.

Later specifics regarding the victim's detention came from the victim herself and constitute an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Press coverage: https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-pieds-sur-terre/la-repression-des-ouighours-comment-vivre-s ous-lintimidation-chinoise https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/comment-ma-mere-a-ete-internee-dans-un-camp-de-reeducation-en-chine -30-11-2018-2275592_24.php http://m.rfi.fr/emission/20190528-chine-ouighours-france-surveillance-totalitaire-harcelements-menaces- disparitions http://www.slate.fr/story/192531/temoignages-ouighours-chine-surveillance-camps-arrestations-interne ment-repression

Gulhumar's change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/free-my-mother-from-the-concentration-camp-in-china

---

Partial eyewitness account of Gulbahar's detention, as reported by her daughter to Slate [it is not clear which portions come from pre-trial detention and which come from camp]:

The victim had her feet shackled for 24 hours a day while locked up in a cell with over 30 women. The sanitary conditions were horrible, and sometimes it was only possible to take a shower once every two months, without any privacy.

The most difficult for the victim were the cold temperatures, which dropped to -30°C in the winter. Every morning, the detainees would have to go in the courtyard, surrounded by walls but without a ceiling, for an hour. To get warm, they would jump continuously. The AC [presumably heating] would be turned on upon their return to the cell.

One day, for reasons the victim knows not, one of her feet was shackled to a bed and would remain so for 14 days, with her having to relieve herself in a bucket. She could sometimes hear screaming in the camp hallways.

---

Xinjiang officials have commented on Gulbahar's case (https://archive.vn/CI303) following the publication of her book, saying that the public security bureau began an investigation on January 29, 2017 and arrested Gulbahar on that day. The authorities then claim that Gulbahar herself said that she realized the seriousness of her criminal acts and pleaded guilty, with the judicial department deciding not to "sue" her, given her "repentance". The authorities claim that after that, Gulbahar lived a "normal life" in Xinjiang, and even wrote a letter of repentance to her family. The government later allowed Gulbahar to leave China "on humanitarian grounds", as her elder daughter was about to have a child.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/konbininews/videos/2211 67622138993/&show_text=1&width=450 Testimony 2: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/helena.haitiwaji/posts/101 57060182569244&width=450 family photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_1.png family photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_2.png France residence permit: https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_3.png Testimony 8 (MFA letter): https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_6.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_7.jpg Testimony 6: https://shahit.biz/supp/1577_8.mp3 Entry created: 2018-12-25 Last updated: 2021-05-30 Latest status update: 2020-07-19 1601. Minewer Tursun (米乃外尔·吐尔孙)

Chinese ID: 65410119??0218??E? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: critical Profession: housemaker

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Nazaket, originally from Ghulja but now living in the United States. (niece-in-law)

Testimony 2|3|4|5|10|13|14|16: Ferkat Jawdat, a software engineer living in the Washington, DC area. (son)

Testimony 6: Le Monde, a French daily afternoon newspaper.

Testimony 7|9: Ferkat Jawdat, as reported by New York Times. (son)

Testimony 8: Ferkat Jawdat, as reported by Newsweek. (son)

Testimony 11: Ferkat Jawdat, as reported by Byline Times. (son)

Testimony 12: Ferkat Jawdat, as reported by Deutsche Welle. (son)

Testimony 15: Minewer Tursun, as reported by New York Times. (the victim)

About the victim

Minewer Tursun is a stay-at-home mom from Ghulja City. She has been living alone since 2011, as all of her family members (husband and four children) were able to immigrate to the United States, while Minewer was refused a passport on several occasions despite her attempts to do the same.

Victim's location

Ghulja City.

When victim was detained

She was first arrested on October 16, 2017 and taken for 2-3 weeks, being released but then taken again - this time for longer - on February 6, 2018 (presumably to a camp). According to her son, she was taken out of the camp once in order to call him and tell him to stop his campaigning. Ferkat notes that, during this call, there were police officers in her room, adding that he was later contacted by an unnamed individual who claimed to have the power to release Ferkat's mother in exchange for Ferkat’s silence. When Ferkat saw his mother’s health condition, he demanded that the person arrange for a passport for her within two weeks, but was told off and warned that his efforts were "insignificant compared to the might of China".

During her stay at the camp, she was transferred to a hospital because of a broken backbone, before being forcefully sent home later (exact time unclear).

On January 7, 2019, she was sent to a harsher detention facility [presumably a pre-trial detention center] - believed by Ferkat to have been done in retaliation for his meeting with Mike Pompeo. There, she was, by her own account, held for three months and interrogated/tortured, in addition to being denied her medication, which caused her blood pressure to go out of control and her face to swell. (Her son mentions that - as of December 2019 - she had been to the hospital a total of 7 times in the sixth months following her release.)

On September 24, 2019, her son wrote that she was at home and alone, and that her back was broken and there was no one to look after her. According to him, she needed to crawl to get food and drink. Paul Mozur, who visited at around this time, confirmed the condition (though other relatives were present when he visited).

On February 18, 2020, her son wrote to say that he had lost contact with her following the quarantine measures in Ghulja.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Contacting family members abroad.

Victim's status

Believed to be at home, but her exact circumstances are unclear. In June 2020, her son mentioned that she was being closely monitored by the local police (asked about her whereabouts every 2 hours and asked to go home). In late August 2020, he reported that his mother has been locked in her home for a month, with no internet and no working cellular phone.

She is believed to be in poor health - not only because of the broken backbone but also owing to preexisting health conditions, for which she had to be hospitalized several times in 2017.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Ferkat heard about the detention from the victim directly, as she told him in November 2017 [possibly October, as this is what the victim herself said later] that she was "going to study" for a couple of weeks. Before her second arrest, she sent him a voice message, in a crying voice, saying that she was being taken again.

Family friends have also told Ferkat of the detention, and journalists from Le Monde who visited the region were able to confirm it on the ground, when they tried to look for her.

Paul Mozur from the New York Times visited the victim at home, with everything that she told him and her son over the phone being an eyewitness account. Additional information

Testimony as given to Uyghur Aid: https://uyghuraid.org/blog/2019/01/31/ferkat-s-story

Covered in Byline Times: https://bylinetimes.com/2019/11/19/they-asked-her-to-record-a-video-about-how-much-love-she-gets-de bunking-chinas-uyghur-propaganda-videos/

Featured in Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/long-format/article/2018/11/09/au-xinjiang-en-chine-sur-la-trace-des-ouigours-di sparus_5381215_5345421.html

Featured in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/world/asia/uighur-muslims-china-detainment.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/podcasts/the-daily/a-womans-journey-through-chinas-detention-c amps.html

Covered by Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/xinjiang-uyghur-release-threaten-us-citizen-1435984

Ferkat Jawdut was also mentioned by U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in a statement regarding the intimidation of Uyghurs abroad: https://www.state.gov/harassment-of-the-family-members-of-uighur-activists-and-survivors-in-xinjiang-ch ina/

The Chinese media have replied to Pompeo's remarks (http://archive.is/hK2X0), claiming that Ferkat Jawdat is a member of the World Uyghur Congress and that his mother has been living a peaceful life and has even kept in contact with Ferkat throughout the period of her “supposed detention”.

A week after this reply, the Global Times posted a video statement by Minewer (https://archive.vn/rOpoZ), in which she claimed that the government was helping her and that her life was much better. She was quoted reminding Ferkat that he should be grateful towards his "motherland" and should not be influenced by his father. She also said that she was planning to get medical treatment in Urumqi.

According to the article, Minewer was living together with Zhang Liping [a cadre likely assigned by the local community as part of the "Pair Up" initiative]. Global Times claimed that Minewer called Zhang a "relative".

---

From a Deutsche Welle report (https://www.dw.com/zh/环球发视频打脸蓬佩奥-海外维族人驳斥北京指控/a-51331503):

During conversations with Ferkat, Minewer repeatedly asked him if he was a member of the World Uyghur Congress, to which Ferkat said no, displaying tax records from the last 8 years as proof.

Victims among relatives

Enwer Tursun (2983), Nurtai Tursun (2982) Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JGhXODewc0 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66pGWXEXPGw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1131226756717928449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw son's tweet with photos: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1093179672723185665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1176340559641948160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1229815491755216904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Al Jazeera feature: https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1228041903146512384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 13: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1277820866949152768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 14: https://twitter.com/ferkat_jawdat/status/1297410121778245633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Paul Mozur's visit: https://twitter.com/paulmozur/status/1204020657228410882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 16: https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/1206645632359968768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://shahit.biz/supp/1601_6.mp3 Global Times propaganda video: https://shahit.biz/supp/1601_10.mp4 proof-of-life video: https://shahit.biz/supp/1601_15.mp4 photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_1601.png

Entry created: 2018-12-25 Last updated: 2020-10-11 Latest status update: 2021-04-10 1671. Seyitniyaz Ghopur

Chinese ID: 65210119????????O? (Turpan)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: house/town arrest When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Halmurat Uyghur, as reported by Le Temps. (son)

Testimony 2: Halmurat Uyghur, as reported by Hong Kong Free Press. (son)

Testimony 3|4: Halmurat Uyghur, a Finland-based activist, originally from Turpan but now a citizen of Finland. (son)

About the victim

Seyitniyaz Ghopur, a retired government worker from Turpan.

Victim's location

At his home in Turpan's Qiquanhu Municipality (七泉湖镇).

When victim was detained

Taken to a "re-education" camp (probably the No. 36 Camp) in January 2018. Released to town arrest on December 24, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Now under "town arrest", where his movements are restricted, his passport remains confiscated, and he cannot use the internet.

He has type-2 diabetes and requires insulin. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Halmurat was able to communicate with his parents on several occasions following their release.

Additional information

Media coverage: https://www.letemps.ch/monde/chine-incarcere-ouigours-masse https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/09/02/information-black-hole-exiled-muslim-uighurs-fear-loved-ones -back-home-china-tightens-grip-xinjiang/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/world/asia/uighurs-china-internment-camps.html https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/ https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/china-uighur-muslim-detention-camps-xinjiang-escape-a9220436. html

Victims among relatives

Goherhan Tomur (1672), Adil Abdurazaq (8086), Sajidigul Tomur (740)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmhFAKtO7aE family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1671_1.jpg

Entry created: 2018-12-29 Last updated: 2020-07-08 Latest status update: 2019-09-07 1672. Goherhan Tomur

Chinese ID: 652101196???????E? (Turpan)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: house/town arrest When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Halmurat Uyghur, as reported by Le Temps. (son)

Testimony 2: Halmurat Uyghur, as reported by Hong Kong Free Press. (son)

Testimony 3: Halmurat Uyghur, a Finland-based activist, originally from Turpan but now a citizen of Finland. (son)

About the victim

Goherhan Tomur, 56 (as of 2017), is a retired government official who used to work for the "Turpan Daily" newspaper. She is fluent in Mandarin.

Chinese passport: G52120362.

Victim's location

At her home in Turpan's Qiquanhu Municipality (七泉湖镇).

When victim was detained

She was taken to camp (probably the No. 36 camp) in April 2017. She was released to town arrest on December 24, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Now under "town arrest", where her movements are restricted, her passport remains confiscated, and she cannot use the internet. She previously had a tumor removed and was recovering from chemotherapy at the time of her arrest.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Halmurat learned of his mother's detention after she didn't call him on his birthday, prompting him to try to call her (only to find that her phone was turned off). He later learned from his father that she had been taken to "study".

Additional information

Media coverage: https://www.letemps.ch/monde/chine-incarcere-ouigours-masse https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/09/02/information-black-hole-exiled-muslim-uighurs-fear-loved-ones -back-home-china-tightens-grip-xinjiang/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/world/asia/uighurs-china-internment-camps.html https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/18/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps/

The victim is also mentioned in an UHRP report: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/Detained-and-Disappeared-Intellectuals-Under-Assault-in-the-Uyghur-Homelan d.pdf

Victims among relatives

Seyitniyaz Ghopur (1671), Adil Abdurazaq (8086), Sajidigul Tomur (740)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmhFAKtO7aE family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1672_1.jpg

Entry created: 2018-12-29 Last updated: 2020-03-31 Latest status update: 2019-09-07 1699. Adiba Qairat (阿迪巴·海拉提)

Chinese ID: 654224199003010261 (Toli)

Basic info

Age: 29 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5: Gulzhanat Baisyan, a Kazakhstan citizen. (mother-in-law)

Testimony 6: CNN, an American news-based pay television channel.

Testimony 7: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin.

Testimony 8: Gulzhanat Baisyan, as reported by The Believer. (mother-in-law)

About the victim

Adiba Qairat is a mother of three.

Address: House No. 370, No. 1 Neighborhood, Qaragaibastau Road, Toli Municipality, Toli County, Xinjiang (新疆托里县托里镇喀拉盖巴斯陶路1居370号).

Kazakhstan residence permit: 900301000243. Chinese passport: G52130285.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

She was taken to a concentration camp at the end of November 2017. In November 2018, she was released but was then taken to work at a factory. While there, she would be allowed to go home once a week, leaving the factory housing and being shuttled by bus with the other detainees, staying one night and being shuttled back the next day.

In the spring 2019, CNN reporters interviewed her relatives in Kazakhstan and then attempted to find her in Xinjiang, but were not allowed to enter Toli County. The victim's mother-in-law also uploaded a video appeal on April 26, 2019, in which she talked about this, prompting Adiba to contact her relatives in Kazakhstan the next day, under police supervision, so as to tell them to stop appealing and claiming that she and her children were fine. Two days after this, Adiba contacted her mother-in-law again to say that she would divorce her son.

Adiba was ultimately allowed to return to Kazakhstan in late June 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Released and back in Kazakhstan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Her family in Kazakhstan learned about her detention through relatives in the region [presumably via WeChat].

Limited communication appears to also have taken place when Adiba contacted them herself following the media exposure.

Additional information

Account in The Believer (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

Nurmylan is wearing an orange vest with yellow polka dots. He sits in his grandmother’s lap, whacking her phone against the desk. “For the first time in two years, just the day before yesterday, we got a video call from our daughter-in-law,” the grandmother, Gulzhanat Baisyan, says. Her daughter-in-law, Adiba Kairat, had called and asked to see her three-year-old son. Gulzhanat had turned the phone camera to Nurmylan. “She cried,” Gulzhanat says. “We were all crying.”

Adiba vanished into China two years ago. She had taken her two daughters, Ansila and Nursila, and left Nurmylan, who had just turned one, with his grandparents. It was meant to be a short trip. Adiba was going to visit her parents. The authorities took her passport and put her in a camp for a year. Now she is working in a factory somewhere, and the two daughters have been left with distant relatives in the village. No one watches them closely. Once, they caught lice. Gulzhanat places a photograph on the desk between us. She received the photo from Adiba’s relatives. The girls in the photo are bald and very thin.

“I think they let her call us so that she would tell us to stay quiet,” Gulzhanat says. “She just kept saying, ‘Our situation is good. Please don’t complain.’ We’d been talking to reporters, posting videos online. I think she was being forced to say this. I didn’t play along. I told her to come home. I told her we couldn’t care for her son by ourselves. She was just crying. She didn’t reply. ‘Do not complain,’ she finally said. ‘It will not do me any good.’”

Victims among relatives

Ansila Esten (1700), Nursila Esten (1701)

Supplementary materials Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyRm07VooRg Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS5lX6vuFNg Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULaJVWOr4ko Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4SXQ_gKr40 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dafSZfkIB1w Testimony 1: https://shahit.biz/supp/1699_1.mp3 Kazakhstan ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1699_2.jpg photo with youngest son: https://shahit.biz/supp/1699_3.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1699_4.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1699_10.png

Entry created: 2018-12-30 Last updated: 2020-09-12 Latest status update: 2019-06-27 1723. Gulzira Auelhan (古孜拉·阿瓦尔汗)

Chinese ID: 654124197906202286 (Tokkuztara)

Basic info

Age: 39 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to going abroad Health status: has problems Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5: Tursynzhan Isanali, born in 1974, now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (husband)

Testimony 6|7: Gulzira Auelhan, a concentration camp survivor, now in Kazakhstan. (the victim)

Testimony 8: Gulzira Auelhan, as reported by Agence France-Presse. (the victim)

Testimony 9: Gulzira Auelhan, as reported by Globe and Mail. (the victim)

Testimony 10: Gulzira Auelhan, as reported by Apple Daily. (the victim)

Testimony 11: Gulzira Auelhan, as reported by Center for Strategic and International Studies. (the victim)

Testimony 12: Gulzira Auelhan, as reported by The Believer. (the victim)

About the victim

Gulzira Auelhan is originally from Xinjiang's Ghulja County, coming from a family of cattle breeders. She moved to Kazakhstan with her family in 2014, where she and her husband would also do farmwork and herding, and is now a legal Kazakhstan resident.

Address in China: House No. 4-169, Group No. 4, Dolan Farm, Ghulja County, Xinjiang (新疆伊宁县多浪农场四队4-169号).

Kazakhstan ID: 790620000450.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Gulzira was taken to a re-education camp a few days after her return to China in mid-late 2017 - according to her husband, she was going back to bring her two [step-]daughters over to Kazakhstan, though in her interview to the Globe and Mail (and The Believer) she says it was to visit her ill father. Testimonies differ on when she actually returned, with her husband's initial testimony saying that she went back on July 15, 2017, while in her interview with the Globe and Mail the victim appears to report this as October 16, 2017. Most interviews with her, including her own eyewitness accounts, seem to suggest July 2017 as the correct time, however.

After being detained, she was first taken to a detention facility for 15 days of education. This would drag out into over a year, as she would be kept in various facilities - spending July-November of 2017 in one re-education camp, then being transfer to a former medical facility turned into a camp until July 2018, then spending July-August in a school converted to hold camp detainees, and then another few months at a fourth camp facility.

She was released on October 7, 2018 and allowed to spend about a week with her family, before being transferred to a factory. Again, there is some confusion about the actual date - both her husband and the victim to the Globe and Mail say that she spent about a week with her family before being sent to a factory, but both also say that the transfer took place in mid-late November.

According to her husband, she was allegedly forced to work for 600RMB/month (of which she only received 300) during her time at the factory. In a later account from Gulzira herself, she says that they could also be paid by efficiency, receiving 0.10RMB per pair of gloves sewed (with 600RMB as a guaranteed minimum). In late December, she and eight other women would be told to sign a one-year contract in late December, with the threat of being sent back to re-education if they did not. As a result, Gulzira contacted her husband in Kazakhstan, who then proceeded to go public about this [something that resulted in Radio Free Asia covering the story and at least one major Western outlet calling the factory to inquire].

On December 29, 2018, she was taken by police for interrogation in a dark room [likely as a result of her husband's actions], staying there overnight and being released to her father's house the next day. On January 5, 2019, she was allowed to return to Kazakhstan.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the victim as reported by both CSIS and The Believer, the police at the first detention facility where she was held accused her of having visited one of the "26 sensitive countries" and of having been exposed to "foreign thought".

Victim's status

She is now back in Kazakhstan and reunited with her husband and daughter.

She has been suffering from various health issues as a result of her detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Gulzira's is an eyewitness account.

Some of the information that her husband relayed earlier he also obtained directly from Gulzira, being in direct contact with her while she was at the factory. Additional information

The victim's brother-in-law (her husband's brother) had previously spent three months in camp in 2018, and was released to go work as a security guard (保安) for 1600RMB/month (though, as of December 2018, they still hadn't paid him).

---

A short summary of Gulzira's eyewitness account:

She spent a year and 7 months in the camp and a factory.

She started having medical check-ups two days ago (as of January 30, 2019), because she's been having headaches and nausea. The result showed that she has pancreatitis and kidney problems. According to her, the inmates in the camp were given only two minutes for going to the toilet. If you spent more than that, they hit you on the head with an electric baton.

They had to study Chinese the whole day [another interview with her alleges that inmates had to learn 3000 Chinese characters], and the inmates were handcuffed when they did something wrong and when they were transferred from one building to the other.

They originally stayed at the No. 4 High School in Yining County, then were transferred to another building at the Yining County's Zhongyi [中医, traditional Chinese medicine] Hospital.

In the beginning, the inmates were given books in their languages, but later all these were taken away, leaving only the Chinese-language books. They were required to speak Chinese with each other and to read only in Chinese.

There was a "strange" policy allowing married inmates to meet their spouses for two hours in a separate room, without interruption. However, the husband had to pay 20 RMB and needed to bring a clean bedsheet with him. The woman had to take a pill before entering the room.

When Gulzira was in a factory, they were told that they would be paid according to their efficiency, or ten Chinese cents (角) per pair of gloves produced. The most skilled worker could sew 60 pairs a day, which would total to 6RMB/day. Gulzira tried her best but could only sew 13 pairs.

She also mentioned the camps as being split into 4 levels - she was in the lightest.

---

A summary of Gulzira's longer eyewitness account:

They wore uniforms in camp. When she said she was living in Kazakhstan and her husband and children are in Kazakhstan, the head of the camp told her off, saying they hadn't told her to go there, that she had gone herself and was a Chinese citizen, and should never say "Kazakhstan" again. There was a military discipline in the camp. Inmates couldn't cry. If you did you'd be considered to be infected with wrong thoughts and have to sit on a hard chair for 14 hours (7:00-21:00), or you could be transfered to another camp where the rules were even stricter.

There was no freedom at all in the camp. They put you in different cells, where the number of inmates varied from 18 to 60. They tried to not let two Kazakhs be in the same cell. So, she usually stayed with Uyghurs and also had to stay with 17 Han, who were detained for their beliefs (possibly, they were Christians or Falungong). When entering the camp, they had to have their hair cut short, in addition to having an anti-flu injection that cost 250RMB. After two months, they also had a blood test, for reasons unknown.

Gulzira was supposedly detained because she had visited one of the 26 dangerous countries and had watched foreign movies where people wore hijabs, especially in Turkish TV series. She later found out that she ended up there because the head of the Dadui in her village, Hamit, had signed a contract with the re-education camp that she would be educated from July 18, 2017 to July 18, 2018 and was awarded 5000RMB for his "contribution".

After being released from the camp she was forcefully sent to a factory. Although they promised to pay 600RMB per month, she only got paid 300RMB upon her release after a month and half. There was Chinese study in both the camp and the factory. "Workers" who spoke fluent Chinese were encouraged to go to the factories in inner China, which is where one of her relatives ended up going. The ages of inmates in the camps ranged from 17 to 72. After being in a camp, your ID card would ring whenever you went through metal detectors and they'd take you to the police station to be interrogated, making it impossible to be free after being released from camp because of the omnipresent surveillance.

All Kazakhs' passports were taken by the local authorities, and in some villages even the bank cards of retirees have now been confiscated by the local government bodies. You need to go to their office to get your pension, where you tell them your password and they withdraw the money for you without giving you your card. Upon her release from the factory, Gulzira asked the head of the village why they did this. They weren't paid, though they were promised at least 600 RMB or 10 Chinese cents per each pay of gloves they could sew.

Gulzira arrived in Kazakhstan on January 5, 2019.

---

Her feature in AFP (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/camps-factories-muslim-detainees-china-using-forced-labour-041047367.ht ml):

As Gulzira Auelkhan toiled stitching gloves in a factory in China's troubled Xinjiang region, her managers made no secret of where her production would be sold.

"They told us openly that the gloves will be sold abroad, so we should do a good job," Auelkhan recalled of a labour stint she says was enforced by Chinese "re-education" officials.

Auelkhan, a 39-year-old Chinese citizen of Kazakh descent, says she was part of a network of mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang who pass from what China calls "vocational training centres" to factories where they are forced to work for far less than the local minimum wage.

...

Auelkhan says she was transferred to the glove factory at the Jiafang industrial estate in Xinjiang's Yining county after spending 15 months in two different "re-education" facilities.

... Auelkhan has residency rights in Kazakhstan but had travelled to China to see family when she was detained and put into a re-education centre.

She said life in the camps was brutal, with residents struck over the head with electrified batons for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom.

...

So even though they were not free to leave, it was an improvement when she and hundreds of other camp inmates were transferred to work at the factory, Auelkhan told AFP in Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty.

"Every day we were taken to and from a dormitory three kilometres from the factory," she said, hugging the five-year-old daughter she didn't see for nearly two years.

"When we were studying at the camp they told us we would be taught a trade and work for three months," Auelkhan said.

Auelkhan said she was paid only 320 yuan ($48/42 euros) for close to two months' work before her time at the factory was curtailed in December and she was allowed to return to her family in Kazakhstan.

...

Auelkhan believes she was only released from forced labour because of a public campaign launched by her husband and supported by a Xinjiang-focused rights group in Almaty.

---

Her feature in the Globe and Mail (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-i-felt-like-a-slave-inside-chinas-complex-system-of-incar ceration/):

Before she was shocked with a stun gun to the head for spending more than the allotted two minutes in the toilet, and before she was handcuffed for 24 hours because guards accused her of letting another woman participate in religious washing, and before she was forced to make winter gloves for two pennies a piece − before all of that, Gulzira Auelhan remembers a Chinese police officer telling her she needed to be educated.

The classes would only last 15 days, the officer told her in mid-October, 2017. “You will be released very soon,” Ms. Auelhan, 38, remembers hearing. An ethnic Kazakh who was born in China but had been living in Kazakhstan, she had returned to China’s far western Xinjiang region to visit her father, who was ill.

Instead, over the course of 437 days, she was detained in five different facilities, including a factory and a middle school converted into a centre for political indoctrination and technical instruction, with several interludes of a form of house arrest with relatives. The Chinese government has said it offers free vocational education and skills training to people such as Ms. Auelhan. But over more than 14 months, “that training lasted one week,” she said, not including the time she spent forced to work in a factory.

The remainder of the time, she spent inside a complex system of incarceration and control that has been built in a region where Chinese authorities say they are combatting extremism through education. Early this year, she was released back to Kazakhstan, where she recounted her experience in a lengthy interview with The Globe and Mail. What she experienced, she said, “is really cruel.”

...

Ms. Auelhan, like most of the people interviewed for this article, is a Chinese-born ethnic Kazakh, a mother of three who says her main ambition in life has been to raise her children well.

She moved to Kazakhstan in 2014, but returned to China for a visit on Oct. 16, 2017. Chinese border officials seized her passport and ordered her to wait until the arrival of police, who escorted her to her hometown in Duolang Village.

They told Ms. Auelhan she could not go to see her father.

Instead, they told her she needed to get some schooling. She offered to pack her clothes and collect some money for expenses. No need, they replied. Everything would be free of charge. She was confused. “I said, ‘Okay, what kind of place is it, if you don’t even need to spend money or wear clothes?’ ”

...

Ms. Auelhan discovered what kind of place she was being taken to almost as soon as she arrived. The sign read “Yining County Vocational School,” but it was surrounded by high walls and guard towers. It was ”completely like a prison,” she said. Inside, staff ordered her to change into a uniform − red shirt, black track pants − and cut short her hair, saying it was for hygienic purposes. They locked her in a cell with 32 other women, each with their own bunk bed.

It was the first of four centres where she would be incarcerated over the following year − her own personal journey through the complex assemblage of internment in Xinjiang. She stayed at a converted hospital, a middle school and a new mid-rise facility that seemed purpose-built for what China calls vocational training.

“They told us, ‘You are here to be educated because you were infected with evil thoughts of religion,’ ” she recalled.

Soon after arriving at the first centre, Ms. Auelhan began to learn the rules of her new life. Each night, she and the others took two-hour shifts to watch each other. “Even if you wanted to kill yourself, there was no possibility, because you are being monitored everywhere,” she said.

“We couldn’t even cry because if you cry, they say you have evil thoughts in your mind.”

Trips to the toilet had to be done in pairs, so one woman could keep an eye on the other, in part to prevent forbidden religious expression, including ablution. Once, Ms. Auelhan accompanied to the toilet an older lady who accidentally splashed urine on her own feet. When guards noticed that the woman had rinsed herself clean, they saw it as ritual washing, and punished Ms. Auelhan by handcuffing her hands behind her back for 24 hours.

In April, 2018, she said, prison staff brought out buckets of prayer mats and ordered the detainees to set them on fire.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to detailed questions sent about her account. But for Ms. Auelhan, who calls herself Muslim but does not pray, one of the chief hardships was use of the toilet, because women were restricted to two minutes each time. Detainees frequently experienced constipation − she’s not certain whether it was the infrequency of bathroom access or the daily diet of steamed buns, rice, potatoes and maize. But if they spent more than 120 seconds on the toilet, “you can expect you will be electric shocked,” she said. Stun guns would typically be applied to the head. “They explained that if they did it on the body, it might leave a mark,” Ms. Auelhan said.

Guards told detainees that they were “under military discipline,” with cameras constantly watching − including in bathrooms and during weekly showers. Even so, monthly conjugal visits were allowed, she said, for a fee of $4; another detainee confirmed the existence of such visits.

Yet such allowances were a rare break from days filled with Chinese language classes and lectures on health, politics and law. Instructors regularly ordered the writing of confession letters, which included thanks “to the Communist Party for the education it provided,” and for “giving us this opportunity to clear our evil thoughts.”

Ms. Auelhan found herself experiencing flashes of agreement, reflecting as she wrote on the happiness she had felt growing up in Xinjiang.

But the feeling did not last, because “everything else they did to us was a complete lie,” she said. That extended to appearance: When her hair began to go grey, she was given dye to make it black when dignitaries visited, and told to smile.

But Ms. Auelhan could not stop thinking about the gap between what she was being told and what she saw unfolding around her. “They say all of the ethnic groups in China are together in peace and love,” she said. Why, then, she wondered, were Muslims virtually the only ones in detention?

In nearly a year spent in various indoctrination centres, she received a single week of instruction on a sewing machine, before being released Oct. 7, 2018.

But she was not yet free. Instead, after a week spent with family, the next chapter of her detention was about to begin, in a factory. The indoctrination wasn’t over, either.

In late November of 2018, the village secretary in Ms. Auelhan’s hometown arrived with a document. It said she needed to report for work to a glove-making factory. “You need money,” the official told her.

At the factory, her superiors told her the gloves, whose brands she could not recall, would be sold abroad, “so we needed to try our best,” she said. She was taken to work at the Yining County Home Textile and Clothing Industrial Park where, according to a government website, the Yili Zhuowan Clothing Manufacturing Co. produces US$15-million a year in gloves for export to the United States, Russia, the European Union and Japan. A person who answered a phone at the company said he knew nothing about its hiring practices.

Ms. Auelhan was promised pay of $119 a month, in a region where the local minimum wage is $290, until the factory’s owners, citing the cost of feeding her and ferrying her home for weekly Sunday family visits, switched to a piecemeal system, paying two cents a completed pair. On her best day, she completed 11 pairs.

While at the factory, Ms. Auelhan lived in a dormitory roughly three kilometres away, where she could leave her room but not the compound. Here, too, education continued. Workers received readings in the factory before work and, at day’s end, 45-minute Chinese lessons in the dormitory, where they were watched at night by an official.

Then, on Dec. 29, police took her for interrogation and held her overnight in a dark room. The next day, officials bought her a lunch of besbarmak, a Kazakh dish with horse meat and noodles. “They told me, ‘You must miss meat,’” she said. After lunch, they released her to her father’s house. She was paid $45.50 for her factory labours.

On Jan. 5, officials escorted her to the Kazakhstan border. “Remember that you are not allowed to say anything about the camps or what you have been through while you were in China,” she recalled them saying.

“If you do, then remember that it’s very easy for the Chinese government to find you.”

...

Ms. Auelhan’s family has also struggled. She has a daughter still in Xinjiang, while in Kazakhstan, her husband struggles to believe that she vanished into detention centres for so long. He “is very good to me,” she said.

“But sometimes he asks, ‘Did you really spend that time there? You weren’t with another man?’ ”

---

Additional coverage: https://www.twreporter.org/a/xinjiang-re-education-camps-truth https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/受害者/古孜拉-阿瓦爾汗 https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/lager-shahit-10222019172818.html https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/les-ouigours-parias-de-la-nouvelle-chine-12-10-2019-2340852_24.php https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/Lehr_ConnectingDotsXinjiang_interior_v3_FU LL_WEB.pdf [anonymous]

The official Xinjiang spokespeople have also tried to discredit Gulzira following her appearance in a PBS documentary (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187107.shtml). Specifically, the Global Times wrote:

"Another interviewee, Gulzila Awarkhan, is a 'dishonest and unscrupulous woman.' She was put on blacklist by her bank because she intentionally delayed paying off her loans and still hasn't paid back the interest after it came due, Eljiang said.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Gulzila said that her aim and dream was to bring up her children, but she has never had any children. According to her two ex-husbands, Gulzila was unfaithful, and continually cheated on them during their marriages.

'Since we know what Gulzila is like, should we believe what she said?' the spokesperson asked."

Eyewitness account

[The following is the victim's first-person account to The Believer magazine, as reported by Ben Mauk.]

I saw enough while I was there. I want to speak. I want what happened to be published. The thing is, my relatives are against me. They’re my enemies now. They tell me not to talk about these things. Even my stepdaughter is against me.

I remember my parents telling me that in Mao Zedong’s time, there were activists and political events where things got violent. During Mao’s time, they burned Korans and other religious books. They silenced you. We were cut off from family in the Soviet Union. But then Deng came to power and things calmed down. I remember when I was young, at some ceremonies there might be a Chinese state flag, but that was the sum of my political awareness.

In fact, thinking back to my childhood days, I didn’t care about anything. Then I got married. I grew up. Ours was a traditional Kazakh wedding. My father paid a dowry. My face was covered. I was wearing a traditional dress. Now they’re gone, all those clothes. When I think back to these times, I think of how good they were. I can’t understand how all this happened. In 2014, they started taking away schoolteachers. We knew something was happening — it was quiet, but something was changing. That was the year my daughter was born. We got our Chinese passports and went to Kazakhstan to visit my husband’s mother’s family. The three of us came: my husband, my daughter, and I. We came here and decided to stay.

The only problem was my father. Back in Ghulja, we’d been farming corn. My parents had been cattle breeders until the party made them give it up for farming. I can still picture the summer herding pasture from my childhood. But they became farmers, and then when my father turned fifty, he lost the will to walk. Doctors couldn’t find any reason for it. He just stopped. He became an invalid. Eight years later, my mother died, and he was alone.

For years, my husband and I looked after my father. We ran the farm. We would get a loan in the spring, use it to farm in the summer, then we’d collect the harvest in the fall and repay the loan to the bank. It was hard work. We certainly weren’t getting rich. When we came to Kazakhstan, we gave up all that and became hired hands, milking and herding someone else’s cattle. At last we got our permanent residence permits. After that, I would go to China to check on my father. We tried to support him from afar. My brother looked after him.

In 2017, I heard from my brother that our father was dying. No treatment was possible. [Starts to cry] I went back to see him. I was still breastfeeding my daughter at the time, but I decided to wean her and leave her with my husband. Yes, I was still breastfeeding her at three years. [Laughs and shakes her head] What can I say? My life is strange. I took an overnight bus. At Khorgos, the Chinese authorities stopped me. They checked my papers. Something was wrong. They notified the police in Ghulja, and soon enough the local police came to Khorgos and interrogated me. They were stern. They told me I would never return to Kazakhstan, then took me to my village in a police car. It’s fifty miles to the village, and — let me tell you — it was the longest drive of my life. I was thinking to myself, Shit, and I was crying. Stop crying, they said.

They took me to my brother-in-law’s house. The next morning, I went to the local police station. I went to see the head of the Fourth Unit of the Dolan Farm, in Ghulja County. I asked him to give me back my passport. He refused. You’re going to study for fifteen days, he said. The man is himself Uighur. Everyone’s caught up in it.

I still hadn’t seen my dying father. I asked them to let me visit him. Don’t worry, the mayor said. It’s only fifteen days. At the time, I thought they were probably right. Why would they lie to me? My father would live for at least another two weeks. So I asked permission — I was still in the mayor’s office — to get my clothes and things from my brother-in-law’s. He refused. They drove me straight from the mayor’s office to the camp. At the camp, I was given a uniform: a red T-shirt, black trousers, Adidas trainers, and some Chinese-style slippers. That was all. They also gave me a shot. They said it was a flu shot. Then, after a month in the camp, they took a blood sample. After that, they would take a blood sample every once in a while. You never knew when it might happen. I don’t know what they were doing, what sort of experiments…

I saw many Kazakhs brought into the camp while I was there. When I asked them what they’d done, they told me they’d visited family members in Kazakhstan, made phone calls to other countries, things like that. As for me, we had some security officials in the camp who told me that Kazakhstan was on a list of the twenty-six most dangerous countries, not to be visited. As a result of your visit, they said, you will be reeducated for a year — that’s when I learned the truth. Not fifteen days but a year! I tried to tell them about my travel permit. They didn’t care. You are a Chinese citizen, they said, so we will reeducate you, as is our right. Do what we tell you and write what we tell you. The interrogations began. They asked for my full biography, including all of my relatives’ names, especially any relatives in prison or abroad. My brother’s name is Samedin, and they wanted to know why he had been given a religious name. When you’re in a camp, they’ll keep asking you the same questions, over and over, all throughout your stay. Nineteen times: I counted. They interrogated me nineteen times.

From July to November I was living in one reeducation facility, the first of several. There were eight hundred women there. I didn’t see any men except for some of the security officers. We were about fifty women in a classroom, plus three teachers and two security guards. There were cameras in the classroom, and in every other room, 360-degree cameras running twenty-four hours a day and filming everything. The classes were what you’ve heard. We were made to say things like “I like China” and “I like Xi Jinping.” We were told our first priority should be to learn Chinese. Then we could work for the government or get a job in mainland China. Even then, we knew this was ridiculous. I saw disabled old women in the camp. Deaf girls. Were they to get a factory job? I remember two women who had no legs. How could they work? But the instructor would say that even without legs, your eyes are healthy. Your heart is healthy. You’ll be fit for work anyway.

When we weren’t in class, we lived together in a long hall, a kind of shed. Each shed housed thirty-three women. We were obliged to make our beds every morning, just like soldiers in the army, not a wrinkle. Once, the inspector didn’t like how I’d made my bed. He took my bedsheets over to the toilet in the corner and threw them in. It was the same if we were too slow — we had only three minutes to make our beds in the morning. Otherwise, into the toilet.

Should I be saying all this? I don’t know. In any case, my name is everywhere. I’ve said it all before. I’m not trying to visit China anymore, not even to see my family. Most likely I’ll die here.

In November, they took me to a new camp, a medical facility — it looked like it had once been a hospital, a new one — but they’d turned it into a camp. From the outside, it looked good. Once in a while, when some inspector from the Central Committee — or, anyway, from outside Xinjiang — came, they tried to spruce it up. If you looked close, you could see barbed wire on the fences outside, which they tried to disguise by also adding fake vines, and they put fake flowers in every window to hide the fact that they were barred. As soon as the inspector left, they removed these decorations. This was one of the Professional Reeducation Centers of the Ghulja region.

In the second camp, they let me talk to my relatives. Once a week you could talk to them on the phone. And once a month they could visit. We would be brought into a room with our relatives on the other side, beyond a wall of wire mesh. The guards would remove my handcuffs. We spoke through the screen.

Mostly we ate only rice and steamed buns — plain, empty buns — at every meal. Probably they put some additives into the dough for nutrition, I don’t know. We never, ever felt full. Once, there was a Chinese holiday and they made us eat pig meat. I mean, they forced us to eat pork. If you refused to eat, as I did once or twice, they put you in cuffs and locked you up. You are not mentally correct, they would explain. Your ideology is wrong. You people are going to become friends with Chinese people, they said. First we are going to destroy your religion, then we will destroy your extremist nationalist feelings, then you will become relatives of China. We will visit your weddings, and you will visit ours. And at our weddings, you will eat pork. They would handcuff you to a chair and reprimand you.

Why are you refusing to eat this food provided to you by the Communist Party? You would sit for twenty-four hours in that chair. They called it the black chair or the lion [tiger] chair. After the first refusal, you got a warning; after the second, you got the chair. The third time you refused, they took you to another facility, one where it was said conditions were harsher. I didn’t refuse a third time.

I was lodged with mostly Uighur women. I think they didn’t want me to be able to communicate with other Kazakhs. There was only one kind of interaction they encouraged. My husband was in Kazakhstan, but for those women who had husbands available, they could meet them once a month for two hours at the camp for marital visits. A room was provided. They were left alone. The husbands were told to bring bedsheets. Before seeing the husbands, the women were given a pill. A tablet, I mean. And sometimes, at night, the single women, taken… [trails off].

I shouldn’t even say “encouraged.” They were forcing every woman who had a husband to meet with him. Even an old woman had to lie in bed for two hours with her husband. They would shame the old women. Don’t you miss your husband? And afterward, they would take the women to bathe. As for the pill they received, I think it was a birth control pill. They didn’t want any births. If you were pregnant when you came to the camp, they performed an abortion. If you refused, they took you to a stricter place, one without visits with relatives. That’s what I heard.

From November until July, I was in the hospital-turned-camp. I remember one time they made us burn a pile of prayer rugs they had collected from people’s homes. While we worked, they asked us questions: Why does your brother have a religious name? Do you have a Koran at home?

In July, they transferred me to a third camp. This was an ordinary school they had turned into a reeducation camp. What I remember most about this camp was that there were no toilets. We had to use a bucket. And, as I said, there were fifty people in a class. Here, too, they would interrogate us, asking us about our husbands and children. Sometimes they would take away three or four women at a time. These women would never come back. Other women would soon arrive to replace them.

In August, I went to a fourth and final facility — we were transferred overnight — where I lived for the remainder of my detention. They kept promising to release us eventually. If you behave, they said, in a month we will teach you a vocation. If your ideas improve. They never did teach us a vocation, but on October 6, 2018, some ethnic Kazakh officials came to the camp. One of them said that good news was coming, and the next day, about 250 women were released. Of these, 150 or so were Kazakh. I know because they separated the Kazakhs from the others and counted us. While we were separated, they told us we had to keep our mouths shut. They said: We have to make our two countries friends. You will be treated in a friendly way, but dangerous ideas are coming from Kazakhstan, so once you’re back in Kazakhstan, say only good things about the camp. There was a threat implied here. When one member of a family is taken for reeducation, others often follow. My husband’s younger brother was taken. It was a spiderweb. They are taking everyone inside.

When I was released, I was taken back to Ghulja, my husband’s village, where the authorities held a ceremony for me and some of the other women from the village. There was a Chinese flag, a podium. They made each of us speak. We had to say nice things about the camp. They told the local population about my achievements. You see, they said, Gulzira is now well educated. She will now work as a teacher for you.

I went to my father’s village at last. I was able to see him. But even here, my sister-in-law was made to spy on me. The authorities asked her to watch me and listen to what I said. I spent five nights at my father’s house. Then they gathered all the women in the area who came from Kazakhstan and told us we were going to work at a factory.

While all this was happening, my husband was working toward my release. Together with Atajurt, he was uploading videos about my detention in China. But I wasn’t aware. I was taken back to my husband’s village and was forced to begin work at a factory. I’d thought I would be sent back to Kazakhstan, but the people I asked were saying contradictory things, and in the end, I was sent to the factory, a kind of sweatshop, I suppose, making gloves. I was told the factory made handbags and some clothes as well, but I only ever worked on gloves. The products were exported abroad, we were told, and sold to foreigners. You made some money, but if you stopped working, they sent you back to the camp. So there wasn’t much of a choice. They told me to sign a contract agreeing to work at this factory for a year. In the end, I worked there for a month and a half. It was piecework. I earned one jiao [10 Chinese cents] for every glove I finished. All told, I made more than two thousand gloves and earned 220 yuan. So, you see, it was like slavery.

One good thing, maybe the only good thing, about the factory was that we were allowed to have our phones again. We could call our loved ones. After more than a year, I finally got to hear my husband’s voice. One day I took a photo of the factory on my phone and sent it to my husband. He showed it to Serikzhan, who published it. They took away my phone. Then they interrogated me. They asked all the same questions they’d asked me many times, and more, all night long. But it worked. They let me go. They took me back to my husband’s village. His relatives were angry with me because of what my husband had done. What have you done? they asked. You’re international news! My relatives wrote messages to my husband. Stop complaining, they told him. You should praise the country! You should thank the government and the party!

I was taken back to my father’s place in January. I saw my father again, probably for the last time. Now he needs care like a child. The police told my father and the relatives that I’d better not speak about the camp, or else my father would be arrested. They took photos of us all drinking tea together. Back at the mayor’s office, I had to write a letter thanking the party for reeducating me for a year and a half. Then, at the border, they interrogated me for another four hours. Finally, they let me cross.

Probably this is a lasting consequence of the camp: I always feel tired. I have no energy anymore. Doctors say I have kidney problems. I’m just happy my husband was here. It’s because of him I was released. There were women in the camp who didn’t have anyone outside China to help them. They were taken to the mainland to work in factories. What has become of them?

I think until Xi Jinping dies, life for Kazakhs in Xinjiang will not change. It’s like it was in Mao’s time. But I will dedicate my life to helping them. Even if it means my family has turned against me. Even my stepdaughter, who was herself detained in the camps, tells me to stop complaining. But I won’t. You can come talk to me anytime. But I don’t know my phone number. My memory is bad. It’s gotten bad since I was in the camps. My focus. And I forgot one other thing: We were allocated only two minutes for going to the toilet in the camps. If we couldn’t do it in time, they beat us with a stick. I suffered five or six beatings because sometimes I was slow. Only in the head. They always targeted our heads.

Source: https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/ Victims among relatives

Qundyz Tursynzhan (1724), Zhadira Tursynzhan (2542)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa0GQMW0w-I Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xpSJxacCmQ Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR1DRkXjmLo Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFOfvIEYGQ Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRvu4Se50U Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR6P5DVNEnQ at Astana press club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsM6LU8i9BE Testimony 1: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_1.mp3 Kazakhstan ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_2.jpg Marriage certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_3.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_4.jpg Photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_5.jpg state media report on Jiafang: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_9.mp4 portrait (Globe and Mail): https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_13.jpg portrait (AFP): https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_14.jpg photo with daughter (RTS): https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_15.png photo at factory dining hall: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_16.jpg propaganda video attacking victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/1723_18.mp4

Entry created: 2018-12-31 Last updated: 2020-08-10 Latest status update: 2019-05-01 1724. Qundyz Tursynzhan (库尼都孜·吐尔逊江)

Chinese ID: 654121199704203328 (Ghulja County)

Basic info

Age: 23 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3|4: Tursynzhan Isanali, born in 1974, now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (father)

Testimony 5*: "Azat Erkin", as reported by Gene A. Bunin.

About the victim

Qundyz Tursynzhan.

Victim's location

Ghulja County.

When victim was detained

Qundyz was sent to work at a factory for three months.

After her stepmother's story made international press at the end of December 2018, Qundyz was allegedly released from the factory; however, while her stepmother was allowed to return to Kazakhstan in early January 2019, Qundyz was not allowed to go with her.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Released from the factory.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Through WeChat. Additional information

She is briefly mentioned during a local press conference (https://archive.vn/eOLHg), where the spokesman aims to discredit Gulzira Auelhan, claiming that Gulzira did not care for her stepdaughter and had asked her to repay her (Gulzira's) alleged loans.

Victims among relatives

Gulzira Auelhan (1723), Zhadira Tursynzhan (2542)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa0GQMW0w-I Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xpSJxacCmQ Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR1DRkXjmLo Testimony 4: https://shahit.biz/supp/1724_1.mp3 photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/1724_2.jpg propaganda still: https://shahit.biz/supp/1724_6.png appearance in propaganda video: https://shahit.biz/supp/1724_7.mp4

Entry created: 2018-12-31 Last updated: 2021-06-02 Latest status update: 2021-03-19 1725. Orynbek Koksebek

Chinese ID: 65420119800214??O? (Chochek)

Basic info

Age: 39 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"registration issues", "disloyalty", other Health status: has problems Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Orynbek Koksebek, Kazakhstan citizen, a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Orynbek Koksebek, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (the victim)

Testimony 3: Orynbek Koksebek, as reported by Washington Post. (the victim)

Testimony 4: Orynbek Koksebek, as reported by The Believer. (the victim)

Testimony 5*: Gene A. Bunin, independent scholar and curator of shahit.biz. (colleague)

Testimony 6: Erbaqyt Otarbai, a truck driver and Kazakhstan citizen, who spent about 2 years in Xinjiang after returning there in 2017. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations. (detained together)

About the victim

Orynbek Koksebek, an ethnic Kazakh from Moiyntal Village (莫音塔勒村) in Tacheng Prefecture. His younger brother, Hamza, is a known actor, and the reason for why Orynbek originally came to Kazakhstan. After taking a liking to the country, he became a citizen in 2005. His entire family immigrated over by 2007, settling down in the Urzhar region. In China, he had only done a few years of school and grew up mostly on a farm, never learning Chinese and struggling with written Kazakh.

In late 2017, he went to the Tacheng region because he wanted to see his hometown, stayed about a month, but was taken to a camp on the way back to Kazakhstan, to be released in the April of 2018.

He has since become one of the outspoken ex-detainees, often appearing in local and foreign media.

Victim's location

Now back in Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained Detained on December 15, 2017, while trying to leave China and return to Kazakhstan. According to him, he was taken to see local authorities, asked to sign a form that re-established his Chinese registration, and was then accused of having dual citizenship.

He was released on April 12, 2018, after which he returned to Urzhar, kept a low profile for a month or so, but then started speaking about his experiences to media.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Not 100% clear, but it seems that he was being accused of dual citizenship and "betraying" China in favor of Kazakhstan.

Victim's status

Released and out of China.

He has complained of post-trauma issues that resulted from his time in the camp, his inability to trust anyone, and some physical pain.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Mention in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/new-evidence-emerges-that-china-is-forcing-muslim s-into-reeducation-camps/2018/08/10/1d6d2f64-8dce-11e8-9b0d-749fb254bc3d_story.html

Radio Azattyq coverage: https://rus.azattyq.org/a/kazakhstan-medical-assistance-former-prisoners-from-xinjiang/30180666.html

The New Yorker feature: https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/china-xinjiang-prison-state-uighur-detention-camp s-prisoner-testimony

Eyewitness account

[The following is the victim's first-person account to The Believer magazine, as reported by Ben Mauk and as adapted here with a slight correction - the victim was taken to a room (indoors) when the local officers decided to put him in a hole and pour water on him, and not into a yard outside.]

I don’t want to spend a long time talking to you.

I was born in 1980 in a village in the district of Chuguchak. That’s the old Mongolian name; the Chinese call it Tacheng. It’s in the mountains that cross into Kazakhstan. Until 2009, there was a border crossing near my village, but I never used it. Until I was twenty-four years old, I never left home. I helped my father in his pasture. We raised sheep and cows. I didn’t get much schooling. I first came to Kazakhstan in 2004, just to see the country. My younger brother was studying in the arts school in Almaty. He wanted to become an actor. I liked it here, and the next year I decided to come back for good. It was easy back then to cross the border. Kazakhstan was encouraging oralman [ethnic Kazakhs returning to their historical homeland] to move, part of its repopulation efforts. I came back, renounced my Chinese citizenship, and became a citizen of Kazakhstan.

In 2016, my father died. He was one of twelve children. [Takes an old passport photo of his father from his wallet and places it on the table.] Most lived in China, but he had two siblings here, my uncles. I decided to go with them to China to the "zhetisi", the ceremony that takes place on the seventh day after a funeral, to reunite with his other siblings. The crossing was easy. I saw my relatives at the banquet. We ate lamb and horse. After the ceremony, I came back to Kazakhstan. I had no trouble.

A year passed. In November 2017, I decided to go to China again. My father’s funeral had put me in mind of old friends from my village. I wanted to see some of the people I hadn’t managed to see at the ceremony. This time was different. At the border, I was stopped. They explained that my records of having left China were gone. An official from the Chinese government, an ethnic Kazakh, explained that this was a serious issue. He asked for a document explaining the absence of this document. Well, I didn’t have one. So they took my passport. They told me I was holding dual citizenship. This is a crime in China, they said. I didn’t have the paper in my records that confirmed I’d renounced my citizenship. They said they didn’t have any records at all.

After a long time, maybe twenty-four hours, I was allowed to enter China. I was shaken up by the encounter. I thought that I should probably go directly back to Kazakhstan, but I couldn’t. They had taken my passport and told me they would see about my case. As I was leaving, the interrogator took me aside. If anyone asks why you came to China, he told me, tell them you wanted to settle your registration and check on your citizenship status. Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone that you were trying to visit family or friends. I don’t know if he was trying to help me or deceive me — I couldn’t understand any of it — but later on, I took his advice.

I went to my hometown and stayed with my relatives. The village was unrecognizable. My own family was afraid even to talk to me. It was nothing like the year before. Every day, local authorities would come by and explain to me that I couldn’t leave China until I presented this paper renouncing my citizenship, which I’d been told I would receive soon. One day they asked me to sign a document. They said if I signed it, they would restore my registration, cancel it officially, and I could go back to Kazakhstan. So I signed.

After some weeks, on December 15, the ethnic Kazakh interrogator from the border came to see me. He was accompanied by three Han Chinese men. They said my paperwork had gone through. They were going to take me to the border. But first, they said, you need to be examined by a doctor.

They drove me to a large office building. It was shiny like a hospital and everyone was wearing white medical clothing. But it was also somehow different from a hospital — I couldn’t tell you exactly how. We went from room to room for different examinations. There were several doctors, male and female, and they checked all over my body, from head to toe, the women as well as the men. I don’t speak Chinese. I couldn’t understand what people were saying. I wanted to resist, but I was afraid.

We finally left the facility that wasn’t a hospital, and they drove me to a multistory building surrounded by walls and barbed wire. It looked like a prison. I knew we were in the middle of Chuguchak somewhere, but I didn’t know more than that. When I saw the building, something took place inside of me. I didn’t believe they were taking me to the border. I took my phone out of my pocket and tried to make a call — I don’t even know who I was going to call — but they saw what I was doing and took my phone away. As we entered the building, they told me simply that I had to go through a check-in process here. Afterward, they said, you will be set free. They asked for my shirt. Then my pants. I was left in my underwear.

I was angry and afraid. I didn’t know what to think. I asked them: Should I stay here in my underwear? Without any clothes? They brought me some clothes — camp clothes. I dressed, and as I dressed I kept shouting at them: What are you doing to me? I am a Kazakh citizen! They cuffed my hands behind my back and cuffed my legs together. I said I hadn’t committed any crime. Prove that I committed a crime, I said.

They put me in a room with eight or nine other people, all Uighur or Dungan. I couldn’t understand any of them; I don’t speak their languages. There was a single table, a sink, a toilet, a metal door, and several small plastic chairs, the kind of chairs you see in schools, for children. Above the door was a camera. I came to know this room well. For the next week, I didn’t leave it. During the day, I sat in a chair, my arms and legs cuffed together. At night, they uncuffed my arms but not my legs. My legs were always cuffed, with just enough chain to move them if I had to walk, although I wasn’t allowed to walk except in the morning, to wash myself at the sink. I wouldn’t have been able to run if I’d tried. Seven days and nights passed like that.

The other men in the room avoided me. They seemed afraid of me. I don’t know why. But I was the only one whose arms and legs were restrained. The rest of them were free. Every day they left to go somewhere, while I stayed behind. I wasn’t allowed to move from the chair where I was sitting. In the morning I washed my face, but otherwise there was no bathing. I was alone all day. And no one, or almost no one, talked to me.

On the morning of the seventh day, two people came and took me away. We went to a new room, much like the first. We were alone. One of the interrogators was either Kazakh or Uighur; the other was Chinese. The first asked whether I knew why I was there. First of all, he said, you’ve been using dual citizenship, and that’s a crime. Second, you are a traitor. And third, you have a debt in China.

None of it was true. I told them I don’t have dual citizenship. I’m a Kazakh citizen. What’s more, I told them, I don’t have any debts in China. I left a long time ago. I don’t owe China anything and China doesn’t owe me anything. I repeated what the man at the border had advised me to say, that I came only to check on my registration status. I don’t know why I’m here, I told them. I didn’t commit any crime. I asked them to prove to me that I committed a crime.

He told me not to ask questions. We ask the questions, he said. Then the real interrogation began. Tell us who you communicated with in Kazakhstan. What did you do? Do you pray? Do you uphold the Islamic rules? How many times a day do you pray? I told them the truth: I don’t practice Islam, I don’t read the Koran, I don’t have much education. I herd cattle. I’ll tell you what I told them, which is that I didn’t have schooling. I spent two years in first grade and then graduated second grade, and that was it. I was helping my father in the winter and summer pastures after that. My father gave me my education, and that’s what I told them. If you look at the records, I said, you’ll see that I’m telling the truth. But they didn’t believe me. Uneducated people don’t go to Kazakhstan, he said.

Then they asked me all about my property, my cattle. I told them my home address in Kazakhstan. I told them that I was married in 2008 and divorced in 2009, that I had no kids. I told them everything I could think of, my whole life story. I answered all of their questions. But they kept telling me I was a traitor.

They took me to a different room. It was December and cold. There was a hole in the ground. It was taller than a man. "If you don’t understand," they said, "we’ll make you understand." Then they put me in the hole. They brought a bucket of cold water and poured it on me. They had cuffed my hands and now told me to raise my hands over my head. But it was a narrow hole and I couldn’t move inside. I couldn’t raise my hands. Somehow, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was back in my room. There was a Kazakh guy beside me. I’d never seen him before. He said, "If you want to stay healthy, admit everything."

I slept, I don’t know for how long. When I woke up again, there were two new prisoners. One was Kazakh, like me. He told me he had been detained for traveling to Kazakhstan. He’d gone to visit his wife and child. But I couldn’t find them, he said. The other guy was Dungan. He didn’t speak Kazakh. But the Kazakh guy told me that his mother had died, and that he’d organized a funeral in his village according to Islamic traditions. The police had accused him of being a Wahhabi and had taken him away. I still felt poorly from the hole, where I was told I’d spent the whole morning unconscious. Afterward, I had a fever. But the two Muslim guys — the Kazakh and the Dungan — helped me to recover. They watched over me.

Time passed, and people came and went from the cell all the time. All told, I spent thirty days in that room, including the week before the hole. Every day the men went out and I stayed behind in the cell, although now I had the Kazakh and the Dungan to keep me company. Every few days, four or five men would be moved out and new men would arrive. I remember a guy named Yerbakit, who had permanent residence in Kazakhstan but held Chinese citizenship. There was also Shunkyr, a professional athlete who had never visited Kazakhstan. A third man was called Bakbek. We didn’t talk much. I didn’t want them to get in trouble for talking to me. We didn’t say words like Allah. We never said Salaam aleichum. We were afraid.

Every Sunday our cell was searched. We all had to kneel and put our hands on top of our heads and look down as they tore the cell apart. We could see the guards’ pistols right at eye level. I don’t know what they were looking for. We would joke with one another that we should probably produce whatever it was we’d stolen, so that the searches would stop.

One day they took us all out and cut all our hair. Shaved our heads.

Once I asked my cellmates where they went every day. At first, nobody wanted to say. Then Yerbakit told me they were being taken to political classes. He said they learned Chinese sayings and songs by heart. Not long after that, one of our guards gave me some papers with three Chinese songs to learn myself. The words were in Chinese. I told them I couldn’t read Chinese, and they took the papers away. They gave me a notebook in which someone had written the songs in Kazakh [Arabic] script, and they told me to learn them by sound. One of the songs was an anthem. They told me it was the Chinese national anthem. The second was a song describing the current policy pursued by the Chinese leadership, an educational song. I never found out what the third song meant. We all had to learn them. The Dungan guy spoke Chinese and learned the songs quickly, but my Kazakh friend and I had a harder time. We used to cry together. We would hug each other and cry, and try to learn the songs by heart. I believe I will never forget those thirty days.

In mid-January, my two cellmates and I were finally allowed to attend classes with the others. We were placed in classes according to our level. Because I wasn’t educated, I was in a low level, with many women. It wasn’t just men in the camp; there were eighty or ninety women there, living separately. It was a big building, although I can’t tell you how big it was. They would count us off room by room, but never all together. They counted in the morning and the evening, the way you count your animals in the pasture. I remember on the third day I went to class, I found they had cut the women’s hair. They didn’t shave their heads like they did the men’s, but they cut their hair above their ears.

Of course, all the time I attended classes, I didn’t know what I was doing there. I discussed it again and again with my teachers. They said I was to study for a year and a half, but if I was unsuccessful, I would remain there in the camp for five years. I felt I would rather die. On several occasions, I contemplated suicide. Once, I even tried to strangle myself with a shirt in my room, but because there was a camera in the cell the guards came in and stopped me.

While in class, we could write letters to one another. I happened to know one girl, Anar, from my childhood village. At first, she pretended not to know me. There were two other women from my village in the camp who did the same. Then I wrote her a letter. Please forgive me, she wrote back. Of course I know you, but I said I didn’t. I was afraid. Why are you here?

Anar shared a bedroom with another girl, Ainur. The three of us would write letters and throw them to one another under the table during class. We talked through those letters. We made an entire world. In one letter I wrote about my feelings for this girl, Anar. Affectionate letters, you know. But at the end of February I was transferred to another prison. I never saw those girls again, and I haven’t heard anything about what’s happened to them.

Tell me again why you’re asking all of this. Who are you? I believe there are Chinese spies in Kazakhstan. When I was released, they told me: If you tell this story to anyone, you’ll be imprisoned again in China. I am doing this for my people, in the name of my Kazakh people. I’m the only one I know from my part of Xinjiang who has been released. The only one. And if I go back to prison, I won’t be sorry. My only crime in going to China was being a Kazakh. My second crime is that I’m telling the truth.

I don’t know if it’s any use telling you all this.

One day, seven of us were transferred. We were handcuffed and taken to the yard and told we were being taken to another camp. They searched us and cuffed every two people together and put us in a car. As we drove, I had the idea that we were being sentenced to death. Our heads were covered. I thought they were going to kill us. Instead, they only took us to another cell. It turned out to be a former military camp. We sat in more political classes, and my teachers again told me I would stay in this camp until I’d learned Mandarin Chinese. They told me to prepare to study for a year and a half. I was sometimes beaten in this second prison. I was asked to tell them things I didn’t understand. I thought I might be inside for the full five years.

Five days before my release, my interrogations became more frequent. Some lasted through the night into the early morning. During these interrogations, they asked only one question: Why did you come to China? They made me sign papers that they said would determine my fate—whether I would go back to Kazakhstan or remain in China — but I couldn’t understand what I was signing.

One day before my release, they sat me down and showed me photos of my relatives. They asked if I knew any of these people. At first I said no. I was afraid. We will make you remember them, they said. So I told them who they were: My mother, my cousin, my brother, and my father. Even my father was there, although he was dead.

When I saw these photos, I despaired. I thought my family had all been detained. The photos looked just like my own prisoner photos. [Removes from his wallet an ID card with a photo in which his head is shaved, along with two unlaminated versions of the same photograph, and places them next to the photograph of his father.] I didn’t know how else they could have gotten photographs of them all. I couldn’t understand it. My father died in 2016; my mother lives in Urzhar, in Kazakhstan. How did they have these photos of them? My first thought was that somehow they were all in the prison with me. All of my relatives from Kazakhstan, every one.

They waited while I identified each of my relatives. When I got to my father, they tore the photo in half and threw both halves in the dustbin. I cried that night until morning, thinking of my relatives somewhere in the prison, and not understanding anything that was going on.

The next day, they took me to the yard without warning. You will not take your notebook with you, they said — this notebook had all the contacts I’d made in prison — and you will not be able to say goodbye to your friends. They brought me to my cell. When I got there, I saw a prisoner I knew, Arman. He was from Astana. There was a sense of joy in the room. He was being released too. But I didn’t say anything to anyone. Arman and I were cuffed together and taken away by car. It was springtime. They drove us to the border.

Later, I counted the days of my detention: 125 days. Before they set us free, they made us commit ourselves to silence. If you say anything, they said, you will go to prison, even if you’re in Kazakhstan. I believed them at the time. I signed different papers that were placed before me. I was made to recite a pledge to Allah that I would not talk about what happened to me.

I believe that Allah will forgive me this oath I made in his name.

They drove us to the border. So now I’m here in Kazakhstan. And I’m tired.

Now I want you to write the truth without adding any lies.

Source: https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/

Supplementary materials appearance on Azattyq discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52OFaQFyIFE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGrvnnp3SDc New Yorker 3D rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGUyo5dxke8 Testimony 2: https://web.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://web.facebook.com/notes/gene-bunin/it-was-like -being-in-hell-accounts-of-those-having-been-in-chinese-camps/2258348094397037/&width=450 Testimony 1 (interview): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_1.pdf audio interview (part 1): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_2.mp3 audio interview (part 2): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_3.mp3 audio interview (part 3): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_4.mp3 audio interview (part 4): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_5.mp3 audio interview (part 5): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_6.mp3 audio interview (part 6): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_7.mp3 audio interview (part 7): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_8.mp3 audio interview (part 8): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_9.mp3 audio interview (part 9): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_10.mp3 audio interview (part 10): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_11.mp3 audio interview (part 11): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_12.mp3 photo at Atajurt office (RTS): https://shahit.biz/supp/1725_17.png

Entry created: 2018-12-31 Last updated: 2021-02-25 Latest status update: 2020-01-24 1727. Gulshen Abbas (古丽先·阿巴斯)

Chinese ID: 650103196206122322 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 58 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (20 years) When problems started: July 2018 - Sep. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|"terrorism", "disturbing public order", assisting "criminals" Health status: has problems Profession: medicine

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rushan Abbas, as reported by Associated Press. (sister)

Testimony 2: Rushan Abbas, as reported by Washington Post. (sister)

Testimony 3: Rushan Abbas, as reported by New York Times. (sister)

Testimony 4: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 5|6|9|12: Ziba Murat, the daughter of Gulshen Abbas, lives in the US. (daughter)

Testimony 7: Hanna Burdorf, a postgraduate research student at the University of Newcastle.

Testimony 8: Rushan Abbas, an Uyghur-American activist. (sister)

Testimony 10: Nurbagh Petroleum Hospital employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 11: Zemire Murat, a resident of the United States. (daughter)

Testimony 13: Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Testimony 14: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Gulshen Abbas was a doctor at the Xinjiang Nurbagh/Mingyuan Petroleum Workers Hospital. She spent her whole life in Urumqi, and at one point had to retire because of personal health issues.

Address: Apt. 302, Third Floor, 318 Shengli Road, Urumqi.

Chinese passport number: E23022399 Phone number: 13999880877

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained

She was disappeared on September 11, 2018.

In March 2019, she was reportedly sentenced to 20 years in prison.

(Police records from Urumqi make note of her undergoing a check on March 7, 2018, at which time she was marked as "completely normal" (一切正常). The police office carrying out the check was the Donggou Police Station in Dabancheng, with the police officer (冯晓刚, 15276650696) an "intelligence People's policeman" (情报民警). The GPS coordinates of the check are not provided, which is rare. [It is not clear if this was a routine and inconsequential check or something more.])

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Both Rushan Abbas's sister and aunt disappeared soon after Rushan spoke publicly about the situation in Xinjiang, and so it is very likely that the reason is Rushan's activism.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, she was sentenced for "participating in a terrorist organization", "assisting in terrorist activities", and "gathering a crowd to disturb social order".

Victim's status

Sentenced to 20 years.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Rushan Abbas got information about her sister's disappearance from contacts in the region. There is also eyewitness information from someone who went to her apartment to find it sealed off.

Her detention was also confirmed by a staff member at the hospital where she used to work.

Ziba Murat learned of the prison sentence from an informed source in late 2020. Days later, this was confirmed by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a press conference.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia investigation: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/detained-06022020173828.html

Daughter's website: https://all4mom.org/

Sister's written testimony: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/040919_Abbas_Testimony.pdf

Coverage in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/10/19/my-aunt-and-sister-in-china-hav e-vanished-are-they-being-punished-for-my-activism/

Coverage in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/world/asia/uighur-muslims-china-detainment.html

Coverage in the New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2019/08/chinas-missing-million-search-disappeared-uyghurs

Mention in UHRP report: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/UHRP_RepressionAcrossBorders.pdf

This victim is also included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Official communication(s)

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

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[This is an excerpt from the regular press conference held by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 31, 2020.]

Reuters: The United States has called for the release of a Uyghur named Gulshan Abbas. Do you have any comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: Gulshan Abbas was sentenced to jail by Chinese judicial authorities for crimes of participating in a terrorist organization, aiding terrorist activities and assembling crowds to disrupt social order. China is a country with rule of law, where criminals must be held accountable.

We urge some American politicians to respect facts, stop making lies to smear China, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of Xinjiang-related issues.

Victims among relatives

Maynur Abliz (2289), Abdurehim Idris (5411)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7SEuS4Q3Cw Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn2cIwj6CSw Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J84mUp0BXDs Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/ziba1218/status/1095522844983869441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw CNN interview: https://twitter.com/ziba1218/status/1126129193966817280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/ziba116/status/1293962395593965569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 11: https://twitter.com/zamira207/status/1333468063740665857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with sister: https://shahit.biz/supp/1727_2.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1727_3.jpg official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_1727.png

Entry created: 2018-12-31 Last updated: 2021-08-23 Latest status update: 2021-03-28 1734. Ekber Eset (艾克拜尔·艾赛提)

Chinese ID: 652201198501055410 (Kumul)

Basic info

Age: 36 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: sentenced (15 years) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|"inciting ethnic hatred" Health status: has problems Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Imam'eli Hesen, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (acquaintance)

Testimony 2: Abduweli Ayup, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (acquaintance)

Testimony 3: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 4: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (acquaintance)

Testimony 5: World Uyghur Congress, an international organization of exiled Uyghur groups.

Testimony 6: Reyhan Eset, as reported by New York Times. (sister)

Testimony 7: Emine Kumcu, a Turkish-American former employee of Eli Lilly and Company, now retired. (acquaintance)

Testimony 8|9|10|11: Reyhan Eset, a graduate of the Harvard Law School and resident of the United States. (sister)

Testimony 12|13: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

Testimony 14: Reyhan Eset, as reported by Amnesty International. (sister)

About the victim

Ekber Eset was an entrepreneur, the founder of the popular website baghdax.com and the director of the Baghdax Digital Design Company. His site, which had around 100000 users, served as a progressive platform to discuss such issues as Uyghur human rights and the preservation of Uyghur language and culture.

In 2014, he was among those selected to meet with US ambassador Max Baucus during the latter's visit to Xinjiang. In 2016, he visited the US as part of the International Visitor Leadership Program. Chinese passport: E18230820.

Victim's location

The latest news was that he had been transferred to Aksu.

When victim was detained

He was briefly detained after the July 5, 2009 incident and forced to shut down baghdax.com, though he would restart the site again later after being released.

After his trip to the US in 2016, he would make an appearance during a televised boxing match, but would essentially disappear from the public eye on April 7, 2016. It is around this time that he is believed to have been detained.

He was later given a 15-year prison sentence, with his sister reporting in November 2020 that he had been transferred to Aksu [unclear, however, when exactly].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

His sister believes that he was sentenced for his trip to the US. The official reason, according to her, is that he "incited ethnic hatred".

Victim's status

Believed to be serving a 15-year sentence.

In February 2021, Reyhan reported that her relatives were able to have a short video interaction with Ekber, in which he was unrecognizable, was "all skin and bones", and had black spots on his face.

In early September 2021, Reyhan reported that another phone call between her parents and her brother had been arranged, with the interaction filmed (which Reyhan fears may mean that this is to be used for propaganda purposes).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It's not completely clear how the various sources learned about his initial arrest, though many of them knew the victim and had contacts in the region.

Reyhan learned about the sentence from a letter sent by the Chinese embassy to US senator Chris Coons in January 2018, in response to a letter sent by several lawmakers to the Chinese ambassador, asking him about Ekber’s case.

It is not stated how Reyhan learned about her brother's transfer to Aksu.

Additional information

Featured in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/us/politics/china-uighurs-arrest.html Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/authorities-detain-uyghuer-web-masters-and-writers-in-chinas- xinjiang-06132016153910.html

Mentioned in Uyghur Human Rights Project report: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/UHRP_Disappeared_Forever_.pdf

Mentioned by World Uyghur Congress, who seems to provide an erroneous date for his arrest (January 2016): http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?page_id=32767

Short case file by Amnesty International: https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR007

The victim is also included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Mention in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

The Chinese business registry qichacha.com still has the record of Ekber’s company, Baghdax (http://archive.ph/HnPIz). He is listed as a shareholder. Contacts of the company are also available: phone number: 13659997679 e-mail: [email protected]

He is included in a 2010 recruitment list: archive.is/Bnfl7

Senators' letter to Chinese ambassador to the US: https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/6938-senators-ekpar-asat/b23f1159370b5d1ad5a8/optimized/f ull.pdf#page=1

Joint statement from Harvard: https://clinics.law.harvard.edu/advocates/2021/01/01/joint-statement-call-to-free-ekpar-asat-and-end-ma ss-atrocities-against-the-uyghur-community-in-xinjiang/

Site dedicated to campaigning for his freedom: https://www.ekparasat.com/

On March 30, 2021, Reyhan reported that the local authorities had confiscated her parents' cell phones.

Supplementary materials sister's tweet (1): https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1262767181156229120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw sister's tweet (2): https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1265322575930032129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw US congresswoman support Tweet: https://twitter.com/EleanorNorton/status/1266004411014352900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 8: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1330234808056901632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw letters of support: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1263867089481347074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1364111374473953280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1376932814805950465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw pressure on parents: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1379077399149752323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 11: https://twitter.com/RayhanAsat/status/1435161193262555141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/1734_1.jpg Testimony 7: https://shahit.biz/supp/1734_5.jpg senators' letter: https://shahit.biz/supp/1734_6.pdf photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/1734_7.jpg

Entry created: 2018-12-31 Last updated: 2021-09-16 Latest status update: 2021-09-07 1753. Saule Meltai (萨吾列·米勒太)

Chinese ID: 654325197211280023 (Chinggil)

Basic info

Age: 47 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: documents withheld When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): "two-faced"|"untrustworthy person" Health status: has problems Profession: medicine

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6|8|9|10|11|13|16|17: Zhenis Zarhan, a citizen of Kazakhstan as of 2018. (husband)

Testimony 7: Muqadys Zhengis, a resident of Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 12: Zhenis Zarhan, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (husband)

Testimony 14|18: Saule Meltai, a nurse from Qinghe County, is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. (the victim)

Testimony 15: Zhenis Zarhan, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (husband)

Testimony 19: Official detention notice, provided after the initial detention of a suspect in the People's Republic of China.

Testimony 20: Zhenis Zarhan, as reported by Eurasianet. (husband)

About the victim

Saule Meltai is a professional nurse, the wife of Kazakhstan citizen Zhenis Zarhan, and a mother of two. She has previously been awarded several times in her workplace and has co-authored at least one article in her field.

ID address: Apt. 301, Entrance No. 1, Building No. 2, Guangming Street, Chinggil Municipality, Chinggil County, Xinjiang (新疆青河县县青河镇光明街2号楼1单元301室).

Registration address: 7-4-802 Jindi Garden Residential Area, West Unity Road, Chinggil Municipality (青河镇团结西路金帝花园小区7-4-802).

Chinese passport number: G26467501. She obtained a Kazakhstan residence permit in 2008.

Victim's location Believed to be at her home address.

When victim was detained

She went from Kazakhstan to China on September 12, 2017 to sell her apartment, but had her documents confiscated after arrival. As a result, she ended up working for 4 months at a hospital in Chinggil as a nurse. According to materials found on local websites, it appears that she and her son, Muhtar, took part in the "becoming family" campaign during this time, both as the visitors (visiting an elderly lady) and the visited (being visited by a male Han cadre).

On January 10-11, 2018, she was arrested and later taken to a concentration camp, where she would spend about nine months. According to Saule, the interior was freezing cold and the guards would leave the windows open. Steamed buns would be thrown in through a hole in the door, if at all, and there was very little time allotted to use the washroom.

At one point, Saule was allegedly taken by wheelchair to what appeared to be a courtroom and told that she would be sentenced to 7 years.

She remained in camp until September/October 28, 2018 (testimonies differ on the month), at which point she needed to have an operation and was rushed to Urumqi - having metal implants inserted into her lower spine. While at the hospital, she was supervised by six people and had to pay for her own meals and accommodation (according to her husband, the hospital bill reached around 100000RMB). She was then released and allowed to stay with her mother, Sabila Merke, who would take care of her for the coming three months. She was essentially under house arrest during this time.

On February 14, 2019, she had to have a craniotomy, spending 17 days in the hospital, with costs totaling 80000RMB. According to the victim herself, people from state security visited her while she was at the hospital and not yet fully recovered, telling her to cooperate with them and silence her husband in exchange for them returning her passport and allowing her to go abroad. [It is not 100% clear if this happened during the first hospital stay or the second, although the latter is more likely given as her husband had already become much more vocal by then.]

Since then, Saule has remained under what essentially appears to be house-town arrest, unable to get her documents and rejoin her husband and other son in Kazakhstan. According to her husband, his petitions in Kazakhstan have led to some improvements for her, with the government paying some of the medical bills and giving Saule her full salary. However, judging by his continued campaigning and Saule's own desperation (as seen in her video testimony), things are still very dire.

In May 2020, Saule was approached by the head of the Chinggil county hospital, Yao Xinghong, as well as by the deputy head Perhat and the director Xia Ruili. They asked her to resume working at the hospital, in spite of the health problems and trauma that she's been dealing with. They said that she may be dismissed otherwise.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

In one testimony, the victim's husband says that she was taken to a camp for being "two-faced", as "evidenced" by her wearing a headscarf (which he says she doesn't), not drinking, not socializing with others, and visiting Kazakhstan too many times.

In a number of testimonies, Zhenis also blames Xia Ruili (夏瑞利), the director of the Chinggil People's Hospital (青河县人民医院), for having his wife detained. He believes that this was an act of revenge for a complaint that Saule had written about him three years earlier, in which she stated that he did not treat his employees well.

On her official detention slip, it says that she was detained for investigation because she had been "classified as belonging to other untrustworthy people who may influence stability".

Victim's status

She is under house-town arrest, and is required to have the local neighborhood authorities accompany her if she goes anywhere. She and her son, Muhtar, have not been returned their passports and are not being allowed to leave to join the other half of their family in Kazakhstan. In April 2020, her husband reported that the local authorities installed a camera in the house, which he believes is due to his meeting with Michael Pompeo in Kazakhstan.

Judging by the victim's own testimony, she is also under a lot of pressure from the authorities to silence her husband. No one there cares about her, she says, and no one is willing to help.

Even before her detention, Saule was already suffering from blood pressure, cerebral infarction, and myocardial infarction issues. While at camp, she started having incontinence issues, and would have to undergo the two major surgeries mentioned above. In her conversation with her husband, she says that her face is partially paralyzed. Overall, she does not appear to be in very good health, in addition to the psychological pressure she is under.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

From the sound of it, Zhenis was getting news about his wife's situation from a number of sources - his son in Xinjiang, direct contact with the police, and a friend in Urumqi.

At some point, it appears that he was now able to contact Saule directly.

Saule's own account, delivered as a recorded video call with her husband, is an eyewitness testimony.

Additional information

Zhenis also reports harassment and demands from the Chinese authorities, such as his pension being halted, his not being allowed to cancel his Chinese citizenship/registration, and his being demanded to come back to Chinggil.

Eurasianet feature: https://eurasianet.org/interview-kazakh-from-china-fights-to-free-his-family

Amnesty International case info: https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR042

Saule's academic article on the role of nurses (full version attached below): http://archive.is/OhD3r

Xia Ruili’s phone number: 13565181286. Listed at: http://archive.is/OAm7N

A "becoming family" diary for her family: http://archive.is/5iaol

Another diary where she is the visitor: http://archive.is/E5R8U Eyewitness account

[The following is the translated transcript of a phone call between Zhenis Zarhan and his wife, Saule Meltai. Saule, a nurse from Altai’s Shingil County, was forced to spend nine months in a camp, prior to being released in late 2018, at which time she required two major surgeries. Afterwards, she would remain under town-house arrest, with the authorities refusing to give her and her son their passports, thereby making it impossible for them to reunite with their family in Kazakhstan. The phone call took place in January 2020. Judging by the context and content, Zhenis intended for it to be shared publicly for the world to see.]

Zhenis: It won't be long now. Say what you have to.

Saule: What?

Z: I'm working on going to the US so that we can bring you home. So that you can move here.

S: I'm tired of telling these people. Nobody listens to what I say now. Nobody.

Z: No need to tell them. No need to beg.

S: It's been three years now that you haven't seen your child.

Z: And your child [here in Kazakhstan] misses you too.

S: Do you think it's easy to stay in this empty house? I can't sleep. I cannot close my eyes, thinking of my child. And my health problems only make it worse. When you have a problem and ask or beg for help... I've gone to the political and legal affairs commission, to the police station... to your work unit. They just ignore me. Nobody wants me around. They threaten me instead. "If you don't make your husband shut up, you and your child will never be able to go abroad. You'll never see them again." That's what they tell me. They threaten me all the time.

Z: What else did they say?

S: [Unclear] all the time. I've missed my child so much. I can't bear it anymore. No official listens. You beg them for this and for that. I've endured so much. Nobody listens, nobody cares about you. And they threaten you. "If you continue talking about this, we'll make it so that you'll never be able to leave your house. We'll blacklist you and you'll never be able to go to Kazakhstan to see your husband and son. We won't let your family reunite." ...they threaten me.

Will I spend the rest of my life like this? Life's really become difficult. I can't take it anymore. Our family is torn apart. Is it easy for a mother to be separated from her child? For entire days and nights I cannot sleep. I need to take sleeping pills. This is the only way I can make this agony stop briefly. Every bit of what I've had to experience is etched in my memory. There's nothing they haven't done to torture me. And there's my health problems on top of that. Nobody is there to help.

I've gone everywhere to ask for help, but nothing. I've gone to the police, to state security, to the political and legal affairs commission... Nobody cares. My only hope is you, hoping that you could take me away from here. Here, they don't listen. They don't care. Z: It's been three years already.

S: How can one spend three years like this? The first year, they locked me up for nine months for nothing. I needed treatment and they wouldn't take me to the hospital. Only in the end did they take me to the operating room for a major surgery. After having my lower back nailed [metal implants], I'm suffering from partial paralysis on my face now, because of all the damage to my nerves.

They did another operation on my brain. Not long after the operation, while I was only starting to recover, a person from State Security, the head of the hospital, and several policemen came to me and shamelessly said to me: "your husband is looking for you - make him shut up!" They told me to cooperate with them and promised to issue me a passport and said "we'll sort out your husband's pension issues so that he'll be able to receive it again soon". But they lied… [unclear]… "We’ll let you go, we'll help your son get his passport", and so on... Those shameless people came to the hospital in Urumqi to tell me this. I thought they were humane, that they would solve my problems. I believed them and did everything as I was told to do.

After a month, I returned home [from the hospital] and asked them about their promises to reinstate your pension. I also mentioned how much money I had to spend on the two operations. But they just kept lying to me, saying they'd handle it “soon”. Then I asked them to just get my passport issues sorted, saying how much I missed my child and how it's been three years now that I've been living through this torture. I pleaded with them to give me my passport, but no one wants to take responsibility. The work unit says that state security should stamp it, who then says that no, someone else should… [unclear]

I didn't tell you this at the start, but I'm helpless now. What have I done to be treated like this? I haven't committed any crime. I had worked for 28 years, and was planning to spend the rest of my life in peace. I've really missed my son. It's been three years… Is this fair? Whom should I go to and plead for help? They threaten me. Still, I hope that there are some people with dignity.

I'm a mother. Mothers brought all of us into this world, and human beings should have respect for mothers. Are they so heartless that they would leave a mother in such a situation? It's been really difficult. I've been hiding from you all the time. I had been worried about you. But I can't bear it anymore. I think that my heart might stop at any time. I sometimes think that I might die while I'm sleeping. I'm worried that I may never see my family again. I think the people have changed, and I doubt that there are still kind people left here.

I've already gone through all this pain and I'm used to it, but I still can't control the feelings I have towards my child. Missing your children and being separated from them is far worse than any health problems you might have. Staying alone in a house like this for two years isn't easy either. I don't know where to go for help now. Nobody wants me around. If I talk, they don't listen. They just lie to me. To be a woman and go through all this sorrow for three years… I don't know who will help me. When you write something nice, I feel happy. The days drag by so slowly. It's so difficult, being stuck in the middle of all this. My heart breaks when I think of the children.

Z: I hear you, I hear you. Don't cry. God willing, I'll be going to America soon. And I won't stop until I get you back. There are people all around the world, Kazakhstani people, and all Kazakh people, countries that stand up for justice, like America, as well as human rights organizations. I will reach out to as many of them as I can. I won't stop my appeals until I get you and my son back to Kazakhstan.

China isn't God. They also signed international treaties that they're obligated to abide by. There is no law that gives permission to a country to separate families. There is international law, so why doesn't China abide by it? It's one of the UN member states. They say that Kazakhstan is their friend and neighbor. They should show their friendship, then. We're not enemies.

S: I'm a woman and they can see the sorrow I'm going through, but they have no sympathy. They were also brought into this world by mothers, so why do they torture a mother like this? Why don't they just decide and say: let's take pity on this woman and solve her problems? But no, it turns out that they don't care. I haven't been able to sleep for months. I don't even know whom to ask for help, and I just lie and I cry. My pillow has become soaked with tears.

It's so difficult to deal with something like this at this age. It's so hard to not be able to see your child. This hurts more than learning about him dying would, because at least then you'd know that he died. This, to miss your child and not be able to see him, is much harder. And I'm not healthy either, you know. Is there any suffering I still haven't been subjected to? I'm afraid that I will die before I get to see my son. I'm afraid of my heart stopping while I'm asleep.

Z: Don't cry. Hang in there. Hang in there, hang in there... I'm... I'm doing my best to help you. I'm continuing to appeal.

S: Officials like Chairman Xi are talking about all these great policies, but the local authorities aren't implementing them. They just threaten people. "If you continue doing this, you will never leave this country. You and your son will stay in China forever." That's how they threaten me. How am I supposed to bear all this?

Z: Look, those people just say whatever comes to mind. Don't be afraid of them. I'm continuing to appeal. I'm doing all I can.

S: I'll die thinking of my child.

Z: Don't say that. Just hang in there. It won't be long now. There are many people who support us. All the people in Kazakhstan support us. All the Kazakhs support us. In a month or so, I'll go to the US, God willing. I'll go to the UN, to the European Union... Everywhere. They'll have no choice but to let you go. There are international laws. They cannot just separate families for no reason. You're not a criminal. Please, don't cry.

S: I've had to endure so much. I was locked up for months for no reason. I've become sick and was incontinent, wetting my bed. But the hope to reunite with my family gave me the courage to overcome all of this. And now they keep lying. Our family has experienced so much misfortune. I think that I may die here like this, without ever seeing my child again.

Z: You'll see him soon, God willing. What about Muhtar? How is he?

S: He's also worried. He also misses his brother and father. He misses his family.

Z: It's all right, don't cr...

S: I wish... I wish they'd at least let him go, so you'd all be able to live there together.

Z: They're not letting either of you go, right?

S: If it meant you being able to reunite, I would endure anything. It's been so hard. I've asked everyone for help, but nobody listens. I've gone to state security, the police, your work unit, government offices, county officials... I spent the entire summer going to them with my application letters. I begged them, telling them that I'm a mother. Nobody cared... [unclear]

I was a good employee. I worked for 28 years. I accomplished all my duties with responsibility. I was loyal. I never did anything wrong. I don't know what they want from me now.

Z: It's all right, please don't cry. I'll bring you home soon. Only international organizations can help you. It doesn't look like the local authorities are planning to let you go. What was the name of that head police officer? Song Jian? He and Jian Tingwei, neither of them wants to let you go. I'm going to ask for help from international organizations. I met one of the high officials from the US today.

S: Human beings should protect mothers, not torture them. What have I done to end up like this?

Z: It's all right, don't cry.

S: Why shouldn't I cry?

Z: It's all rig...

S: I've been keeping it inside all this time. I'm taking pills now to calm my heart. I cannot sleep at night, thinking of my child. I can sleep only with the help of the pills. I'm counting the days now. One day, two days… as I long for that wonderful day when I can see my son. It's so hard. I can't take it anymore.

Z: Calm down, it'll be fine. Don't cry. I'll go to the US soon... to New York City, to the UN. I will meet with the US officials. You should know that I met a very high-level US official today. He said he would help us get you and our son on a list of protected people. He also gave me the names of the people I'd meet there. He also said he'd assist me with contacting some of them and then have them talk to the Chinese government. We've done something good today. It won't be long now…

You can be sure of that - I spent the entire day there today. I gave him your photos, ID numbers, my letters of appeal... all the important stuff. He said that he would help us because you were a nurse. He said that they would help get you here. Our worst days are behind us.

S: All of them were born from mothers...

Z: Do you think they understand this? They weren't born from mothers. They were born from stone.

S: I worked as a nurse... I've rescued many lives. And now when I'm in such a bad situation, why isn't there a single person kind enough and willing to help me? Shouldn't virtue have its rewards? Am I the only nurse who's going through this?

Z: It's all right, I...

S: Why are they torturing me like this?

Z: It's all right, don't be afraid. I will let the whole world know about you, about your tears. I will get this translated into English and show it to the officials from the US and the UN. I'll post it on their websites. I'll have them watch and see the state you're in.

They're saying that they're not doing anything to Kazakhs in China, that Kazakhs there are free... That they're being released and allowed to go to Kazakhstan, that there are no separated families... The Chinese government is saying this. S: I've been trying not to talk about all this. I didn't want it to worry you. I've kept it all hidden, but I won't endure it any longer. My heart is just a fist-sized chunk of flesh now. My heart cannot bear this anymore. The rest I can put up with, but not being separated from my son.

Z: It's all right, you'll come here soon. I've told you - I've been appealing. All the people in Kazakhstan are watching. The whole world knows about it. Everybody knows what you're going through. It's just five or six people in China saying they won't let you go. But there are other people too. There are international organizations.

Just be patient. Don't cry. The worst days are behind us. God willing, everything will get better soon. Everybody is making wishes and praying for you, including some who are coming back from their pilgrimage to Mecca. I'm sure their wishes will come true.

If it's true that China and Kazakhstan are friends, they'll have to release you. If they don't let you go, it means that they think of Kazakhstan as an enemy. This is what I want the Chinese to think about. Look at Kazakhstan's display of friendship. The Chinese come here in thousands, tens of thousands. Why can they come and my family cannot?

I will talk about this with the UN. I'll tell them many things there. They've trampled on the rights of the ethnic minorities and made us second- and third-class people. There are some Chinese like that in Shingil, headed by Xia Ruili. It's all right, don't cry. It'll be all right. Just hang in there. I've been working on this. Don't be afraid.

The international... International organizations are aware of your case. They're paying close attention to it. Some people ask me to always keep them posted.

S: The only thing I did wrong was try to defend the hospital...

Z: No point in bringing that up. They won't understand anyway. We'll have time to talk about it later. The most important thing right now is that you're not a criminal and you haven't committed any crime. You haven't violated any Chinese law. It's not like you work for state security, either. They're doing it intentionally. I've told the Chinese numerous times - if they let you go, we will stop appealing. But they don't understand. Now the only choice is to resolve this with the help of international organizations.

S: How many times have I begged them, breaking into tears and bowing to them? It hasn't stirred the least sympathy in their hearts.

Z: Their hearts aren't made of flesh and blood. They'll laugh and enjoy it if you cry. They'll get pleasure out of watching you go to them and cry and ask for help. Not even Hitler, during the Second World War, separated families the way that they're doing. What they're doing now is even worse than Hitler. They've become fascists, like Hitler. During the Second World War, separated families were able to reunite. Even Hitler said that families shouldn't be separated. Compared to these people, Hitler was humane.

Come on now, don't cry... I've told you - I'm working on this. I won't leave you like this. Everyone is helping me financially. Some people are helping get me a ticket. I told you - I met a prominent US official. He asked me not to disclose his name, but he's arranged everything there. People will meet me at the airport. China cannot live without the rest of the world. They cannot do everything alone. Our problem is so trivial. They could have just let the two of you go. I think they're worried that you might come here and start saying bad things about them. Who knows what they're thinking... S: I've no intention of badmouthing them. All I want is to reunite with my family. That's my only wish.

Z: It's all right, it's all right... Don't cry. I think you've said everything that needed to be said. Have you told everything that you wanted to tell? I've also told you that I'm doing all I can. Other people are helping as well.

S: I was worried about you and didn't tell you about this.

Z: Worrying isn't going to change things.

S: I thought the local officials would help me sort this out. I've pleaded for help numerous times.

Z: But they threaten you, don't they? Did the head of the police station, Song Jian, threaten you?

S: They say that they won't let me leave this place, and that I won't be able to see my family. I told them I was a mother and asked them how they feel when they don't see their kids for an hour, while I haven't seen mine for three years. I've gone through all these torments. I started having problems with my health, and I might die like this one day, still longing to see my son. My heart will just stop beating. I can't bear it all anymore. I begged them to let me go. They threatened me, saying that my son and I will stay in China forever.

Z: They can't make you stay in China. You belong to an international family, one that has been separated. You have a husband who's a Kazakhstan citizen. China doesn't have the right to split a family in two. They've signed treaties in the UN that say as much. They promised not to separate families when they signed those treaties. They promised to abide by international law and not split families into two.

All right, all right... Don't cry. We're done.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogVc23vEiU

Official notice(s)

Original: https://shahit.biz/supp/notori_9.pdf Translation: https://shahit.biz/supp/nottran_9.pdf Side-by-side: https://shahit.biz/notview.php?no=9

Victims among relatives

Muhtar Zhenis (2254)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAdCdP3C4yI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V8f4SwRu_U Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj0kod9zMb4 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkgQaxSr7vE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7fIIJgDNW4 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZu7wRrNwVA Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFGjgpti_sE Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiam1TX1yEY Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F-mhm2XE70 Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWjxeUMtuE Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYpPCSGdeok Testimony 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKfEbs1BHgA Testimony 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD_f1KYLNlU Testimony 17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unw7E7CMeFE Testimony 18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgr1nsWrAU Testimony 1: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_1.mp3 Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_2.jpg Steel implant MRI: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_3.jpg Medical bills: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_4.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_5.jpg medical conditions document: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_6.jpg marriage certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_7.jpg article by victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_18.pdf w/ son visiting a "relative": https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_20.png letter from US ambassador: https://shahit.biz/supp/1753_22.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-01 Last updated: 2021-04-11 Latest status update: 2020-09-24 1878. Dina Yemberdi (迪娜·依根别尔德)

Chinese ID: 654226199310050020 (Kobuksar)

Basic info

Age: 25 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: art & literature

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1: Nurgazy Sergazy, born on May 12, 1996, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. His ID number is 040218269.

Testimony 2: name unclear, born on April 22, 1987.

Testimony 3: unclear

Testimony 4+6: Qusan Nauryzhan is now a Kazakhstan citizen. Her ID number is 016289442.

Testimony 5-6: Gulden Aiqyn.

Testimony 7+9: Nurgazy Toqtarqozhauly, born on February 4, 1973; ID number is 041855531.

Testimony 7+9+11: Gulzhamal Qairollaqyzy

Testimony 8-10: Gulbaqyt Sharapi, born on February 2, 1970.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1: cousin

Testimony 2+7: sister

Testimony 3: niece

Testimony 4+6: niece

Testimony 5-6: cousin

Testimony 7+9+11: sister in law

Testimony 8-10: niece About the victim

Dina Yemberdi (迪娜*依根别尔德) is a Chinese citizen. She has graduated from the Xinjiang Arts Institute and is a well-known artist among Kazakh youth in China.

Address on ID: Tuanjie Road 78, Tianshan district, Urumqi.

Victim's location

Qobyqsaty county, Tacheng region, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

When victim was detained earlier: April 2018

Testimony 9: February 2018

Testimony 11: testifier got news that she was put into a camp in February 2018 and later sentenced.

(Testimony 10: Arrested in Hoboksar county, Tacheng prefecture)

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status earlier: in a re-education camp;according to the another source of information she was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Testimony 7: She called her relatives in Kazakhstan and told them that everything is good and that she is with her parents, though she hung up the phone when they asked to talk to her parents. She called from Urumqi, and the incoming call was from +869916711526. The call lasted for almost 6 minutes.

Testimony 8: released on January 19, 2019.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Another source of information claims that she started suffering mental disorder after being put into a re-education camp.

She owns a make-up business: https://www.zdao.com/company/5bcfa403-f76f-4358-8f6c-3c8b857c842f

Supplementary materials Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O586abC0cbw Testimonies 2 and 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDDd3SQMrpo Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJtqNKe60_4 Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hruc06IWLU Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z7PBLEKVaE Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVi8d5FIlWo Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD4VO18oZAU Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebInatyMYP4 Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdNYRelnbUE Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zhYWEU_sJA Dina's painting (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_1.jpg Dina's painting (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_2.jpg Dina's painting (3): https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_3.jpg Dina's painting (4): https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_4.jpg Dina's painting (5): https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_5.jpg Chinese ID card: https://shahit.biz/supp/1878_16.png

Entry created: 2019-01-03 Last updated: 2019-01-03 Latest status update: 2019-01-21 2096. Birlesbek Ermekbai (不列斯白克·叶尔买克巴依)

Chinese ID: 654123197103244531 (Korghas)

Basic info

Age: 50 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (11 years) When problems started: Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to religion Health status: --- Profession: religion

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|10|11: Nurzat Ermekbai, a Kazakhstan citizen, born in 1975. (sister)

Testimony 8: Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin.

Testimony 9: Nurzat Ermekbai, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (sister)

Testimony 12: Nurzat Ermekbai, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (sister)

About the victim

Birlesbek Ermekbai was a government-approved imam and had worked as an imam for over 20 years. In 2008 or 2009, he made a Hajj to Mecca.

Address: 084 Guangming Road, No. 3 Garden Company, No. 61 Bingtuan Corps, Korgas City, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁哈萨克自治州霍尔果斯市兵团六十一团园林三连光明路084号).

Victim's location

A prison in Kuytun.

When victim was detained

Birlesbek was first detained on either October or November 28, 2018 (testimonies differ). He was initially taken from the No. 61 Corps to a camp in the No. 66 Corps.

In July 2019, Birlesbek was allegedly sentenced to 11-12 years (testimonies differ) and transferred to a prison in Kuytun.

[There are, however, contradictions with dates, as a later testimony mentions him being sentenced in October 2018 (possibly this is in reference to his initial detention).] Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to his sister, Nurzat, he was detained after being falsely accused of "propagating non-traditional religion" [possibly "illegally propagating religion", as this is a more standard charge].

Less formally, he is believed to have been detained simply for being an imam.

(A relative told Nurzat that her brother was sentenced because of her appeals, but she does not believe this.)

Victim's status

Serving a prison sentence.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Nurzat mentions having received information about the sentencing from a relative.

Additional information

On January 24, 2019, Nurzat received a call from China [identity of caller not stated] that told her to stop her video appeals.

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-10072019063854.html https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-04022020072302.html

Mentioned in Voices on Central Asia: https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cKnL1ev86E Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om8KUgO3NBU Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0WhOvQNOLM Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXbkZOtvxg Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd1rIS5TFAU Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxhbb4alSo Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHiXp0X-AMw Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=136832RSnos Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZQoe5jDAGY testifier with victim's photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/2096_8.png testifier with victim's photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/2096_10.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/2096_13.png

Entry created: 2019-01-13 Last updated: 2020-12-16 Latest status update: 2021-06-05 2113. Abdusemi Abdughopur

Chinese ID: 653101198306300412 (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: 36 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: manual work

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Fatimah Abdughopur, as reported by Hanna Burdorf. (sister)

Testimony 2: Fatimah Abdughopur, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (sister)

Testimony 3|4: Fatimah Abdughopur, as reported by Citizen Truth. (sister)

Testimony 5: Fatimah Abdughopur, as reported by New York Times. (sister)

Testimony 6|7|8|9|10|11|12: Fatimah Abdughopur, an Uyghur poet, originally from Kashgar but now based in Australia. (sister)

About the victim

Abdusemi Abdughopur is a delivery man.

Address: Apt. 111, Unit No. 7, Xingxin Huayuan Residential Neighborhood, Dazhong Road, Kashgar, Xinjiang, 844000.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

He was taken "a few months after" his father, who was taken at the end of 2016 (so, presumably early 2017).

Fatimah mentions not having spoken to him since January 2016.

In early May 2019, Fatimah's sister in Istanbul received a photo of Abdusemi, which Fatimah suspects was taken in March or April. This photo came just days after a report featuring Fatimah's family came out (in the media outlet "Citizen Truth"). In August 2019, Fatimah shared another photo that she had received - this time of her brother and his family.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

For having visited Turkey in 2011.

Victim's status

The received photos, in addition to Fatimah's friend being able to contact the family, seem to suggest that he's out of "hard" detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Fatimah has received occasional photos of him through her relatives. A friend in China was also able to call and contact the family.

Additional information

Story featured in: https://citizentruth.org/uyghurs-testimonies-of-chinese-atrocities-inside-xinjiang-camps/ https://citizentruth.org/uighur-detention-camps-hope-as-one-uighur-family-learns-a-brother-is-alive/

Mention in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/world/asia/china-muslims-camps.html

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances sent an official mandate to Fatima Abdulghopur on November 18, 2019, confirming that the victim's case had been transmitted to the Chinese government for investigation.

Victims among relatives

Ghopur Hapiz (2111), Roshengul Abdurehim (2112), Bumeryem Abdughopur (2114)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS2IemOEfjY Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK3bYqAVwYc Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv2vRmgg3R0 Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKsW6nXe1ng Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/FatimahAbdulgh2/status/1097320624412741632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 11: https://twitter.com/FatimahAbdulgh2/status/1161438670865309696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 12: https://twitter.com/FatimahAbdulgh2/status/1223398186288480256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photos of family: https://shahit.biz/supp/2113_1.png family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2113_4.jpg "proof of life" photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2113_5.jpg Hajj photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2113_10.jpg WGEID mandate: https://shahit.biz/supp/2113_12.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-13 Last updated: 2020-02-09 Latest status update: 2020-02-01 2167. Tursynbek Boqan

Chinese ID: 65432319????????O? (Burultokay)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: religion

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2: Gulzia Mogdun, originally from Altay's Burultokay County, now lives in Kazakhstan. (sister)

Testimony 3*: Gulzia Mogdun, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (sister)

About the victim

Tursynbek Boqan is a Chinese citizen. Worked as an imam in Quqagash township (阔克阿尕什乡), Fuhai county, Altai prefecture. Member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Fuhai county.

DOB: 1979 (Testimony 1), 1980 (Testimony 2).

Victim's location

Fuhai county, Altai region, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

When victim was detained

January 27, 2017

[G. A. Bunin (Testimony 3): While Gulzia gives 2017 as the year in her testimony, I have interviewed her myself and am almost certain it should be 2018.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Released from the camp on December 23, 2018.

Testimony 2: He has had an operation 2 years ago and suffers from a neurological disease. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

He called his sister(the testifier) through Wechat and told her he was released.

Additional information

Mentioned in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Mention in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/12/uyghur-women-are-chinas-victims-and-resistance/

Victims among relatives

Gulzia Mogdun (2168)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydVIMPiyYZA Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-18PyoUG3M

Entry created: 2019-01-16 Last updated: 2021-05-04 Latest status update: 2019-01-13 2168. Gulzia Mogdun

Chinese ID: 65432319810225??E? (Burultokay)

Basic info

Age: 38 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"violating birth policies", phone/computer Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Gulzia Mogdun, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (the victim)

Testimony 2|3: Gulzia Mogdun, originally from Altay's Burultokay County, now lives in Kazakhstan. (the victim)

Testimony 4: Gulzia Mogdun, as reported by Washington Post. (the victim)

Testimony 5: Gulzia Mogdun, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (the victim)

About the victim

Originally from Burultokay County's Kokagash Township, Gulzia Mogdun came to Kazakhstan in the July of 2017, where she would get married to a Kazakhstan citizen, Aman Ansagan. She is a mother of three.

As of July 2019, she is a Kazakhstan citizen.

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

She returned to Xinjiang in October 2017 and had her documents confiscated. On November 16, 2017, she was able to return to Kazakhstan to see her husband, but had to once more go to China within 15 days since her two children had been left behind [presumably, as guarantors]. She crossed the border on November 29, 2017 and had all of her documents confiscated.

In late December, after having been examined by doctors at a nearby clinic and found to be 10 weeks pregnant, she was summoned to a local police office and coerced into agreeing to a forced abortion, which she had on January 5, 2018. Speaking to the Washington Post, Gulzia says that the procedure was performed without anesthesia. Following the abortion, she continued to have issues with her health. She fainted on January 13 and was taken to a hospital again, staying there until January 20. On February 3, she was sent to another hospital in her hometown.

Apart from continued hospital visits, she would then remain under surveilled house arrest for around five months - with five officials taken turns living with her at all times - before suddenly being allowed to return to Kazakhstan on May 8, 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

It is not clear why she was put under house arrest or why she was forced to have the abortion, though the authorities seemed to stress that it was in accordance with her not being allowed to have a fourth child.

In one of her testimonies, she says that she was summoned by the police because she had WhatsApp on her phone.

Victim's status

Back with her family in Kazakhstan, where she has now received Kazakhstan citizenship.

According to Gulzia, she still suffers from complications from the forced abortion.

Although her Chinese household registration was said to have been cancelled when she left Xinjiang in May 2018, she was still contacted by her sister-in-law in late December 2018 and told that the police were asking her to come back to cancel her registration.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Gulzia has mentioned that she is seeking compensation from the Chinese government.

She has been mentioned in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Washington Post coverage: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/abortions-iuds-and-sexual-humiliation-muslim-wom en-who-fled-china-for-kazakhstan-recount-ordeals/2019/10/04/551c2658-cfd2-11e9-a620-0a91656d7db6_ story.html

Radio Azattyq coverage: https://rus.azattyq.org/a/kazakh-woman-china-xinjiang-abortion/29522552.html

Eyewitness account

[The following is a summary of an interview with the eyewitness, conducted by Gene A. Bunin in the summer of 2018.] Gulzia Mogdun, 37, is from Kokagash Township of Altay’s Burultokay County. She is a Chinese citizen and first came to Kazakhstan in the July of 2017, getting married to a Kazakhstan citizen. She is a mother of three.

In October 2017, taking her two oldest children with her, she returned to Xinjiang to visit her brother, an imam (the only direct family she has left in Xinjiang, as her parents have both passed away). Judging by her account, she must have gotten pregnant not long before her departure.

A day or two after her arrival, she and her children had their Chinese passports confiscated by the Kokagash police. In late December, the local authorities unexpectedly called her late at night to summon her for a chat to “understand her situation” (了解情况). She was picked up and taken to the Kokagash village police station, but as there were no people there, was then taken to the county Party committee, to the county head’s office. When she arrived, she found her brother also there. There, authorities confiscated her Chinese ID and her marriage certificate, and told her that she needed to abort her baby, arguing that it was her fourth child, which Chinese law forbid. She argued that her husband was a Kazakh citizen and this made the baby exempt from the rules. The police told her that they did not know if she would be able to return to Kazakhstan in the future and did not agree that the baby was exempt.

At some point, the authorities coerced her into signing two handwritten agreements. The first stated that she would not disclose the situation in Xinjiang, instead telling people that nothing had changed and that things were just like before. The second stated that she was having the abortion on her own volition. The authorities threatened to arrest her brother if she didn’t comply, though her brother would be arrested and taken to a camp anyway at the end of January.

She ended up having the abortion on January 5, 2018, after which the authorities put her on live-in surveillance, with five workers taking turns living in her home and rotating each day. According to her, she cooked for them, and they ate together, took pictures together, and slept in the same room. This would continue all the way until her return to Kazakhstan. Because she didn’t have her ID, she was effectively under neighborhood arrest [and probably house arrest, since the people sent by the county Party committee to monitor her were there 24 hours a day].

Gulzia:

“Because I didn’t have my ID … Well, you understand what Xinjiang is like now. Without an ID, you can’t even go to a store. You can’t work. You need to have an ID to do anything. People who don’t have IDs can’t go anywhere else. I lived in that home for six months by myself. They had a separate person watching over me each day. People they had arranged (to watch me).”

In May, the authorities suddenly returned her documents, calling her at 7 in the morning and telling her to get her things ready. She immediately called the school and got her kids to come home. A person from the police station and a person from the county Party committee came at around 9, and they went to get all her documents back. She and her children got tickets and went to Kazakhstan on the same day, passing through the Jeminay border crossing.

Following her return, she handed in her paperwork for the residence permit and Kazakhstan passport, and does not plan to return to China for the foreseeable future. She has also been diagnosed with tuberculosis, but hopes to get better soon. Her immediate plans for the future are to stay at home and look after the kids. In addition to her older brother, Gulzia also mentioned an uncle being held in a “re-education center”. Relatives are allowed to visit them monthly, but the meetings are short and two guards stand behind the detainee throughout the meeting, only allowing for very mundane conversation. Weekly phone calls are also possible, for which the inmates have to wait in line and which are also monitored.

Source: https://shahit.biz/supp/2168_1.pdf

Victims among relatives

Tursynbek Boqan (2167)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydVIMPiyYZA Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48qJt3_e4ZI Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-18PyoUG3M interview summary: https://shahit.biz/supp/2168_1.pdf

Entry created: 2019-01-17 Last updated: 2020-05-03 Latest status update: 2019-10-06 2172. Qeyser Qeyum (开赛尔·克尤木)

Chinese ID: 65010?1974??????O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 46-47 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|relative(s) Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by Amnesty International. (sister)

Testimony 2: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by Deutsche Welle. (sister)

Testimony 3|6: Gulchehra Hoja, a reporter for Radio Free Asia's Uyghur service. (sister)

Testimony 4: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by CNN. (sister)

Testimony 5: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by Washington Post. (sister)

Testimony 7: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim name: Kaisar Keyum gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur age: 43 (as of March 2018) place of origin: Urumchi

He is the brother of Gulchehra Hoja, a journalist working for RFA

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

28 September 2017

Testimony 5: He was detained when driving his mother to a doctor’s appointment, leaving her alone in the car with no explanation given to her by the police.

Testimony 7: in April 2021, he was shown in a proof-of-life video, in which he said that he was well and working at a tourist company since January (2021).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 5: police told Gulchehra's mother that it was because of her employment with RFA (Testimony 6: he was also allegedly demoted at his workplace for this reason)

Victim's status detained

Testimony 7: [presumably] no longer in hard detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-6: She learned of the arrest from family friends. She was also able to speak to her mother after the latter's release.

Testimony 7: the Xinjiang authorities put the victim on camera.

Additional information

Amnesty International story (Testimony 1): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/uighur-journalists-unbreakable-resolve-to-help-detaine d-family/ (published 16 March 2018) DW interview (Testimony 2): http://www.dw.com/en/uighur-journalist-gulchehra-hoja-i-have-my-own-sad-story-to-tell/a-42835267 (published 5 March 2018) Mention in New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/world/asia/china-xinjiang-rfa.html (published 1 MAR 2018) Washington Post coverage (Testimony 5): https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-detains-relatives-of-us-reporters-in-apparent-punishment- for-xinjiang-coverage/2018/02/27/4e8d84ae-1b8c-11e8-8a2c-1a6665f59e95_story.html (published 28 FEB 2018) CNN coverage (Testimony 4): https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/asia/uyghur-china-xinjiang-interview-intl/ (published 15 NOV 2018) Gulchehra's testimony (Testimony 3): https://justpaste.it/1hgr4 (published 23 FEB 2018) Gulchehra's article for the Financial Times (Testimony 6): https://www.ft.com/content/7ed40e3c-1624-11ea-9ee4-11f260415385

Mention in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Victims among relatives

Abduqeyyum Hoja (1295), Chimengul Zikri (2173), Hanqiz Zikri (3098), Nijat Zikri (4629) Supplementary materials family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2172_1.jpg Testimony 7: https://shahit.biz/supp/2172_2.mp4

Entry created: 2019-01-16 Last updated: 2021-06-08 Latest status update: 2021-04-10 2173. Chimengul Zikri (期曼古丽·孜克力)

Chinese ID: 6501??19????????E? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: has problems Profession: medicine

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by Amnesty International. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Gulchehra Hoja, a reporter for Radio Free Asia's Uyghur service. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by CNN. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Gulchehra Hoja, as reported by Foreign Policy. (daughter)

About the victim name: Qimangul Zikri gender: female ethnicity: Uyghur age: 72 (as of 23 FEB 2018) occupation: pharmacist

She is the mother of Gulchehra Hoja, a journalist working for RFA. On 1 Feb 2018, she was detained for one month and released in March 2018. Since she suffers from a hear disease which grew more severe in detention and just had had foot surgery, she was released to a hospital and later able to return home. She has stopped answering calls from her daughter since October 2018. She is under house arrest and not allowed to see the doctor without the permission from Chinese authorities.

Victim's location probably Urumchi

When victim was detained

Detained on 1 FEB 2018. Likely (or given) reason for detention because her daughter works as a journalist for RFA

Victim's status

Testimony 4: Gulchehra Hoja (the testifier) is reportedly now able to speak to Chimangul Zikri (2173) occasionally, but Chimangul Zikri (2173) is required to "notify police in Xinjiang every time she receives a call from her daughter."

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Originally, a relative of Gulchehra's family's neighbors (also in the United States), contacted Gulchehra to ask her if she knew that "over 20 of her relatives had been detained because of her".

After her mother's release from detention, the two talked on the phone and got the story firsthand.

Additional information

Amnesty International story (Testimony 1): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/uighur-journalists-unbreakable-resolve-to-help-detaine d-family/ (published 16 March 2018) Testimony by Gulchehra Hoja (Testimony 2): https://justpaste.it/1hgr4 (published 23 Feb 2018) Report by CNN (Testimony 3): https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/asia/uyghur-china-xinjiang-interview-intl/ Foreign Policy coverage (Testimony 4): https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/12/uyghur-women-are-chinas-victims-and-resistance/

Mention in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Also mentioned in: http://www1.alliancefr.com/actualites/les-musulmans-ouigours-en-chine-maltraites-pour-les-reportages- de-leurs-proches-aux-etats-unis-6072795

Victims among relatives

Abduqeyyum Hoja (1295), Qeyser Qeyum (2172), Hanqiz Zikri (3098), Nijat Zikri (4629)

Supplementary materials family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2173_1.jpg proof-of-life video: https://shahit.biz/supp/2173_2.mp4

Entry created: 2019-01-16 Last updated: 2021-05-04 Latest status update: 2021-03-12 2174. Esentai Nigmet

Chinese ID: 6523021971??????O? (Fukang)

Basic info

Age: 47-48 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Changji Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-3: Ahmet Qazhyqumar is now a Kazakhstan citizen.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-3: nephew

About the victim

Esentai Nigmet, born in 1971, is a Chinese citizen.

Address: Fukang city, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

Victim's location

[Presumably in Changji.]

When victim was detained put in a camp in May 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Released on January 13, 2019 but out of touch since.

Testimony 2: The testifier heard that he was told by the local authorities not to contact any relatives in Kazakhstan. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsmRoe-QgIA Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFGdlv-Ly9M Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjkG0ZZDjcA

Entry created: 2019-01-16 Last updated: 2021-02-02 Latest status update: 2019-01-18 2175. Asylbek Aset

Chinese ID: 6523021987??????O? (Fukang)

Basic info

Age: 31-32 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Changji Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): "problematic" association|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-3: Ahmet Qazhyqumar is now a Kazakhstan citizen.

Testimony 4: Nurgul Nurahmet.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-3: cousin

Testimony 4: unclear

About the victim

Asylbek Asetuly, born in 1987, is a Chinese citizen.

Address: Fukang county, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

Victim's location

[Presumably in Changji.]

When victim was detained put into a camp in May 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 4: attending a course given by an Uyghur molla.

Victim's status

Testimony 1: He's allegedly been released on January 13, 2019 but has been out of touch since. Testimony 2: The testifier's relatives contacted him on January 18, 2019 to stop petitioning, and asked him not to contact them any more.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmdCA0kkC1g Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkdYY2gvxX4 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjkG0ZZDjcA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvTbXn5IiLw

Entry created: 2019-01-16 Last updated: 2021-02-02 Latest status update: 2019-01-18 2189. Otan Ashiraqyn (吾坦·艾西拉洪)

Chinese ID: 65402619????????O? (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: documents withheld When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|other Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Shynar Qylyshova, a citizen of Kazakhstan, born in Kazakhstan. (daughter-in-law)

About the victim

Otan Ashiraqyn. Aqsu Township of Mongulkure (Zhaosu) County, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. He worked as a teacher in NO1 primary school Shagansu,Aqsu township of Mongulkure (Zhaosu) County, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. In May 2016, he went to China and local police had sieved his passport. He has a daughter in China, but the police do not let him visit her.

Residential address according to press conference held by Xinjiang officials (https://archive.vn/2J2qV): 186 Honuqai Street, Mongolkure County.

Other reported address in China: Bargylzhyn Village, Qarasu Township (喀拉苏乡巴尔格勒津村). [This is reported in a Chinese propaganda video. It is close to Shagan'usu/Aqsu Township, so it is not inconsistent with what is reported in the testimonies.]

Victim's location

At his home address, presumably.

When victim was detained

Passport taken in May 2016.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Not being allowed to go abroad and given his passport because he is a Communist Party member.

On March 5, 2020, [CCP mouthpiece] CGTN posted an excerpt from a video interview with Otan (https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-05/U-S-claims-of-human-rights-violations-in-Xinjiang-debunked-OB pd7cASsw/index.html), where he was shown performing household duties at his home: He was asked about his son Zharqynbek, who had gone to Kazakhstan, replying: “I am Otan, Zharqynbek’s father. Before going abroad, he had been living with me all the time. His health is good.”

Victim's status

Passport confiscated.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Shynar learned it from the victim himself and from the local police.

Additional information

Local police contacted with victim's son (testifier's husband) and told him that his father has no where to go now, and recomended him to bring his father back with a video appeal.As victom's words, the primary school director who called Kadirnur did not give the victom's document ,because of victim is a Communist Party member. Right now ,victim has no house in China and no one take cares of him.

Victims among relatives

Zharqynbek Otan (65)

Supplementary materials video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EadjjSf9I3o propaganda feature: https://shahit.biz/supp/2189_3.mp4

Entry created: 2019-01-18 Last updated: 2021-05-01 Latest status update: 2020-03-05 2199. Mutellip Sidiq Qahiri

Chinese ID: 65312319????????O? (Yengisar)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: house/town arrest When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|"inciting ethnic hatred" Health status: has problems Profession: scholar

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Kashgar University staff member, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 4: Tahir Mutellip, as reported by Frankfurter Rundschau. (son)

Testimony 5: Tahir Mutellip, as reported by Epoch Times. (son)

Testimony 6|7|8|9|10|13: Tahir Mutellip, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Germany. (son)

Testimony 11: Tahir Mutellip, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (son)

Testimony 12: Deutsche Welle, a German state-owned public international broadcaster.

About the victim

Mutellip Sidiq Qahiri was a scholar of onomastics, working at Kashgar University prior to his retirement in 2010. He was a professor of the Uyghur language and had 20 publications to his name, in addition to being the editor of a university magazine. He had been a CCP member for over 30 years.

He has five children.

Address: Kashgar University.

Victim's location

At home in Kashgar.

When victim was detained His passport was confiscated in November 2016.

By 2017, his linguistic literature had been banned, and his son reports losing contact with him (and the rest of the family) on October 18, 2017. In May 2018, Tahir learned that his father had been fined 68000 RMB for his research on Uyghur names and had his salary cut. At the end of November 2018, Tahir learned that his father had been arrested by Xinjiang police (at some point in mid-2018), and allegedly received a 2-year suspended sentence with probation and fine.

On March 1, 2019, Tahir's family sent him a message saying that his father "had been in the hospital", but was now "out of the hospital" and wanted to talk to him. That day, Mutellip contacted him, telling him to apologize to the Party and to not "believe the rumors" about his arrest (Mutellip's head was seen to be shaved at the time of the conversation, suggesting recently having been in detention). He threatened to disown Tahir if the latter did not do as asked.

During the call, Tahir asked his father if he was still receiving his pension, which the latter said he was. However, Tahir knows that this isn't true, as a previous investigation by Radio Free Asia had been able to confirm that Mutellip's pension was stopped.

After this call, Tahir was allowed to contact his father for a few minutes once every two weeks. In early September 2019, he reported having lost touch with his parents again and made a public video stating this. A few days after the video, he was able to reach his father again, who then told him that he had forgotten his phone at home and hadn't been able to talk for this reason (an excuse Tahir does not believe).

In March 2020, Tahir learned from the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court that his father had been tried and sentenced in February 2020 to 30 months in prison, but that the judgment would not be carried out for another 4 years, during which time the victim is to remain under house arrest.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The 2010 publication of an encyclopedia of Uyghur names, which at the time of publication was widely advertised. Recently, however, it started to be considered as propaganda for Islam and became the reason for Mutellip’s arrest.

Tahir also mentions that his father's writing of textbooks on the modern Arabic language contributed to the arrest.

According to Deutsche Welle, he was accused by the authorities of "spreading ethnic hatred".

Victim's status

He has been sentenced to 30 months, but this judgment is scheduled to be carried out in 4 years (from early 2020). In the meantime, he is under house arrest.

Mutellip and Tahir had a 40-second phone call in early August 2021, which was cut.

He is elderly and requires daily medication.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? It is not clear what Abduweli Ayup based the inclusion of the victim in his list on. However, the staff member at Kashgar University who confirmed the detention presumably had more direct knowledge of the case.

The "proof-of-life" phone call that Tahir Mutellip received from his father also provided direct confirmation of the latter's detention. Tahir Mutellip has also been able to call and talk to his father on a few occasions following his presumed release.

The news about his father's sentence Tahir got directly from the court in Kashgar, as well as from a Han Chinese acquaintance.

The Deutsche Welle reporter interacted with Tahir Mutellip and also tried to visit the victim in Kashgar.

Additional information

Tahir called the security department of Kashgar University on September 1, 2019 and asked about his father. The police officer who answered the initial call hung up immediately. He called again on the same day and was told by the police to come to Kashgar University and talk to them in person, as they would not disclose information about his father over the telephone. Tahir claims that the man responsible for the victim's arrest is the deputy chief of Kashgar University's security department.

A Deutsche Welle reporter asked about the works of Mutellip Sidiq Qahiri at Kashgar's two main bookstores. Employees at both book stores told him that the works were "sold out". When he tried to visit the victim at Kashgar University, police did not let him in and told him to delete what he had filmed.

A number of outlets have covered this case: http://www.fr.de/politik/uiguren-wo-ist-mein-vater-a-1652098 https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qanun/uyghur-ziyaliy-11222018141657.html https://www.theepochtimes.com/uyghur-diaspora-receive-proof-of-life-calls-from-the-disappeared-in-xinji ang_2828189.html https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/Detained-and-Disappeared-Intellectuals-Under-Assault-in-the-Uyghur-Homelan d.pdf https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tahir-mutellip-09202019233234.html https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/mutellip-sidiq-03132020195222.html https://www.dw.com/en/chinas-campaign-against-uyghur-culture/av-56424211

This victim is also included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Victims among relatives

Abdusemi Abdusemet (5619), Sherinsahan Tohtash (836), Ayshemhan Tohtash (12769), Selimihan Tohtash (12770), Sabir Rozi (3750), Buhlichihan Tohtash (12771), Abdukerim Tohtash (12772), Ablikim Tohtash (12773), Abduweli Abdusemet (5618), Abduqewi Abdusemet (5620), Abdukebir Yasin (14984)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gis3H3iz04 Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkeG6lSXRdE Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBdS3haB4w8 tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Du26rkc6wo Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIGhA0tXfk0 Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/TQahiri/status/1277261874522980362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw event in Kashgar (2012): https://twitter.com/TQahiri/status/1337838366323257348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 13: https://twitter.com/TQahiri/status/1422515493647310857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2199_1.png proof-of-life phone call: https://shahit.biz/supp/2199_5.mp4 photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_2199.png

Entry created: 2019-01-18 Last updated: 2021-08-08 Latest status update: 2021-08-03 2233. Meiramgul Togzhan (米兰库力·托合江)

Chinese ID: 654224197006010022 (Toli)

Basic info

Age: 48 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: documents withheld When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: media/journalism

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-5: Arai Zhenis, born on August 1, 1997, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. Her PIN is 970801401941. or

Ulpan Zhenis, born on August 10, 1994, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. He ID number is 034825515.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-5: mother

About the victim

Meiramgul Togzhan (米兰库力·托合江) is a Chinese citizen. Her Kazakhstan Resident permit number is .(نىشراگوك) ”She was a journalist. She has published a book, titled “Ko’ga’rshin .024297056

Address: Kipchak Road, Residence 3, No. 1228, Tuoli county-seat, Tuoli county, Tacheng region, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China.

Victim's location

In Tacheng, presumably.

When victim was detained

January 8, 2018

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

Had her passport seized.

Testimony 4: just after a petition video was published on January 19, Meiramgul called her relatives and sent a copy of her ID.

Testimony 2: The daughters are now allowed to call their mother every day, where they hear their mother constantly praising the Chinese Communist Party. An official Kazakhstan Government Repatriation Invitation letter was sent to their mother and she appears to have received it on February 23, 2019.

Testimony 5: she previously had breast surgery in 2012.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Their father died in 2013, now only two of them are living as their mother has not been able to come back.

Testimony 3: the girls got an opportunity to talk to her mother just 2 hours after uploading their petition to Youtube. She said she was going to come to Kazakhstan in one week, and also required her daughters to send her Kazakhstan residence permit to her.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbEQYL9bmhg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4EKY_rF6w4 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXUZBoITKMY Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgdlPkLQHzA Testimony 5: https://web.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://web.facebook.com/100012011741023/videos/ 616433945433658/&show_text=1&width=300 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/2233_6.png

Entry created: 2019-01-21 Last updated: 2020-12-23 Latest status update: 2019-03-29 2254. Muhtar Zhenis (木合塔尔·金格斯)

Chinese ID: 654325199403270013 (Chinggil)

Basic info

Age: 26 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: documents withheld When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4: Zhenis Zarhan, a citizen of Kazakhstan as of 2018. (father)

Testimony 5: Zhenis Zarhan, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (father)

Testimony 6: Saule Meltai, a nurse from Qinghe County, is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. (mother)

Testimony 7|8: Muhtar Zhenis, an elementary-school teacher from Altai's Shyngyl County. (the victim)

About the victim

Muhtar Zhenis is a graduate of Xinjiang University, where he studied Chinese language and literature. He is now a Chinese-language teacher at a school in the Chinggil municipality. [In an interview to Radio Azattyq, his father says that he's a doctor - it is not clear what this is in reference to and whether it might be an editorial/reporting mistake.]

In mid-2019, he transferred his household registration to Xi'an.

Address in Chinggil: Apt. 301, Entrance No. 1, Building No. 2, Guangming Street, Chinggil Municipality, Chinggil County, Xinjiang (新疆青河县青河镇光明街2号楼1单元301室).

Address in Xi'an: Building No. 1-1, 3 Caochangpo, Beilin District, Xi'an City (西安市碑林区草场坡3号1栋附1号).

Chinese passport: G52106412.

Victim's location

At his home in Chinggil Municipality.

When victim was detained Since 2017 [presumably September], he has had his passport confiscated by the local authorities, making it impossible for him to go to Kazakhstan to reunite with his father and brother. In addition to this, his mother, Saule Meltai, spent most of 2018 in a concentration camp, leaving there with numerous health problems. She has not been returned her passport either.

After Muhtar transferred his household registration to Xi'an in July 2019, local authorities have been using it as a pretext to harass him about his father's campaigning in Kazakhstan. He was called and interrogated by state security in November 2019, and again by an official at his school in December. He was interrogated another time in June 2020, with the authorities threatening him and telling him to get his father and brother abroad to stop going public about their family's situation.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

His passport is still confiscated.

Muhtar fears that the authorities are planning to put a label on him and to imprison him on false grounds.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Zhenis has been able to contact his son and to have video calls with him.

The accounts from Saule and Muhtar are both eyewitness testimonies.

Additional information

Eurasianet feature: https://eurasianet.org/interview-kazakh-from-china-fights-to-free-his-family

He's shown in a "becoming family" diary (between their family and official Zhang Qinghu): http://archive.is/5iaol

Another "becoming family" diary in which his mother is visiting an old lady with him: http://archive.is/E5R8U

Radio Azattyq coverage: https://www.azattyq.org/a/kazakhstan-ethnic-kazakhs-from-xinjiang-say-relatives-not-allowed-to-leave-chi na/30626967.html

Eyewitness account

[What follows is an abridged translation of an eyewitness account from Muhtar Zhenis, collated from two separate phone calls between him (in Xinjiang) and his father, Zhenis Zarhan (in Kazakhstan). In them, Muhtar describes the pressure applied to him by the local authorities as a result of his father’s continued campaigning for both Muhtar and his mother, Saule Meltai, to be allowed to reunite with their family in Kazakhstan. Saule previously spent around nine months in a camp. Neither she nor Muhtar have been returned their passports.] I'm a teacher at a school in Shyngyl County (青河县). Last July (2019), I legally transferred my household registration (户口) to Xi'an in the province of Shaanxi. The public security bureau in Xi'an also confirmed this, following the public security bureau in Shyngyl providing the relevant migrating-out document (迁出证). That’s how my registration was transferred to Xi'an.

In November 2019, people from the Shyngyl state security branch called me and told me to meet them at the neighborhood committee downstairs. There were three of them – a Mongol, from the Shyngyl state security branch, and two Han from the Altai public security bureau. They took my phone, then kept me in the state security bureau interrogation room, located on the second floor of the Shyngyl public security bureau building.

They told me that I had transferred my household registration. I told them that, being a Chinese citizen, I had the right to transfer my household registration. They told me that the upper-level officials had given them directions to investigate those Kazakhs having transferred their household registrations to inner China, or even just to Urumqi. They would investigate them one by one.

The interrogation lasted for six and a half hours. As it turned out, their main problem with me was my father and brother abroad. They wanted me to tell my dad and my brother to shut their mouth. I’d be released at around 6:30 (in the evening).

In late December, Wang Chunhong, an official at our school, as well as at the education department, threatened and intimidated me for two and a half hours. First about the household registration – why was I, as a Kazakh, transferring my registration to inner China? I told him that I had done it all according to the standard procedure and hadn't breached any law. He too required of me to make my dad and brother abroad shut up. He mentioned that there’d be no guarantees regarding my personal safety if they continued to speak out. He threatened me and said that he could arbitrarily put a label on me (扣帽子), which would then lead to my imprisonment. He told me that it was possible in Shyngyl, or even anywhere in all of Xinjiang.

Later, at the end of December, they went to Xi'an to investigate the household-registration problem and learned that about 700 Kazakhs had transferred their registrations there. However, I was the only “guilty” party that they found. So, the main reason was actually because my family was a transnational family (跨国家庭). Added to the fact that I'm an educated Kazakh youth. I don't understand what they want to falsely accuse me for.

At 5:30 pm on March 30, 2020, I received a phone call from the Xi'an public security bureau. Again they asked the same questions as the Shyngyl state security branch and the school official. I answered their questions and they just hung up. I called them back three times, with no result.

I would like to point out that I'm an educated youth who grew up going to a Han Chinese school. I haven't participated in any separatist or extremist activities, and haven’t colluded with any of the “three evil forces”. I'm from an ordinary Kazakh family and I'm an ordinary elementary-school teacher. I think they’re planning to put a label on me, saying that I was organizing the migration of Kazakhs from Shyngyl to Xi'an. They might falsely accuse me of this and imprison me.

[The following is from a separate phone call, regarding the most recent interrogation that took place in mid-June 2020, when the deputy head of the Altai political and legal affairs commission (政法委) and three others – including a psychologist – took Muhtar to the Haiyuan hotel and interrogated him for three hours.] They told me that you [my father] were up to something. I told them that I didn’t know what you were up to in Kazakhstan and that I didn't know what the laws in other countries were like. They also asked how many times I had visited Kazakhstan. I told them that I had been to Almaty in 2012 and 2016. Then they asked what you do there and whom you’re in contact with. How you earn money. They also told me that you, my dad, were a pawn in some game played by the Kazakhstan ministers and the US. That you were playing chess against us.

They were within an inch of hitting me, treating me as if I were their enemy. It felt like they were ready to swallow me whole. They wanted to frame me. I told them that I was not against the Chinese government and that I loved my birthplace, but they tried to find fault in my every word. They wanted to falsely accuse me, saying that there were problems with my thoughts. In the end, they told me that I had connections to Didar Qyzaibek (or something like that), who was a spy living in Xi'an.

They deleted everything on my phone. I wanted to film the interrogation, but they said that I was going to send this to you. There was a Kazakh guy as well. They said that they were following our every step – whom we called, what we were doing. They said that they had received an assignment from the upper-level officials and they were carrying out their assignment. One of the Han interrogators said that he was a friend of Xia Ruili [director of the local people’s hospital, where Muhtar’s mother used to work]. They said that they would contact me again.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svs9PhYXb94, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrx0RUga0sY

Victims among relatives

Saule Meltai (1753)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj0kod9zMb4 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYpPCSGdeok Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkv0GPplRz8 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD_f1KYLNlU Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogVc23vEiU Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svs9PhYXb94 Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrx0RUga0sY Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/2254_2.jpeg "becoming family" photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2254_4.jpg w/ mother visiting a "relative": https://shahit.biz/supp/2254_5.png

Entry created: 2019-01-22 Last updated: 2020-08-18 Latest status update: 2020-09-24 2278. Abduhaliq Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65312820040520??O? (Yopurgha)

Basic info

Age: 15 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Qelbinur Tursun, originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar, but residing in Turkey since 2016. (mother)

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit, director of the Kashgar Education Bureau.

About the victim name: Abduhaliq Abdurehim gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur age: 14 (as of 16 Jan 2019)

His mother Qelbinur Tursun (from Terim township, Yupurgha village in Kashgar prefecture) left for Turkey on 12 April 2016 together with Abduhaliq’s father Abdurehim Rozi and one of Abduhaliq’s siblings. While his mother and sibling remained in Turkey, his father was arrested and imprisoned upon his return to China. Abduhaliq has been living with his uncle and aunt and four younger siblings in Urumchi. His last known whereabouts were at his mother’s home in Kashgar, where he stayed with his mother’s older sister and his four siblings. The last time his mother received news about him and his siblings through her older sister was on 27 July 2017. After this date, his mother does not know what happened to him and his siblings or where they are. His sister Ayshe was identified on a video by his mother on 24 December 2018, apparently showing her in a school or orphanage with other children in Hotan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

The last time his mother heard about him was on 27 July 2017 Likely (or given) reason for detention not sure if detained

Victim's status disappeared

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit claims that at some point after Qelbinur Tursun left Xinjiang, her brother-in-law, Abduweli Rozi, took her children in, and has been raising them ever since at his home in Yopurgha County. Enwer Ablimit denies that the five children have been sent to a school in Hotan, and claims that they are attending a local school. [It is not clear how genuine this is.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[By virtue of not being able to receive any news of him.]

Additional information

RFA interview (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-01162019155411.html (published 16 JAN 2019)

Mentioned in New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Xinjiang press conference where the case was mentioned, held on January 20, 2020 (Testimony 4): https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Abdurehim Rozi (2277), Subhinur Abdurehim (2279), Ayshe Abdurehim (2280), Abdusalam Abdurehim (2281), Abdullah Abdurehim (2282), Ibrahim Qurban (5626), Roziqari Tursun (5647), Sadiq Sayim (5648), Tuhan Abdurusul (5649)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM0LeH6f38 Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/2278_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-24 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2279. Subhinur Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65312820060316??E? (Yopurgha)

Basic info

Age: 13 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Qelbinur Tursun, originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar, but residing in Turkey since 2016. (mother)

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit, director of the Kashgar Education Bureau.

About the victim name: Subinur Abdurehim gender: female ethnicity: Uyghur age: 12 (as of 16 Jan 2019)

Her mother Qelbinur Tursun (from Terim township, Yupurgha village in Kashgar prefecture) left for Turkey on 12 April 2016 together with Subinur’s father Abdurehim Rozi and one of Subinur’s siblings. While her mother and sibling remained in Turkey, her father was arrested and imprisoned upon his return to China. Subinur has been living with her uncle and aunt and four siblings in Urumchi. Her last known whereabouts were at her mother’s home in Kashgar, where she stayed with her mother’s older sister and her four siblings. The last time her mother received news about her and her siblings through her mother's older sister was on 27 July 2017. After this date, her mother does not know what happened to her and her siblings or where they are. Her sister Ayshe was identified on a video by her mother on 24 December 2018, apparently showing her in a school or orphanage with other children in Hotan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

The last time her mother had news of her was on 27 July 2017 Likely (or given) reason for detention not clear if she was detained

Victim's status disappeared

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit claims that at some point after Qelbinur Tursun left Xinjiang, her brother-in-law, Abduweli Rozi, took her children in, and has been raising them ever since at his home in Yopurgha County. Enwer Ablimit denies that the five children have been sent to a school in Hotan, and claims that they are attending a local school. [It is not clear how genuine this is.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[By virtue of not being able to receive any news of her.]

Additional information

RFA interview (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-01162019155411.html (published 16 JAN 2019)

Mentioned in New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Xinjiang press conference where the case was mentioned, held on January 20, 2020 (Testimony 4): https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Abdurehim Rozi (2277), Abduhaliq Abdurehim (2278), Ayshe Abdurehim (2280), Abdusalam Abdurehim (2281), Abdullah Abdurehim (2282), Ibrahim Qurban (5626), Roziqari Tursun (5647), Sadiq Sayim (5648), Tuhan Abdurusul (5649)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM0LeH6f38 Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/2279_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-24 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2280. Ayshe Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 653128201111221268 (Yopurgha)

Basic info

Age: 8 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|4|5: Qelbinur Tursun, originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar, but residing in Turkey since 2016. (mother)

Testimony 2: Qelbinur Tursun, as reported by Sky News. (mother)

Testimony 3: Douyin user, an unverified Douyin account.

Testimony 6: Enwer Ablimit, director of the Kashgar Education Bureau.

About the victim

Ayshe Abdurehim.

Address: Yiltizliq Village, Terim Municipality, Yopurgha County, Kashgar Prefecture (喀什地区岳普湖县铁热木镇依勒提孜力克村).

Victim's location

A video that showed her and other children, at what appeared to be an orphanage, surfaced in late 2018 and was traced to Hotan. However, it is unclear if Ayshe is still there (as she is originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar).

When victim was detained

Ayshe's mother traveled to Turkey on April 12, 2016, together with Ayshe's father and one of her siblings. While her mother and one sibling remained in Turkey, her father returned to China with Ayshe and four of her siblings, and was arrested and imprisoned upon his return.

Afterwards, Ayshe would live with her aunt, uncle, and four siblings in Urumqi. Her last known whereabouts were at her mother's home in Kashgar, where she stayed with her maternal aunt and siblings. The last time that her mother received direct news of them (from the aunt) was on July 27, 2017. After a year and a half of no news, Ayshe was seen in a video on December 24, 2018, apparently taken at an orphanage in Hotan and seen by Ayshe's mother. There has been no other news since.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Possibly in an orphanage (though there has been no news since December 2018).

In mid-to-late 2019, Sky News tried to find Ayshe by checking various orphanages in the region, but were not successful.

At a press conference in January 2020, Enwer Ablimit claimed that at some point after Qelbinur Tursun left Xinjiang, her brother-in-law, Abduweli Rozi, took her children in, and has been raising them ever since at his home in Yopurgha County. Enwer Ablimit denied that the five children had been sent to a school in Hotan, and claimed that they are attending a local school. [It is not clear how genuine this is.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Ayshe's mother saw a video of her daughter in what appeared to be a state-run orphanage and called the person who posted it, who then said that it was taken in Hotan.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-01162019155411.html

Sky News coverage: https://news.sky.com/story/mysterious-roadblocks-and-armed-police-on-the-trail-of-chinas-missing-uighu r-children-11822938

Mentioned in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Xinjiang press conference where the case was mentioned: https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Miscellaneous media evidence

Context: Qelbinur Tursun left to go to Turkey with her husband and one of their six children in April 2016. Her husband would later return to Xinjiang and be arrested, with the five remaining children left in the care of their aunt and uncle. From July 2017, however, Qelbinur no longer had any news of her children or what happened to them afterwards, until she saw a video of her daughter, Ayshe, on the Chinese platform Douyin in December 2018. In the video, Ayshe (second from the left), is seen with other children at what appears to be a boarding school (presumably, "orphanage"), as the group plays a game of touching the object or body part that their teacher instructs them to touch.

Video: https://shahit.biz/supp/misc_2280.mp4 Source: https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/uyghur-women-fighting-china-surveillance/ Victims among relatives

Abdurehim Rozi (2277), Abduhaliq Abdurehim (2278), Subhinur Abdurehim (2279), Abdusalam Abdurehim (2281), Abdullah Abdurehim (2282), Ibrahim Qurban (5626), Roziqari Tursun (5647), Sadiq Sayim (5648), Tuhan Abdurusul (5649)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM0LeH6f38 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU6lcXORf0c video still: https://shahit.biz/supp/2280_2.png Chinese ID card and photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2280_3.jpeg Testimony 5: https://shahit.biz/supp/2280_5.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-24 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2281. Abdusalam Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65312820111122??O? (Yopurgha)

Basic info

Age: 8 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Qelbinur Tursun, originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar, but residing in Turkey since 2016. (mother)

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit, director of the Kashgar Education Bureau.

About the victim name: Abdusalam Abdurehim gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur age: 8 (as of 16 Jan 2019)

His mother Qelbinur Tursun (from Terim township, Yupurgha village in Kashgar prefecture) left for Turkey on 12 April 2016 together with Abdusalam’s father Abdurehim Rozi and one of Abdusalam’s siblings. While his mother and sibling remained in Turkey, his father was arrested and imprisoned upon his return to China. Abdusalam has been living with his uncle and aunt and four siblings in Urumchi. His last known whereabouts were at his mother’s home in Kashgar, where he stayed with his mother’s older sister and his four siblings. The last time his mother received news about him and his siblings from her older sister was on 27 July 2017. After this date, his mother does not know what happened to him and his siblings or where they are. His sister Ayshe was identified on a video by his mother on 24 December 2018, apparently showing her in a school or orphanage with other children in Hotan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained unknown, he has been missing since 27 July 2017 Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown, probably not detained

Victim's status disappeared

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit claims that at some point after Qelbinur Tursun left Xinjiang, her brother-in-law, Abduweli Rozi, took her children in, and has been raising them ever since at his home in Yopurgha County. Enwer Ablimit denies that the five children have been sent to a school in Hotan, and claims that they are attending a local school. [It is not clear how genuine this is.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[By virtue of not being able to receive any news of him.]

Additional information

RFA interview (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-01162019155411.html (published 16 JAN 2019)

Mentioned in New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Xinjiang press conference where the case was mentioned, held on January 20, 2020 (Testimony 4): https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Abdurehim Rozi (2277), Abduhaliq Abdurehim (2278), Subhinur Abdurehim (2279), Ayshe Abdurehim (2280), Abdullah Abdurehim (2282), Ibrahim Qurban (5626), Roziqari Tursun (5647), Sadiq Sayim (5648), Tuhan Abdurusul (5649)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM0LeH6f38 Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/2281_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-24 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2282. Abdullah Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65312820150713??O? (Yopurgha)

Basic info

Age: 4 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Qelbinur Tursun, originally from Yopurgha County in Kashgar, but residing in Turkey since 2016. (mother)

About the victim name: Abdullah Abdurehim gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur age: 3 (as of 16 JAN 2019)

His mother Qelbinur Tursun (from Terim township, Yupurgha village in Kashgar prefecture) left for Turkey on 12 April 2016 together with Abdullah’s father Abdurehim Rozi and one of Abdullah’s siblings. While his mother and sibling remained in Turkey, his father was arrested and imprisoned upon his return to China. Abdullah has been living with his uncle and aunt and four siblings in Urumchi. His last known whereabouts were at his mother’s home in Kashgar, where he stayed with his mother’s older sister and his four siblings. The last time his mother received news about him and his siblings from her older sister was on 27 July 2017. After this date, his mother does not know what happened to him and his siblings or where they are. His sister Ayshe was identified on a video by his mother on 24 December 2018, apparently showing her in a school or orphanage with other children in Hotan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained unknown, he has been missing since 27 July 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown, not detained Victim's status disappeared

Testimony 4: Enwer Ablimit claims that at some point after Qelbinur Tursun left Xinjiang, her brother-in-law, Abduweli Rozi, took her children in, and has been raising them ever since at his home in Yopurgha County. Enwer Ablimit denies that the five children have been sent to a school in Hotan, and claims that they are attending a local school. [It is not clear how genuine this is.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[By virtue of not being able to receive any news of him.]

Additional information

RFA interview (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-01162019155411.html (published 16 JAN 2019)

Mentioned in New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Xinjiang press conference where the case was mentioned, held on January 20, 2020 (Testimony 4): https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Abdurehim Rozi (2277), Abduhaliq Abdurehim (2278), Subhinur Abdurehim (2279), Ayshe Abdurehim (2280), Abdusalam Abdurehim (2281), Ibrahim Qurban (5626), Roziqari Tursun (5647), Sadiq Sayim (5648), Tuhan Abdurusul (5649)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAM0LeH6f38 Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/2282_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-24 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2322. Tursunay Ziyawudun (图尔逊娜依·孜尧登)

Chinese ID: 654125197808104240 (Kunes)

Basic info

Age: 42 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to going abroad Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|6|7: Qalmyrza Halyq, born in 1957, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (husband)

Testimony 5: Tursunay Ziyawudun, a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. Originally from Kunes County but now residing in Kazakhstan. (the victim)

Testimony 8|10: Tursunay Ziyawudun, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (the victim)

Testimony 9: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (acquaintance)

Testimony 11: Tursunay Ziyawudun, as reported by Le Monde. (the victim)

Testimony 12: Tursunay Ziyawudun, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (the victim)

Testimony 13: Tursunay Ziyawudun, as reported by Associated Press. (the victim)

Testimony 14: Uyghur Human Rights Project, a non-profit organization in Washington, DC.

About the victim

Tursunay Ziyawudun is an ethnic Uyghur from Xinyuan County, where she used to work in and run her own clothes ironing shop. She also used to work as a nurse in her husband's clinic.

Address in China: Xinyuan County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China.

Victim's location

In the United States.

When victim was detained

Tursunay left Kazakhstan and went to China with her husband, Qalmyrza, on November 13, 2016 for a gall bladder operation, although she had to return in any case as her allowed time in Kazakhstan was expiring. In the December of the same year, both of them had their passports confiscated. However, Qalmyrza was able to get his passport back 4 months later and return to Kazakhstan, with Tursunay left behind as his "guarantor".

On April 11, 2017, she would have to go to "school" for a month, as the local government started its first "strike hard" operation, interning 800 ethnic minorities (approximated as 40% Kazakh, 40% Uyghur, and 20% Hui) in Xinyuan County in a single night. She stayed 28 days and was released. [In her account to Le Monde, Tursunay says that she was brought to what used to be a vocational school and made to stay there for 20 days. There were 15 detainees per room, but the doors were not locked and they were allowed to keep their phones.]

In describing this first detention to BuzzFeed News, Tursunay says:

"To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. We had our phones. We had meals in the canteens. Other than being forced to stay there, everything else was fine. In the evenings, the instructors taught the detainees to do traditional Chinese dances in the yard of the building. Sometimes there were lectures — an imam working for the state might come in and talk about how important it was to avoid 'extreme' practices like wearing headscarves."

In February 2018, she was taken to a "re-education" camp, which she says was very different from the "school" before [in her eyewitness testimony, she says that she was taken on March 10, not in February] - in her interview to Le Monde, she specifies that these were the same building, but completely renovated between her detentions. On December 25-26, 2018, she was suddenly released owing to her husband being in Kazakhstan (a guard had come in a few days before to ask who had relatives in Kazakhstan), and would call her husband on January 9, 2019. She was then under house arrest from January to June.

After not being able to get her passport back for a very long time, she finally was able to go to Kazakhstan on September 26, 2019, but on a visa that is set to expire, thereby prompting her to apply for asylum.

In late September 2020, it was announced that she had arrived in the United States.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Tursunay was told by the camp authorities that it was for her having lived in Kazakhstan for 5 years.

Victim's status

Now in the United States [presumably to apply for asylum there].

According to her husband, she's had some medical issues since returning from China - suffering from memory loss and some female health problems.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It's not clear how Qalmyrza heard about his wife's status while she was in camp. After her release, they were occasionally able to talk. However, Qalmyrza would also be contacted by a Chinese police officer, Wang Ping, who on one occasion in December 2018 asked Qalmyrza if he had obtained Kazakhstan citizenship [this is corroborated by Tursunay's account of people with relatives in Kazakhstan being released]. Tursunay called from the same number in February 2019 [suggesting that both calls were probably made from the local police station or designated office]. Tursunay's account is an eyewitness testimony.

Additional information

Coverage in Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/11/24/china-cables-tursunay-ziavdun-ouigoure-intern ee-pendant-onze-mois_6020360_3210.html

Featured in BuzzFeed News: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/meghara/china-uighur-xinjiang-kazakhstan

Additional coverage from RFA: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/lager-shahit-10222019172818.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abuse-10302019142433.html

Uyghur Human Rights Project announcement regarding her arrival in the US: https://uhrp.org/press-release/uyghur-camp-survivor-arrives-safely-united-states.html

In her interview to RFA, Tursunay recalls sharing a cell with women who hadn't had their periods for over a year, as well as some who were forcefully sterilized. Tursunay also says that she was taken for sterilization herself, but was spared because of a gynecological condition that she had always had. According to her, many women were also taken for show trials and sentenced to many years in prison.

---

Talking to Le Monde, Tursunay mentions the fear that her community was living in: "The only thing that you’d say if you happened upon an acquaintance on the street was ‘Oh, you’re still here!’ Every family had someone who was arrested."

She mentions that her two brothers were arrested one after the other in February 2018. She believes it was for having made calls abroad.

---

Her account of the hair cutting at the second facility, as given to BuzzFeed:

"One day in June or July of 2018 — Ziyawudun doesn’t remember exactly when — one of the guards told the women they must all have their hair cut short. Ziyawudun expected a hairdresser to come. Instead, it was just a woman with a pair of scissors. She chopped each detainee’s long hair to chin length."

---

In her interview to the Associated Press (https://apnews.com/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c), Tursunay recounts receiving injections that made her period stop, as well as being kicked in the stomach during interrogations. She also mentions conjugal visits from husbands, preceded by the women taking a (birth-control) pill, as well as two cousins getting rid of their (presumably unborn) children out of fear.

Eyewitness account [The following is an abridged summary, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

After falling ill, Tursunay went back to China in 2016 for a gall bladder operation. The Kazakh government wasn’t allowing her to stay in Kazakhstan any longer, as she was there on a visitor’s visa and hadn’t been able to get either a residence permit or Kazakhstan citizenship (as she was Uyghur and her husband, though ethnically Kazakh, wasn’t a Kazakhstan citizen yet). She had lived in Kazakhstan for a total of 5 years.

Upon their arrival in China, both she and her husband had their passports taken by the local authorities. She was later sent to a “school” for a month. Four months later, her husband got his passport back, with Tursunay being his “guarantor” so that he could go back to Kazakhstan. She was taken to a camp in March 2018, which she found to be completely different from the “school” she had been taken to before. She originally thought that she would be released after showing the hospital statement attesting to her recent operation, but would be told by the camp staff that her health was relatively fine compared to that of some of the other inmates.

After being taken there, she had to change into a blue uniform. As far as she knows, there are uniforms of three different colors – blue ones for inmates with the least serious wrongdoings, yellow for more serious, and red for the most serious ones (the latter intended for those with “religious crimes”, such as praying five times a day). The facility was like a real prison, with the cell doors made of iron and chained in a way that only allows for them to be opened only partially – she was forced to enter the room by squeezing through this opening.

There were no toilets inside the cells. According to Tursunay:

“During the day, we were allowed to use the toilet in the hall, but were given very little time to use it. At night, we had to use the bucket inside the cell. The first month was awful. We had to hold it until the morning, because we couldn’t go inside the room out of shame, unless it was to urinate.”

They were guarded by female guards with rifles. Tursunay refused to eat anything for a week, but the guards didn't care. When she fainted, which happened several times, the guards would just take her to her bed. She heard two Kazakh ladies next door shouting to the guards that they were Kazakhstan citizens and wanted an explanation for their detention. They were later taken somewhere and she didn't hear about them anymore after that.

Tursunay recounts:

“We had to do some stupid activities, such as ‘baotou’ (抱头), which meant having to crouch and grab your head whenever you heard the siren sound. Once, there was an incident in which a woman next door, sleeping on a top bunk, broke her leg after hearing a siren at night and jumping from her bed in terror. Because you had to do it very quickly, or you could be punished.”

After a month, they were transferred to a newly built facility. There, the toilets were inside the cell. However, since it had been erected recently, you could smell the cement, which had yet to dry completely. It was April and the room was very cold and damp, which led to her getting very sick. The guards took her to the hospital in handcuffs and shackles, which only added to the pain. She saw many injured people at the hospital. Most people had urinary disorders.

She had to wait months before her “crime” was announced, at which point she learned that she had ended up in camp for having stayed 5 years in Kazakhstan.

This camp was in a place called “Zhana Qala” (“new city”), in Xinyuan County. Tursunay:

“Those who were married and had a marriage certificate were allowed to see their spouses once a month.”

She was released in December 2018 because her husband was in Kazakhstan.

“There was a sudden change,” she recounts, “and they released all the people who had family members in Kazakhstan.”

After their release, the former detainees gathered several times to have dinner together. She found that they had changed. It seemed to her that they had lost hope. They started drinking a lot. She’d find herself crying often.

When she went to Urumqi to get a visa for Kazakhstan, the hotels refused to take her unless she went to the police station and registered. Although it was very late when she arrived and said that she could do it first thing in the morning, they still didn’t allow her to stay the night. When she wanted to take a taxi to the district where the Kazakhstan visa service center was, the Uyghur taxi driver wasn’t able to take her – she later learned that only Han drivers were allowed into that district.

Among her relatives, she has two brothers who were taken to the same camp as where she was. Both of them are now suffering from health issues and have urinary disorders.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd3AiH32JW0

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLlqmeiaS8w Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I77EkVuVeP0 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsdAZCvI_lM Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euLN0wUvoeA Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd3AiH32JW0 Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKGbXye_NZc Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qncLDQNQezM Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/2322_6.jpeg photo with husband and son: https://shahit.biz/supp/2322_7.jpeg Le Monde feature: https://shahit.biz/supp/2322_10.pdf propaganda video: https://shahit.biz/supp/2322_11.mp4

Entry created: 2019-01-26 Last updated: 2020-09-29 Latest status update: 2020-09-29 2336. Guzalnur Zheniskazy

Chinese ID: 65????19????????E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

H.

Victim's relation to testifier information publicly available

About the victim name: Guzalnur Jeniskazy gender: female ethnicity: Kazakh

She went to China in 2016 to visit relatives, leaving her 4-month-old daughter back home in Kazakhstan as she planned this to be a short trip. Guzalnur was held under house arrest for several months with a short time spent in detention because she lost her Kazakh passport. She was able to leave China and reunite with her family in Almaty in July 2018.

Victim's location

Kazakhstan

When victim was detained

2016

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status released

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/10/04/not-livestock-people-rights-kazakh-families-torn-apart-chinas-x injiang-crackdown/ (published 4 OCT 2018)

The story has also been covered in Russian by Azattyq: https://rus.azattyq.org/a/29347008.html

Additional information

---

Entry created: 2019-01-26 Last updated: 2019-01-26 Latest status update: 2019-01-26 2350. Asan Lapi (阿山·俄拉皮牙)

Chinese ID: 654126194805101610 (Mongghulkure)

Basic info

Age: 70 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (22 years) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: deceased Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Gulzai Asan, born in 2002, is a Chinese citizen. (daughter)

Testimony 2|3|4|8: Nurzat Asan, born in 1970, is a Chinese citizen with residence in Kazakhstan. (son)

Testimony 5: Qyran Baqytkeldi, born in 1996, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. (relative)

Testimony 6|7: Nurzat Asan, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (son)

About the victim

Asan Lapiuly, 71 years old, was a teacher.

Address: 13 Fazhan Road, Qashazhar township, Mungulkure county (新疆昭苏县喀夏加尔乡发展街13号).

His Kazakhstan green card number is 026916122.

Victim's location

[Testimony 6: based on his son witnessing his death, it appears likely that they were both in Ili.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: October 2017

Testimony 2: He went back to China from Kazakhstan on September 25, 2017. He was arrested in December 2017.

Testimony 6: returned to China in October 2017, later to be detained and taken to camp.

Likely (or given) reason for detention praying and visiting Kazakhstan Victim's status earlier: sentenced to 23 years in prison

Testimony 6: sentenced to 22 years. Died in camp/custody, with authorities refusing to return the body to the family.

Testimony 3: He died in the camp [unclear if this is a contradiction, or if the testifier is referring to prison as "camp"] on May 5, 2019 (Testimony 8 gives the year as 2018). The testifier doesn't believe that he died because of his health, and assumes his father was beaten up to death. Previously, the victim had been allowed to have one video call and two phone calls with his relatives each month. He was strong and healthy before detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 6: his son Zhumanur Asan supposedly saw his father while they were being taken to work outside the camp, during which time the latter collapsed and passed away. [the specifics are really not clear as presented in the Radio Free Asia report]

Additional information

Testimony 3: There are voice messages sent by the testifier's sister-in-law after his appeal about his father's death. She asks why he is doing these things that bring them trouble. She criticizes the testifier, saying that this doesn't change the fact that his father has already died. The local authorities are blaming the family in Xinjiang for the testifier's actions - after his appeal, a radio station in the US broadcasted their story. She says in the WeChat audio messages that his uncle might be taken too because of the testifier's "good deeds". She also reminds him that he is still a Chinese citizen and hasn't cancelled his household registration, and so the Chinese authorities can get him no matter where he is.

Testimony 4: The testifier thinks that his father died not long after finding out that his son was also in a camp (when he had a video call with his family).

Testimony 7: Asan had a land of 20 mu which was not allowed to be sold. After his son's interview to the RFA, the local authorities suddenyl changed their decisions and said they could sell the land.

RFA coverage (Testimony 6-7): https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-11252019105435.html https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/yili-12122019063448.html?encoding=simplified

Victims among relatives

Zhumanur Asan (2382), Zabira Nusypqan (2383), Shodi Aidyn (2534), Aman Kerei (2384)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SAx3ClOHgk Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvRiT0nKe70 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbyy-UJS_C4 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebpfL6SyHvQ Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBewlTQjBa0 Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz-QnMxn3-U Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/2350_4.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/2350_5.png

Entry created: 2019-01-27 Last updated: 2021-08-09 Latest status update: 2019-05-05 2461. Abdughappar Abdurusul (阿布都哈帕尔·阿布都肉苏力)

Chinese ID: 65410119760603??O? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 45 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: July 2018 - Sep. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Mutallak Hasanov, born in 1946, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (relative)

Testimony 2|7: Abdusattar Abdurusul, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (brother)

Testimony 3: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 4: "Turghunay", as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (former neighbor)

Testimony 5: Mehmut Osman, director of the XUAR Ethnic Affairs Commission.

Testimony 6: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Abdugappar Abdurasul, ethnic Uyghur, born on June 3, 1976, is a Chinese citizen. His ID number is 65470197603241 [incorrect?].

From RFA article: He is a prominent businessman and philanthropist from Ghulja City's Bakyol District. Father of four. He owns several shops and businesses, has multiple properties - the money from which he's used in recent years to help build a mosque for the local community.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili.]

When victim was detained

RFA article: July-August 2018

Testimony 6: He was sentenced by the Ghulja Intermediate Court after central training, but the sentence was later reversed [in reference to original sentence, presumably]. Testimony 7: detained again in May 2021.

Likely (or given) reason for detention visiting Turkey and going on the hajj to Mecca

Victim's status in a re-education camp according to RFA article (see below), he has been sentenced to death

Testimony 5: While his status remains unclear, he was brought up in a press conference organized by the XUAR People's Government Information Office (https://archive.vn/2J2qV), where it was denied that he has been sentenced to death for going on a Hajj and where Mehmut Osman, the director of the XUAR Ethnic Affairs Commission, said that Abdughappar engaged in "second-hand apartment businesses" and led a normal life. (A proof-of-life video was also shown.)

Testimony 7: back in hard detention.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 2: from the victim's business partners in Kazakhstan.

Testimony 3: from a mutual friend.

Testimony 6: this is a local government staff member, and presumably has relatively direct knowledge of the case.

Testimony 7: from friends in Ghulja.

Additional information also featured in RFA story (Testimony 2-4): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/philanthropist-11212018131511.html

Additional RFA coverage (Testimony 6-7): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/abdughappar-abdurusul-07142021164004.html

What are possibly his businesses: https://archive.fo/AXiWy https://archive.ph/taueM

A civil lawsuit that he was possibly involved in (2021): https://shahit.biz/supp/wenshu/abdughapparabdurusul.pdf

Victims among relatives

Gulbostan Abdulla (2460), Reyhangul Abduqadir Abdurusul (2462), Ewzer Ghappar (2463), Merhaba Hamit (2464), Firoza Guljamal Abdurusul (2465), Ebeydulla Hebibulla (2466), Sayipjamal Abdurusul (4653)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBia9fzIaY proof-of-life video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scScu7rcwnI photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2461_2.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-01-31 Last updated: 2021-09-16 Latest status update: 2021-07-14 2464. Merhaba Hamit

Chinese ID: 65410119760312??E? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 43 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Mutallak Hasanov, born in 1946, is a citizen of Kazakhstan. (relative)

Testimony 2: "Turghunay", as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (former neighbor)

Testimony 3: CGTN, an international English-language news channel based in Beijing and owned by China Central Television.

About the victim

Merhaba Hamit, ethnic Uyghur, born on March 12, 1976, is a Chinese citizen. Her ID number is 6541017606031202 [incorrect?]. Her relatives heard that she was dead in prison.

Address: House No. 23, 7th alley [card in testimony says "fan", but this is assumed to be a typo of "hang" (巷, alley)], Yining city, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: April 2018

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Testimony 1: in prison, but possibly deceased

Testimony 2: her death certificate was given to the family after her death in a re-education camp Testimony 3: a proof-of-life video for her husband, Abdughappar Abdurusul, shows her at the dinner table together with her husband and their daughter [thereby indicating that the information from Testimony 1-2 was incorrect].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: through relatives

Testimony 3: CGTN put the family on camera.

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/philanthropist-11212018131511.html

Victims among relatives

Gulbostan Abdulla (2460), Reyhangul Abduqadir Abdurusul (2462), Abdughappar Abdurusul (2461), Ewzer Ghappar (2463), Firoza Guljamal Abdurusul (2465), Ebeydulla Hebibulla (2466), Sayipjamal Abdurusul (4653)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBia9fzIaY Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scScu7rcwnI

Entry created: 2019-01-31 Last updated: 2021-09-16 Latest status update: 2020-03-03 2467. Helchem Qadir (海丽且木·卡德尔)

Chinese ID: 65????19????????E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, now living in the United States. (sister)

Testimony 2: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 3: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Helchem

Victim's location

Hotan

When victim was detained

Unclear

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Re-education camp

Testimony 3: according to Elijan Anayit, Helchem is allegedly "living normally" [likely suggesting that she is not in hard detention].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Testimony 3: this is a spokesperson for the Xinjiang government.

Additional information

Rebiya's whole family is missing including grandchildren. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebiya_Kadeer

Amnesty call for action (Testimony 2): https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf

Xinjiang press conference mentioning her case (Testimony 3): https://archive.vn/GeG3E, https://archive.is/K0Fvb

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU__aA3SOKY photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2467_2.png

Entry created: 2019-01-31 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 2468. Mehmet Qadir (买买提·卡德尔)

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, now living in the United States. (sister)

Testimony 2|3|4: Kuzzat Altay, an Uyghur-American activist and entrepreneur. (son)

About the victim

Mehmet Kadeer, 68.

Victim's location

Unclear

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: The testifier stated on January 22, 2020 that the victim was taken to the concentration camp two years earlier. A few days earlier, the Chinese state media had released a proof-of-life video of the victim, denouncing his son as engaging in separatist activities abroad and saying that he'd disown him.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 2: seemingly released from detention [at least for the proof-of-life video].

Testimony 3: The testifier states on 21 June 2020 that his father came out of the camp paralyzed, and that the Chinese government is not allowing Kuzzet to send the victim money for medical expenses.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Testimony 1+3: not stated.

Testimony 2: that he was alive and seemingly out of detention was made known through the proof-of-life video.

Additional information

Rebiya's whole family is missing including grandchildren. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebiya_Kadeer

He is listed as one of the signatories of the 2009 open letter "denouncing" Rebiya Kadeer (weeks after the July 5 incident): https://archive.is/yROx3

A similar "denouncement" was also published just a week after the incident: https://archive.is/VpgWh

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU__aA3SOKY Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/KuzzatAltay/status/1219623166437396483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/KuzzatAltay/status/1274699617603649539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/KuzzatAltay/status/1092582447974400001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw proof-of-life video: https://shahit.biz/supp/2468_2.mp4 photo with children: https://shahit.biz/supp/2468_6.jpg

Entry created: 2019-01-31 Last updated: 2021-01-20 Latest status update: 2020-06-21 2486. Arzugul Tashpolat (阿孜古力·塔西普拉提)

Chinese ID: 650102196709302628 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 51 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Nur'eli Tashpolat, born in 1973, is a computer engineer now residing in Turkey. (brother)

Testimony 2|3|6: Emrulla Ekrem, a student in the US. (son)

Testimony 4: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 5: Emrulla Ekrem, as reported by Radio Free Asia Mandarin. (son)

About the victim

Arzugul Tashpolat graduated from university in 1988 and had since been working as an instructor - teaching physics, according to her son - at the Xinjiang Mechano-Electrical Vocational and Technical Institute (新疆机电职业技术学院), working there for almost 30 years. She and her husband had gone travelling to Switzerland in July 2015 and to Turkey in January 2017. Her son mentions that she speaks fluent Chinese.

ID address: Apt. 402, Entrance No. 3, Building No. 1, 15 Kengkengsi Alley, Tianshan District, Urumqi (乌鲁木齐市天山区坑坑寺巷15号1号楼3单元402号).

Chinese passport number: G58802257.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

Her passport was confiscated by her school in 2017, soon after her return from her trip abroad. She would be taken to a camp, likely in Urumqi's Dawan neighborhood, in February-March 2018 [February 2018, according to her brother]. On May 1, 2019, she was released, but not allowed to contact her children in the USA. Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Nureli, it is not clear why she was detained, but her 2 children studying in America (where they still are), her brother (Nureli) being in Turkey, or her husband having been detained could all have been used as excuses.

According to her son Emrulla, it was for sending money to her brother (Nureli) in Istanbul (via a Chinese bank).

Victim's status

Released from detention, but forbidden from communicating with her children abroad.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Nureli mentions seeing her for the last time around September 2017, when the two had a video call on WeChat. He learned that she was detained in a camp through her children in the United States.

Emrulla appears to have been in contact with her shortly before her detention. He mentions that a QR code was installed on the family's home around this time, with the police coming by to scan it from time to time.

After her release, a relative sent a picture of her - much thinner than before - to Emrulla.

Additional information

This victim is included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/jieduxinjiang/xj-05232019170302.html

A propaganda article that mentions the victim and a speech she made: archive.is/9oxBy

A list of teachers that includes the victim (No. 157): archive.is/I9K3u

Victims among relatives

Ekrem Tursun (2485)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2iqeelxfPE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG5SCJ8aZ9I Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/Dilhumar5/status/1095839632296689672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with husband (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_1.jpg photo with husband (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_2.jpg photo with brother: https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_3.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_4.jpg passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_5.jpg photo after release: https://shahit.biz/supp/2486_8.jpg photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_2486.png

Entry created: 2019-02-01 Last updated: 2020-02-22 Latest status update: 2019-05-23 2738. Turgunaaly Tursunaaly

Chinese ID: 65302319930117??O? (Akchi)

Basic info

Age: 26 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kyrgyz Likely current location: Kizilsu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Gene A. Bunin, independent scholar and curator of shahit.biz. (friend of friend)

Testimony 2: Urmat Mairambek, as reported by Radio Azattyk. (friend)

Testimony 3: Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz branch of Radio Free Europe.

About the victim

Turgunaaly Tursunaaly, an ethnic Kyrgyz manaschy (reciter of the epic "Manas") from Xinjiang's Kizilsu Prefecture, in his early twenties (as of 2019). He originally came to Kyrgyzstan in 2014 to study at the Kyrgyz National University's Faculty of Philology, graduating and starting a Master's in Manas studies in 2017.

A minor celebrity, he was widely known both as a proficient traditional dancer and the manaschy grandson of renowned master manaschy Jusup Mamai (in fact, Turgunaaly Tursunaaly often went by the name "Turgunaaly Jusup Mamai"). While Jusup Mamai had a number of grandchildren who learned some Manas recitation from him, Turgunaaly was the only one who went forward with it seriously, accompanying his grandfather as a student from the age of 13 (in addition to later pursuing the subject academically in Kyrgyzstan). Turgunaaly also gained much fame from bringing the Kara Jorgo dance to Kyrgyzstan, as it became very popular among the locals. Later, he also opened his own small dance studio in Bishkek. He has been a frequent guest on various TV and radio shows, where he'd talk about ethnic dance culture and Manas performance.

In 2017, he published his first book, "Жусуп Мамай бабамдан баян" ("The Story of My Grandfather, Jusup Mamai"). On July 5, 2018, Turgunaaly held a book launch event for his newly released "Кочмон кыргыз бий онору" ("The Art of Nomadic Kyrgyz Dance"), a first step in a project that foresaw the translation of the Kyrgyz version into several other languages and further development of traditional Kyrgyz dance in Kyrgyzstan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kizilsu.] When victim was detained

He left Kyrgyzstan in early October (his last public Facebook post before this, which reads as a sort of goodbye, was on October 8, 2018). It is not clear if he was detained in the strict sense of the word - however, it is clear that he was not able to return to Kyrgyzstan to continue his studies (the dean at the Manas Studies Department of KNU told Gene that he only planned to be gone for a week or two). Friends in Kyrgyzstan could not reach him. According to his close friend, Urmat Mairambek, Turgunaaly wasn't sure what to do before his departure - he could have stayed, but there was pressure on his relatives in Xinjiang that he return.

After briefly returning to Bishkek in May 2019 (https://www.azattyk.org/a/29939996.html), he once more left to Xinjiang about a month later. It is not clear what kind of restrictions or coercion he is currently under.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

A close friend of Turgunaaly told Gene that Turgunaaly never contacted them like he said he would upon arriving in Xinjiang. Given how the repressions since fall 2016 have especially impacted students having studied abroad and intellectuals, it is not at all unlikely that Turgunaaly may have become a victim of these repressions also. At the very least, he was unable to return to Kyrgyzstan or contact his friends abroad.

However, there have also been rumors of Turgunaaly's getting married, which appears corroborated by a pair of pre-wedding photos posted by his friend in Kyrgyzstan. A few days after Gene's article in Foreign Policy (https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/31/963451-kyrgyz-xinjiang-students-camps/) came out in late March, quickly followed by local Kyrgyzstan derivatives, his friend(s) in Kyrgyzstan appear to have received additional photos of him - a wedding-shoot one with a Kashgar background and one of Turgunaaly wearing a tour-guide badge and sitting in a car. According to the update at the time, Turgunaaly was allegedly working in a museum in Aqchi, while his wife was a teacher there.

According to Radio Azattyk, Turgunaaly gave an interview to a local media outlet, Barakelde, during his short stay in Bishkek, in which he stated that he had been appointed as the head of the Manaschy association of China. After passing his exams ahead of schedule, he received his master's degree from Kyrgyz National University and returned to China, after which he's been out of contact.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Gene spoke to two people who knew Turgunaaly personally, in addition to bringing him up with several members of the Committee in Support of the Chinese Kyrgyz. He also visited his university, asking about him at the university's International Office and at the Manas Studies Department.

There are also a number of online sources that mention him: http://archive.is/v7j0N http://archive.is/Y07fR

Urmat Mairambek was in direct contact with the victim. Radio Azattyk spoke to friends of Turgunaaly, in addition to citing a local media outlet that Turgunaaly spoke to.

Additional information

A close friend of Turgunaaly's told Gene that Turgunaaly expected that he might be detained if he went back to China. However, he had heard that local police had entered his late grandfather's home and taken a number of important books (likely related to records of various oral traditions, such as the Manas epic), and so went back anyway because of this.

Radio Azattyk coverage: https://rus.azattyk.org/a/29858632.html https://www.azattyk.org/a/29939996.html https://rus.azattyk.org/a/30364308.html

2017 tender for the construction of a Jusup Mamai museum: https://archive.vn/vb0zO

Supplementary materials appearance on local show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zG6SVPUpVM media story about his first book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmgWIFTa46g "flame dance" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOCwwA-YvSw interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKMd_bLJRIs "farewell" post: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php%3Fstory_fb id%3D292802151322713%26id%3D100017787900511&width=450 friend's post announcing wedding: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/tabyldy.muratbek/posts/2 197422277017198:0&width=300 friend's post from April 2019: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/tabyldy.muratbek/posts/2 276385712454187&width=300 return to Bishkek (May 2019): https://web.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://web.facebook.com/tabyldy.muratbek/posts/234 2554702503954&width=300 friend's "farewell post" (June 2019): https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/tabyldy.muratbek/posts/2 407349602691130&width=300 RFE/RL segment about "Kara Jorgo": https://shahit.biz/supp/2738_4.mp4 at book launch (latest book): https://shahit.biz/supp/2738_5.jpg at 14 years old, in Kizilsu: https://shahit.biz/supp/2738_6.jpg

Entry created: 2019-02-14 Last updated: 2020-10-20 Latest status update: 2020-01-07 2799. Yntymaq Zhaqyp

Chinese ID: 654322196906182717 (Koktokay)

Basic info

Age: 50 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): nationalism, patriotism|--- Health status: --- Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Koksen Qunarbai, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (uncle)

Testimony 2|4|5: Tileu Nusip, born in 1986, residing in Kazakhstan. (cousin)

Testimony 3: Ulan Nusip, a resident of Kazakhstan. (cousin)

About the victim

Yntymaq Zhaqyp, born in 1969, is a Chinese citizen. He worked as a head of the Agricultural Bureau in Koktogay county. He was a Party member.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Altay.]

When victim was detained

June 2018

Testimony 4: Detained on 4 June 2018 when he was working in the office. There was a trial on 1 July 2019 in Koktogay - only the testifier's sister-in-law attended (but was not allowed to say anything).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 2: celebrating Kazakhstan's independence day

Testimony 4: accused of reading a book about Ospan Batyr, celebrating Kazakhstan's Independence day for 6 consecutive years (11 people who celebrated with him were also detained), contacting Kazakhs in Turkey and building a family tree

Victim's status earlier: in a re-education camp

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Testimony 5: on October 30, 2019, the testifier gave a video testimony at atajurt office and on November 5, 2019 the testifier's relative contacted the testifier and told him that the police came to their house and asked the victim's wife the testifier's and other relatives' names in Kazakhstan and told her that her husband's case would be reconsidered and asked how they were living.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uZYTl4upGw Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNCJr4hsmGU Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQiTXqdBM5Q Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLLT2O9a-0Q Testimony 3: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/100012011741023/videos /579287229148330/&show_text=1&width=300

Entry created: 2019-02-18 Last updated: 2020-02-23 Latest status update: 2019-12-23 2849. Tahir Hesen (塔依尔·艾山)

Chinese ID: 65292319????????O? (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: --- Profession: medicine

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Local hospital staff, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 4: Local police, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 5: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Tahir Hesen, a physician at the Kucha People's Hospital. (Testimony 5: he is an "attending physician" at the digestive department of the Kuqa People's Hospital.)

Victim's location

Testimony 5: in Aksu.

When victim was detained

Testimony 4: believed to be detained around a year ago (as of September 2019).

Testimony 5: on February 1, 2021, a video from Global Times showed Tahir Hesen working at the Kucha Hospital [suggesting he has been released].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 3: A hospital security staff member suggested that the victim has been arrested because of having contacted to "dangerous people" overseas. A National Security policeman from Kucha County confirmed his detention and the reason of his arrest (Testimony 4).

Victim's status

Testimony 5: presumably released [if one is to believe the Global Times video].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: not stated.

Testimony 3: this is security staff from the hospital where the victim work, and as such would likely have relatively direct knowledge of the case.

Testimony 4: this is a member of the local security organs, and would presumably have relatively direct knowledge of the case.

Testimony 5: this is state media with direct access to the victim (and who put the victim on camera).

Additional information

This victim is included in the list of detained Uyghur intellectuals (Testimony 1), available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

RFA coverage (Testimony 2-4): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/tahir-hesen-09272019205838.html

Supplementary materials

Testimony 5: https://shahit.biz/supp/2849_1.mp4

Entry created: 2019-02-24 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-01 2947. Tabysqan Magrupqan (塔布斯汗·马吾尔甫汗)

Chinese ID: 654326198004052010 (Jeminey)

Basic info

Age: 40 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|phone/computer Health status: has problems Profession: driver

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Altynai Suleimen, born in 1989, is now a Kazakhstan citizen. (sister-in-law)

Testimony 2|3: Tabysqan Magrupqan, originally from Jeminey County but now residing in Kazakhstan. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang, having spent around nine months in a camp. (the victim)

About the victim

Tabysqan Magrupqan used to work as a driver, shuttling people between China and Kazakhstan. He also owned a small shop in his home town of Tosty. He's married and a father of two.

Address (previous registration): 122 Tuanjie Road, Tosty Township, Jeminey County, Xinjiang (新疆吉木乃县托斯特乡团结路122号).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

He was detained for a period of about 15 days between January 30, 2018 and February 14-15, and held at the Jeminey County Pre-Trial Detention Center, with the authorities telling him that he had Skype on his phone. He would then be released after being questioned by the public security bureau, who admitted that the Skype app was pre-installed and took Tabysqan to a local China Mobile to get his phone number unregistered and to have him buy a simple Nokia phone.

On March 23, 2018, he was detained again and taken to camp, which Tabysqan says was the same facility as before. At one point, in August 2018, he was allowed 3-4 hours to renew his driver's license, during which time he got permission to see his parents and happened to see his sister-in-law, who asked for his permission to appeal for him as she was preparing to go to Kazakhstan.

Around September 2018, the camp inmates would attend "court trials" in the camp and be sentenced. However, Tabysqan says that this didn't change much, except for them being split into classes, with him being put in the regular class (普班).

On December 24, 2018, he was released, after which it would take him another 9 months to get his passport, with an additional 1-2 months to get his visa and stamps of approval. He returned to Kazakhstan on November 29, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

He was initially detained for 15 days for having Skype on his phone. He was later "sentenced" in camp for breaking the "telecommunications law" (presumably for the same reason).

Victim's status

Released and back in Kazakhstan.

He says that he's been struggling with some health issues, such as frequent urination.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

His sister-in-law met with Tabysqan while in Xinjiang (when he was briefly released to renew his driver's license).

Tabysqan's own account is an eyewitness testimony.

Additional information

Business listing of Tabysqan's shop: https://www.qixin.com/company/812551d3-372e-44eb-a5fe-2ac97e5810ad (https://archive.vn/Rbgjt)

Eyewitness account

[The following is an abridged first-person account, based on the victim’s interview at the Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]

The first time I was detained was on January 30, 2018, to be released on February 14-15 (2018).

I was detained at home – not by the police, but by the cadres responsible for the safety in our village. They came and detained me. They told me that they had found Skype on my phone, and told me to get into a car. I wasn't handcuffed. They took me directly to the prison/detention center in Zhimunai County. There was a village named Shiqorzha, and the prison was located there, next to a middle school (“Qisyq Mektep”). In the western part of the town. To the west of the river.

Once we were taken inside the facility, they removed the zippers and laces from my clothes and shoes, as well as my belt. They took my ID card and phone for safekeeping. They didn’t make us wear uniforms – I just wore my own clothes, apart from removing those things (zippers, laces, belt).

There were 4 rooms and 8-9 people per room. There was no bed – we slept on kang (raised platform). Everyone in there was Kazakh. A day before my detention, I had gone to the village and heard that the imams had been detained, and the next day I was taken too. I was with Nurlan Pioner in the detention center. Kunbolat Qabseit was there too.

After 5-10 days, I was taken to the public security bureau office and questioned. The first question they asked was why I had visited Kazakhstan too many times – I used to drive a taxi between the two countries. After that, they released me, saying that yes, it was true that Skype had come pre-installed on my phone already. They told me not to use this phone and then took me to the China Mobile to get my phone number unregistered. I ended up having to buy a simple Nokia phone.

On March 23, 2018, I was taken again. This time, they brought me to a camp. In the beginning, there were rumors that those who were detained because of their phone content would be released, but later they told us that we would be educated there, and had our heads shaved. So, I was detained again – a month and a week after my release before.

Here, we were given uniforms. The room was about 4 by 5 meters, and there were 15 of us in there. They taught us pinyin and Communist songs. To be released, we needed to collect points. The food was awful – a dog wouldn't eat that stuff. It was just leftovers from the cadres’ meals.

We got injections many times. I don't remember how many exactly, but at least five times. They’d call out our names and give us a shot. According to them, it was to prevent diseases. The doctors and nurses who injected us wore white clothes, and we could only see their eyes. There was also medicine that we had to take in front of them. Sometimes, they would call a person’s name and say that he needed to get a blood test.

Once every two weeks, they’d allow us to talk to our relatives via a video call, and once every month or two we’d be allowed to meet our family members in person. In August (2018), I was given 3-4 hours to go and renew my driver's license. Three Kazakh guys accompanied me, and I asked them for permission to go see my parents. That’s when I’d meet with my sister-in-law – she was going to Kazakhstan and asked for permission to appeal for me there, which I gave.

Among the people at the camp, the oldest was a 76-year-old imam, from Zhimunai’s Qarzhau Village. The youngest was around 19, having ended up there because of something on his phone. (A woman named) Gulnisa Muqanqyzy was also in the same camp. While the rooms were segregated by gender, we did go to class together, the men and the women. There was also Zharqyn Qinayat, and Shynar something. They're in Almaty now. There was Anuarhan, who is in Astana. I was with Nurlan Pioner's brother, Erlan Pioner, as well. Anuarhan was 64, and his wife was there with him, the two detained for having a Kazakhstan green card and having visited Kazakhstan.

We were given cloth shoes, and had to sit on plastic stools, on a cement floor, for 14 hours a day. We would lose points if we didn’t sit straight. At nine in the evening, we’d go to sleep and would take turns guarding each other in two-hour shifts. At the start, we were allowed to sit while on duty, but later were told to stand. The camera in the room was round. The room had an open toilet, and the camera would cover it as well. The lights were always on.

The classes were divided into three levels: beginner (初级), intermediate (中级), and advanced (高级).

After some time, they also started requiring us to write about and confess our wrongdoings. Later, there’d be a court hearing in the camp, and we’d be accused of different “crimes”. For example, I was told that I had breached such-and-such a clause of the telecommunications law ("telegraf zangy"). That was around September (2018). They didn’t give us prison terms after the hearing, however. Instead, they just divided us into groups, and I was put in the “regular class” (普班, the lightest form).

At that time, I didn’t know that my sister-in-law had started appealing, as although I’d be allowed to talk to my relatives every once in a while, we wouldn’t be able to say much apart from asking each other how we were doing. In the beginning, we’d be allotted 5 minutes, but later this would get reduced to 3. I remember that, while I was at the camp, they would ask me if I had relatives in Kazakhstan.

There was only one Kazakh teacher at the camp. On December 22, 2018, he was really happy and told us that we’d be released soon. He told us quietly though, and asked us not to tell the others. Then, at midnight of the 23rd, we were given some forms to fill out. Some people's names were called and they were released. I, too, was released on the 24th, at night. It was around 1:30-2:00 in the morning, and three others were released with me. Zhang Guohua, the head of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission (政法委), asked us some questions, asking how our studies had gone. We praised the conditions there and told him that, thanks to the Party, we learned many things. I signed a few more papers, and then went out to meet my wife and some cadres, who were waiting for me outside.

One of the people I was released with was a woman named Zhazira Saipolla. She returned to Kazakhstan as well. Another man with whom I was released used to be the principal of the Qisyq middle school. He was accused of praying after he had retired.

There was a guy named Damuhan who was released with me – he was around 35-36 and, at one point, suddenly stopped talking. They took him to the hospital in Beitun, but it didn’t help. He could hear fine, but just couldn't talk. He would start talking again after some time though. There was another guy, named Mural, whose time in camp made him dumb. A guy named Daulet Zhumadil would faint while in camp, being taken to the hospital and back each time. Then, during class, he’d faint again.

One of the people I was held with was a Hui guy, named Ma Qiang. His uncle, an imam in Besterek [Township], had died during interrogation – he was accused of appointing a village head who was not the candidate recommended by the government. Ma Qiang was released.

There was Kulan Esetai, who was in her fifties, and who was released before me, although I heard that she was detained again later. She was probably taken to camp because of something she had on her phone.

Zharqyn Qinayat, from Zhimunai’s Belaryq Village, used to work as the animal husbandry bureau, I think. He was around 50, and also was released on the same day as I was. My wife's former classmate – Gulshira Mektephan – was detained in 2017 for praying. She would be given a 7-year prison term.

I weighed only 60 kilos when they released me (I had been at 93 before being taken to camp). I got to see my son and my dad, who didn’t look at me when I said goodbye to him. It was because he didn’t want to break into tears. He’d pass away the following year, at the age of 83. I was only given an hour to stay at home after they released me.

Another 9 months would pass before I finally got my passport back. The village police said that they couldn't find it and told me to go to the county-level public security bureau, which is where I’d ultimately get it. Living close to the public security bureau, I’d go to their office every day. However, when I finally did get my passport back, I found that the visa had already expired. I had to go to Urumqi to get a new one.

My sister-in-law sent me an invitation letter. My oldest son was able to go to Kazakhstan on August 2, 2019, and my youngest son and my wife on August 30, 2019. I myself would only come back on November 29, 2019, as again I wasn’t able to get my passport back – even after I got the visa, I still had to hand it in to the public security bureau, who then required me to get five different stamps of approval before I could get it back.

I want my wife to go back there and visit my dad's tomb after she gets Kazakh citizenship, because my mom passed away in 2000 and, after I got married in 2002, my wife would look after my dad for very many years. So, she feels guilty about not having been able to attend his funeral.

Before being taken to camp, I had also borrowed 100000RMB from the rural credit cooperative (农村信用社). At the time, I was supporting my entire family by myself. The bank staff had told my wife that they would not enforce any interest rates until I was released, but in reality they’d have me return the loan with an interest rate of 8%, despite it being 4% before that. In the end, it was my dad who had to pay it back, since I didn't have the money myself. I remember that a village official had explained to the bank that they wouldn't charge any interest rate while I was at camp, and there were documents saying this as well.

Nowadays, a Han cadre keeps contacting me to ask about my well-being. He says that it’s my choice if I want to stay here. He also asked me on what day I crossed the border. While we were there, they’d tell us that Kazakhstan was a “terrorist country”. Try to avoid “Kazakh chauvinism (大哈萨克主义)”, they’d tell us.

I'm suffering from some health issues now. I find myself needing to pee too frequently.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CHjUu4Ye8

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpI9NivM7EM Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CHjUu4Ye8 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL1DyBuwhk0 household registration: https://shahit.biz/supp/2947_2.png

Entry created: 2019-03-05 Last updated: 2021-06-12 Latest status update: 2020-09-20 2953. Zohre Talip (早然木·塔力甫)

Chinese ID: 652201196410152742 (Kumul)

Basic info

Age: 56 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hami Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): challenging authority|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|4|5|6|7|10|12: Zulhumar Isaac, an ethnic Uyghur and Chinese citizen, currently resides in Sweden with her husband. She graduated from Beijing University in 2011, majoring in journalism, then worked for tech companies in Beijing. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Zumret Isaac, as reported by Apple Daily. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (daughter)

Testimony 8: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by South China Morning Post. (daughter)

Testimony 9: Zumret Isaac, as reported by South China Morning Post. (daughter)

Testimony 11: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by New York Times. (daughter)

Testimony 13: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Zohre Talip was a Party committee member at the Hami Ethnic and Religious Commission (民宗委), prior to her retirement in late 2017.

Before retirement, she worked as part of the Zhang Chunxian era “visit-benefit-unite” (访惠聚) project. She also served as a village official for the local community, which included things such as providing useful information and helping people get their welfare. She managed to help build a new bridge for the village, with the locals naming the bridge after her.

Victim's location

Presumably at her home in Hami.

When victim was detained Even prior to her detention, she was already under a certain level of pressure [like many in the region], as evidenced by her contacting Zulhumar in the fall of 2017 (when Zulhumar was already living in Sweden) and asking her to send photographic proof of her (Zulhumar) studying there.

She is believed to have been detained and taken for "education" in October-November 2018.

In late March 2019, she was suddenly at home and reachable, following her daughter's publicizing of the detention. She appears to have remained in a sort of soft detention since.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Not clear, although her daughter Zumret suggests that it may have been because of Zohre's opposition to doing away with the dual-language education system in Xinjiang.

Victim's status

She does not appear to be in hard detention, looks better than she did after initially being released, and may have the freedom to partake in certain activities.

Since her release, she has on several occasions tried to pressure her daughter to not speak about their family's situation publicly - in addition to doing so in private communication, she has also denied the media reports about her at a public press conference (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1181383.shtml), suggesting that she is under a certain amount of pressure from the authorities.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The initial detention became clear when Zulhumar lost contact with her mother in October-November 2018. According to Zumret, her father told her about Zohre's detention in a phone call, before being taken away himself later.

Zulhumar also writes that she got calls from cousins and uncles, in which they said that they had been asked to take some money and clothes for her parents, but that they were not allowed to visit them.

That both Zohre and her husband were released from detention was confirmed when Zulhumar video chatted with them, within 1-2 days of trying to call her father's office while he was allegedly still detained. Since then, Zulhumar has been in occasional communication with them. Zohre has "explained" her months-long disappearance to Zulhumar as being due to "illness".

Additional information

Zulhumar interview on the Foreign Policy podcast: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/01/uighur-first-person-humar-isaac/

Zulhumar's Medium posts about her mother (English and Mandarin): https://medium.com/@humarisaac/my-mother-was-caught-in-between-7700c11dccda https://link.medium.com/KTALUzfKIU

Also mentioned in: https://matters.news/@platero/湖玛的爸爸妈妈又消失了-zdpuAtW64hZkJEH8yA4jR92KZJXJsNjggBUAF73d mW5d1cVVX

Apple Daily coverage: https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/尋親者/祖麗米熱．伊沙克/全文

Featured in the New York Times Magazine: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/magazine/uyghur-muslims-china.html

The Global Times coverage of a Xinjiang press conference at which Zohre denied the reports about her: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1181383.shtml

Victims among relatives

Isaq Peyzul (2954)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2a9kgQLJ1s Testimony 6: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/humarisaac/posts/216148 6323917615&width=300 Testimony 7: https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1195706171010830337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1237035989413040128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 12: https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1271540346275663872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw XJ office letter denying detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/2953_2.jpg Testimony 8-9: https://shahit.biz/supp/2953_3.mp4 co-authored article: https://shahit.biz/supp/2953_5.pdf

Entry created: 2019-03-07 Last updated: 2020-05-26 Latest status update: 2021-02-13 2954. Isaq Peyzul (依沙克·排祖拉)

Chinese ID: 652201196204102736 (Kumul)

Basic info

Age: 58 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hami Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: media/journalism

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|4|5|9|10: Zulhumar Isaac, an ethnic Uyghur and Chinese citizen, currently resides in Sweden with her husband. She graduated from Beijing University in 2011, majoring in journalism, then worked for tech companies in Beijing. (daughter)

Testimony 2*: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Zumret Isaac, as reported by Apple Daily. (daughter)

Testimony 6: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by New York Times. (daughter)

Testimony 7: Zumret Isaac, as reported by South China Morning Post. (daughter)

Testimony 8: Zulhumar Isaac, as reported by South China Morning Post. (daughter)

Testimony 11: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Isaq Peyzul worked at the editing office (总编室) of the Uyghur-language Party newspaper "Qumul Daily".

Address: Hami (Qumul) City.

Victim's location

[Presumably at his home in Hami.]

When victim was detained

He was detained on November 18, 2018.

At the end of March 2019, his daughter in Sweden called his office and was told that he was "at a meeting". A day later, he was suddenly reachable, presumably released from detention.

Contact thereafter has been sporadic, but it appears that he's remained under some sort of soft detention.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

No longer in hard detention.

According to his daughter on social media, he has gained some weight since being released, and partakes in some regular activities. He also has access to a phone.

A proof-of-life video released in February 2021 showed him "living normally" at home.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Zulhumar learned about it through cousins and uncles, who were asked to bring money and clothing to her parents (but weren't allowed to visit them).

More specifically, a cousin called the victim's daughter Zumret on November 18, 2018, after which she'd message Zulhumar and tell her that "Isaq too [has been detained]".

Additional information

Mention in Foreign Policy podcast: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/01/uighur-first-person-humar-isaac/

Featured in New York Times Magazine: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/magazine/uyghur-muslims-china.html

Additional mention/coverage: https://matters.news/@platero/湖玛的爸爸妈妈又消失了-zdpuAtW64hZkJEH8yA4jR92KZJXJsNjggBUAF73d mW5d1cVVX https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/尋親者/祖麗米熱．伊沙克/全文

An article for the Qumul Daily, in which Isaq covers the "visiting relatives" program: https://archive.vn/YI58E

Victims among relatives

Zohre Talip (2953)

Supplementary materials call to office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUHowWxg3aU Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2a9kgQLJ1s Testimony 5: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/humarisaac/posts/216148 6323917615&width=300 Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1193691184180482054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/humarisaac/status/1195706171010830337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw XJ office letter denying detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/2954_3.jpg Testimony 7-8: https://shahit.biz/supp/2954_4.mp4 photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/2954_7.jpg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/2954_8.jpg

Entry created: 2019-03-07 Last updated: 2021-05-18 Latest status update: 2021-02-13 2983. Enwer Tursun (艾尼瓦尔·吐尔孙)

Chinese ID: 65410119????????O? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Ferkat Jawdat, a software engineer living in the Washington, DC area. (nephew)

Testimony 2: Ferkat Jawdat, as reported by Al Jazeera. (nephew)

About the victim

Enwer Tursun, the younger brother of victim Munewer Tursun (no. 1601), the testifier's mother.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili, as the family seems to be from Ghulja.]

When victim was detained

Detained since the spring of 2016.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

In detention.

[On November 17, 2019, Global Times posted a video statement by Enwer (https://archive.vn/rOpoZ), where he warns that Ferkat will regret being ‘involved in terrible things in the U.S.’ and invites him to come back home. While this should not be taken at face value, it may be seen as a likely indicator that the victim is no longer in hard detention, given similar cases.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Unclear.

Additional information

Testimony source: https://uyghuraid.org/blog/2019/01/31/ferkat-s-story

Victims among relatives

Minewer Tursun (1601), Nurtai Tursun (2982)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1228041903146512384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Global Times propaganda video: https://shahit.biz/supp/2983_1.mp4

Entry created: 2019-03-11 Last updated: 2020-04-16 Latest status update: 2019-11-17 3111. Balqash Marqub

Chinese ID: 654301198912050013 (Altay)

Basic info

Age: 30 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced When problems started: Oct. 2018 - Dec. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): phone/computer|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8: Serik Qabylqaq, born in 1979, now lives in Kazakhstan. (uncle)

Testimony 9: Gulpan Esetai, born in 1961, now a citizen of Kazakhstan. (aunt-in-law)

About the victim

Balqash Marqub, born in December 1989, is a Chinese citizen. He was working in Koktogay Airport in Altay region, a job he started in 2015. He has a degree in mining.

Residential address: Altay City

Victim's location

Previously: Allegedly being held in prison in Buyrshyn county of Altay region.

[Now unclear as he has been sentenced.]

When victim was detained earlier: January 12, 2019

Testimony 5: detained in December 2018.

Testimony 6: detained in 2018.

Testimony 8: He was arrested in December 2019 [possibly a mistake] for no reason and was sentenced to 3 years in prison in April 2020.

Testimony 9: He was arrested in 2018 for reading a prohibited book. He was given two-year prison term in 2019. Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 4: installing a program on his phone

Testimony 9: reading a prohibited book [unclear if related to program on phone]

Victim's status in detention

Testimony 5: testifier heard that his trial will be held soon (as of December 2019). [presumably in pre-trial detention]

Testimony 8: sentenced to 3 years.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

Testimony 3: his mother is in the hospital.

Testimony 7: After the testifier started his appealing, the local authorities have started putting pressure on his sister Qadiba Qabylqaq.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFGCIilAws Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdQM4ir6Bzs Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zewzaTS4JHA Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_EwrAQrgPA Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY6-RswJSPE Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6BM6z4xfY Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SzGwHACpd4 Testimony 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7zZQAi0Cns Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft6xtu4C5SI

Entry created: 2019-03-20 Last updated: 2021-08-10 Latest status update: 2020-10-26 3112. Wayit Omer

Chinese ID: 653021197007100037 (Atush)

Basic info

Age: 50 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kizilsu Status: no news for over a year When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|2|3|4|5: Kewser Wayit, a resident of the United States. He is originally from Atush. (son)

Testimony 6: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Wayit Omer was born in Atush and worked for the city government, before retiring at the age of 44 because of health issues.

Victim's location

Back home in Atush [presumably].

When victim was detained

Detained on July 16, 2017 and taken to a "re-education" camp in Atush. He was taken out and to a hospital twice in 2017 because of high pressure blood, and once again in 2018.

On April 18, 2019, Kewser talked to him briefly and learned that he had been released.

Since September 2019, all contact has been lost, however.

(Police records also mention him going through a police check on June 18, 2017 in Urumqi, being deemed "completely normal" (一切正常), and allowed to move on (放行).)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

His 10-day business trip to Turkey.

Victim's status

According to Kewser's mother, he was doing "well" following his release. However, he was now suffering from frequent headaches and high blood pressure following his detention.

It is not clear what has happened since September 2019, however, as Kewser has lost all contact.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

During the victim's detention, Kewser heard everything from his mother, who was the only person he could contact. She said that he could call her once or twice a week. Kewser also talked to his father once in December 2017, while he was in the hospital because of high blood pressure, but would not be allowed to talk to him when he was in the hospital again in 2018. After his latest hospitalization, Kewser's mother would have video chats with the victim a few times from the local neighborhood administration office, in addition to visiting him once every month or two.

Kewser's contact with his mother was broken on March 14, 2019, however, as the authorities told her not to answer his calls (according to his sister).

Limited contact was reestablished with both parents afterwards, although Kewser once more lost contact a week after releasing a video testimony for the Uyghur Pulse project on September 7, 2019. He has not been able to contact them since.

Additional information

Kewser writes:

"This whole ordeal has been extremely stressful for our family. I have twin siblings, who are both in middle school and are going to take the entrance exam for high school soon [as of March 2019]. It has been a lot of pressure for my mother to work full time as a teacher, to make weekly visits to the house of their "Chinese relatives", and at the same time look after the family."

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmG0f0RVUg0 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avh4hSeJ8Rs Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVmtFwBrYH8 Testimony 2: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/kawsar.bughraoglu/posts/ 1042778105910740&width=300 family photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3112_5.jpg

Entry created: 2019-03-20 Last updated: 2021-07-06 Latest status update: 2021-06-09 3160. Rehmutulla Shirbaqi (热合木图拉·西热瓦克)

Chinese ID: 653222201612270831 (Karakash)

Basic info

Age: 1 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: other When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: deceased Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|4: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 3|5: Local police, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 6: Xinjiang government records, as reported by Adrian Zenz.

About the victim

Rehmutulla Shirbaqi was a ~2-year-old boy, living with his grandparents because his parents had both been detained.

Address: Chokan Jilgha Village, Zawa Municipality, Karakash County, Hotan Prefecture (和田地区墨玉县扎瓦镇乔坎吉勒尕村).

Victim's location

Died in Karakash.

When victim was detained

His parents were both detained because of a "phone issue" and sent to the Bostankol (No. 1) camp in Karakash at some point in early 2018. Government records from April 2018 do not mention the parents as being in detention, so it is possible that they were detained in April or soon after.

Following their detention, Rehmutulla was being looked after by his grandparents, Mehtumhan Tursunniyaz and Metnuri Mehsut. On December 2018, he disappeared from home, with his frozen body being found in an irrigation ditch three days later. Likely (or given) reason for detention

His predicament is believed to be the result of both parents being detained.

Victim's status

Deceased.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

One of the police officers who spoke to Radio Free Asia said that the victim's sister's teacher contacted him about the case.

Other local officials and police did not specify how they learned about the incident, but would presumably have fairly direct knowledge by virtue of their positions and physical proximity.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/drowning-01082019130159.html

The Xinjiang authorities replied to the case (https://archive.is/K0Fvb, https://archive.vn/GeG3E) in January 2020, saying that the parents' names were Shirbaqi Emetbaqi and Bujennet Jappar, and that they were never detained. This introduces an additional contradiction in that the grandfather's name, as reported by Radio Free Asia, would imply that either the mother or father should have Metnuri as their patronymic. [These contradictions cannot be reconciled at the moment.]

Entry created: 2019-03-21 Last updated: 2021-02-10 Latest status update: 2018-12-21 3180. Ibrahimjan Qasim (伊卜拉伊木江·喀斯木)

Chinese ID: 653123200008262911 (Yengisar)

Basic info

Age: 19 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: deceased Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Guly Mehsut, an Uyghur activist and YouTuber, originally from Turpan but now residing in Canada. (acquaintance)

Testimony 2: Guly Mehsut, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (acquaintance)

Testimony 3: Local police, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 4: Local court employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Ibrahimjan Qasim was an Uyghur man who was born on the 26 August 2000. He was originally from Kashgar. He was residing in inner China until authorities instructed him to move back to Kashgar approximately five months before his death. He passed away at his parents' home in Kashgar on 27 May 2020.

ID address: House No. 58, Group No. 3, Ostengboyi Village, Siyitle Township, Yengisar County, Xinjiang (新疆英吉沙县色提力乡乌斯唐博依村3组058号).

Victim's location

Died in Kashgar.

When victim was detained

In December 2019, when the victim was away from the family home and residing somewhere in inner China, the victim sent a number of messages to the testifier. According to the testifier, the victim had talked about discrimination towards Uyghurs in China and sent the testifier information in relation to Muhammad Memtimin (6207) and Memtimin Rusul (6206).

Directly prior to Memtimin Rosul (6206) being released in early 2020, local authorities were searching for a whistleblower who forwarded information in relation to Memtimin Rosul (6206) to the testifier; they reportedly searched the mobile phones of Memtimin Rosul's (6206) family members at local police stations. [It is plausible that the victim (Ibrahimjan Qasim) was the whistleblower they were searching for at the time.]

When the victim was in inner China, he informed the testifier that he was asked to go back to Xinjiang by local police [unclear if "local police" refers to police in inner China or police in Xinjiang]. The victim also told the testifier at some point in time that his life was in danger.

The victim told the testifier at some point in time that he was returning to his hometown (in Kashgar), but [trans. from Uyghur] "had a bad feeling about [it]". The victim told the testifier to assume that he was in "training" [a euphemism referring to a concentration camp] if the testifier was unable to reach him for two months. The victim also sent photographs of the front and back of his Chinese resident identification card to the testifier. (Testimony 2: Ibrahimjan also asked Guly Mahsut [before his return] to monitor his situation by following his WeChat account; he planned to "continue making posts and changing his profile photo periodically as a way of signaling to her that he was still free." He changed his profile photo regularly until suddenly stopping in May.)

After moving back to Kashgar, the victim stayed in Kashgar with his parents for approximately five months before he passed away at his home on 27 May 2020. The cause of death is unspecified in this testimony.

(The victim reportedly made a voice testimony in Uyghur language at some point in time in relation to a number of topics, including forced labour, sex slavery, discrimination, confiscated passports, the detention of [his] relatives and friends, police harassment and humiliation during lockdown [presumably referring to the COVID-19 pandemic].)

Testimony 3: in the last week of May 2020, Ibrahimjan Qasim and 44 (14, according to https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/ibrahim-qasim-12142020180323.html) other people were "warned they would be detained in camps for periods of between six months and five years, with the length of their stay 'dependent on their behaviour.'" (According to that anonymous police officer, of the aforementioned 44 victims, eight were let go after investigations, and the rest are still in detention. Ibrahimjan Qasim was one of the eight who were released. The anonymous police officer confirmed that he took his own life "at home" after the incident. RFA asked the officer whether or not members of the group had committed any crimes, to which the officer responded "No, they only watched and shared sensitive materials.")

Testimony 4: An anonymous justice department employee in Setil Township also confirmed that a "young man by the name of Ibrahimjan Qasim died by suicide in the township in May [2020]."

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The victim presumably attracted police attention as a result of speaking out in relation to the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghurs via messages to the testifier and at least one voice testimony. The fact that the victim forwarded information in relation to Muhammad Memtimin (6207) and Memtimin Rusul (6206) to the testifier [apparently in December 2019] may have also been a contributing factor. [Before Memtimin Rusul (6206) was released from prison, local police were looking for the whistleblower who forwarded information in relation to Memtimin Rusul (6206) to the testifier.]

Victim's status

The victim is deceased. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The testifier conversed with the victim via message in December 2019.

The testifier confirmed [via an unspecified source] on 20 September 2020 that the victim had passed away at his home in Kashgar on 27 May 2020.

Testimony 2:

At an unspecified point in time, Guly Mahsut called a telephone number that Ibrahimjan Qasim had previously shared with her. An unspecified individual picked up, and Guly Mahsut spoke with that individual. The individual said that Ibrahim Qasim "had learned he would be interned because he was born in the year 2000, thus falling within an age range for Uyghur men that is considered 'dangerous' by authorities." The individual who picked up the phone informed Guly Mahsut that Ibrahimjan Qasim had killed himself on 27 May 2020. The individual also said that upon returning to Setil Township, Ibrahimjan Qasim was regularly called in to speak with police. (According to that individual, after his return to Setil Township, Ibrahimjan Qasim and a group of similarly aged peers "had black hoods placed over their heads [by police] and were told they would be sent to internment camps.")

Testimony 3-4: these are people in the local government organs, and presumably have more direct knowledge of the case.

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 2-4): https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/suicide-12182020115259.html

Testimony 2: Guly Mahsut received audio messages from Ibrahimjan Qasim when he was in Fujian before he was contacted by the authorities, saying that he "knew of several peers in Yengisar who had been taken to the camps 'for no reason' -- including his 16-year-old cousin Muhammed Memtimin."

Testimony 2: Guly Mahsut says that Ibrahimjan Qasim "had explored ways that he could flee China, despite having no passport, and had asked her for advice on how to do so." Ibrahimjan Qasim was reportedly aware of how the mass incarceration campaign in the XUAR had ramped up in 2018 and 2019, and believed that he would also be sent to a concentration camp. Initially, he considered a route to either Tajikistan or Kazakhstan, but was afraid of the strict control that authorities exert over the movement of Uyghurs within the XUAR. Ibrahimjan Qasim contacted a smuggler, who told him that he could take him to Hong Kong, from where he would be able to escape to Southeast Asia. Ibrahimjan was concerned that he would be "unable to continue to another country from increasingly restrictive Chinese island territory." Ibrahimjan Qasim came to believe that there was no way to escape China, and after receiving the call from authorities demanding that he to return to the XUAR, he feared that evading the authorities would put his family in danger, so he traveled back home to Siyitle Township, Yengisar County [from Fujian].

Victims among relatives

Memtimin Rusul (6206), Muhemmed Memtimin (6207)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/Guly780/status/1307548823091281920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/3180_2.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3180_3.jpg

Entry created: 2021-01-31 Last updated: 2021-05-02 Latest status update: 2020-05-27 3187. Mirzat Osman

Chinese ID: 65????198???????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Adil Qasim, a resident of France. (brother-in-law)

Testimony 3*: Adil Qasim, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (brother-in-law)

About the victim

Mirzat Osman is in his early 30s and holds a bachelor's degree from Xinjiang Agricultural University. He was a student in Italy at the time of his disappearance, and would become a father in absentia on January 2018, when his wife gave birth to a baby boy.

He is proficient in Mandarin, English, and Italian.

Victim's location

---

When victim was detained

He has been out of contact since September 2017, according to Adil. Abduweli's list says that he has been missing since October 2017, but this might be an error [Adil's testimony is more personal and should be given preference].

In early October 2019, it was reported that Mirzat had been released.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

Reported "released" in October 2019, but further details are unavailable.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not stated.

Additional information

The news of his release came just a month or two after Adil started appealing for him as part of the Uyghur Pulse project (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxtHBfWaWYQPNgfvdvSDn4A/videos).

This victim is included in the list of prominent detained Uyghurs, available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yIqbNP5-Q photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3187_1.png

Entry created: 2019-03-22 Last updated: 2020-06-13 Latest status update: 2019-10-08 3258. Irfan Yarmemet (伊尔番·亚尔麦麦提)

Chinese ID: 6501?19????????O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: "Oz Turan", an unverified Facebook account. (relative)

Testimony 2*: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (relative)

Testimony 3: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Irfan Yarmemet, a student at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. Originally from Urumqi, according to his Facebook.

Testimony 3: he now allegedly works for the China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

In camp since 2018, according to testifier. Testifier writes that he was taken to camp twice, with contact lost after his second detention.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Testimony 2: Released from camp, according to testifier in late August 2019.

Testimony 3: a proof-of-life video shows him saying that reports about him going missing are "ridiculous", and that he's doing well and planning to start a family.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Not stated, but apparently they were in contact until the second detention.

Testimony 3: Chinese state media put the victim on camera.

Additional information

Irfan's father is also in camp.

Link to his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/irfamuygur.yarmuhemmet

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baa9xilHfSI Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php%3Ffbid%3D201 6080835107071%26set%3Da.275932845788554%26type%3D3&width=300 Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/photo/%3Ffbid%3D573822 632704951%26set%3Da.165834800170405&width=300

Entry created: 2019-03-24 Last updated: 2021-03-29 Latest status update: 2020-01-01 3317. Zumret Awut

Chinese ID: 652801196004100026 (Korla)

Basic info

Age: 59 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Bayingolin Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: librarian

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Mirshad Ghalip, an Uyghur living in the United States

Victim's relation to testifier

Mother

About the victim

Zumret Awut, 58 years old (as of March 2019), a retired librarian and a widow. Speaks fluent Chinese

Victim's location

Kurla city, Bayinguolin Mongol autonomous prefecture

When victim was detained

Mid-October 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Previously in camp. According to an April 16 Facebook post from Mirshad, his mother has been released.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear

Additional information Testifier's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirshad.ghalip

Supplementary materials video testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvDgzVk9soQ post sharing news of release: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/mirshad.ghalip/posts/1015 6587734798525&width=300

Entry created: 2019-03-27 Last updated: 2019-03-27 Latest status update: 2019-04-16 3376. Imran Eli Jumahun

Chinese ID: 650102198107044034 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 38 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uzbek Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|6: Pazil "Khan", a resident of Australia. (cousin)

Testimony 2*|3*|4*|5*: Pazil "Khan", as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (cousin)

Testimony 7: Gulnihal Ablet, a resident of Germany. (cousin)

About the victim

Imran Eli Jumahun completed his university studies in Urumqi and was in the real-estate business, having previously worked as a wholesale clothes seller for clients in Kazakhstan and also as a professional accordion player. His wife was a doctor and had worked at a hospital in Urumqi, with the couple having 3 children, all under the age of 10.

In 2014/2015, he made an Umrah (pilgrimage) to Mecca.

Victim's location

Ghulja.

When victim was detained

He was sent to a detention center in 2016, after which his family bribed officials to get him out of the center and transferred to an internment camp (in 2017).

In early June 2019, he was let out for a day to see his dying father, who'd pass away from cancer in mid-June. Imran was also allowed to attend his funeral, but was taken back to camp to "finish his studies" afterwards.

He appears to have been released in December 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention Travelling overseas.

Victim's status

Appears to be released, but exact status unclear.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Through contact with his parents and other family members. His parents had lost all hope and have encouraged their family overseas to publize his case in the hope that it helps.

Additional information

The victim's mother, Halida, has been seriously ill from the ordeal (of having a terminally ill husband and her son in detention).

His father-in-law, a popular imam from Ghulja, is also in an internment camp (as of mid-2019), together with the rest of his family.

Victims among relatives

Abduhelil Ablahat (3637)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iibr5Surs8Q Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQo09QKrK4 photo with kids: https://shahit.biz/supp/3376_1.jpeg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3376_2.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-04-01 Last updated: 2020-04-15 Latest status update: 2019-12-02 3377. Abdujelil Helil (阿不都吉力力·海利力)

Chinese ID: 6531011963??????O? (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: 57-58 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: sentenced When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|"extremism", "terrorism", assisting "criminals" Health status: critical Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abdurahman Hesen, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Anonymous letter, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (relation unclear)

Testimony 3: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 4: Yasinahun, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 5|8: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 6: Anonymous, as reported by Voice of America. (relative)

Testimony 7: Radio Free Asia Uyghur, the Uyghur-language service of Radio Free Asia.

About the victim

Abdujelil Helil (Hajim), chairman (Testimony 7: vice chairman) of the Kashgar Prefectural Trade Association and one of the 4 wealthiest businessmen in Kashgar. He owns a firm that transports goods between China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as large tracts of property in Kashgar and Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. A recent RFA report presents him as the founder and legal representative of Xinjiang Helil International Trading LLC.

He was born in Kashgar City.

Victim's location

Kashgar

When victim was detained

CECC report: May 1, 2017 RFA report (Uyghur): According to the news, he was accused, by Kashgar Prefecture Intermediate Court and Xinjiang Autonomous Region People's Procuratorate Kashgar Branch, of having financially assisted in terrorist activity and he was arrested on the 6th of May 2017. Separately on the 18th of May 2017 and on the 28th of July 2018, there was open court session for him and he was fined 5 million Yuan and he was sentenced to 11 years temporary imprisonment on the charge of committing "financing the terrorist activities" crime. Also, his 80 million Yuan private property was confiscated. He rejected the court decision and he appointed a lawyer whose name is Liaoyong from Szechwan Law firm. On the 8th of January 2019, the previous court decision was invalidated but he hasn't been released yet. After he was arrested in May 2017, he was put in Qarlighach Binam Prison in Peyzawat County, Kashgar Prefecture. During this time, he was harshly interrogated and [possibly] physically tortured as to have been taken to hospital two times. Now he is allegedly in a very poor health condition that he cannot stand up and he was taken to Yiraq Sheriq Hospital in Kashgar city.

RFA report (English): Xinjiang High People’s Court has ruled that his previous ruling was conducted with “procedural errors” and has transferred the case to Kashgar Intermediate Court. Even though China’s Criminal Procedure Law states that in such cases the sentenced should be immediately released, Abdujelil is still in detention and has been transferred to Yuandong Hospital in Kashgar. He had already been treated in the hospital a few times due to his health’s deterioration in prison.

Testimony 6: According to an anonymous relative [of Abdujelil Helil], he was "sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2017 on terrorism charges for wiring money to a friend from Turkey to buy gifts for her daughter's wedding." After the anonymous relative spoke to RFA in 2019 about the imprisonment of Abdujelil Helil, Xinjiang authorities added the extra crime of "joining terrorist activities" to Abdujelil Helil's court case.

Testimony 7: arrested on March 13, 2017. Charged with "aiding terrorism" on 28 May 2017. His initial sentence was 14 years of imprisonment, a fine of 73,000,000 yuan and a fine against his company of 5,000,000 yuan.

Testimony 8: Abdujelil was retried in secret at Qalghach Binam Prison on 17 March 2021. The judgement was predetermined. He had two lawyers from Yafeng firm in Sichuan who were "only informed of the proceedings one week prior" and given "stacks of documents and evidence" with insufficient time for review. They requested that the trial be moved back by a week, but were denied. The lawyers had to admit Abdujelil was a "criminal" to participate in the trial, and were threatened by officials on multiple occasions. They were told that the trial "was a matter of 'national security' and that there would be 'no disputing the charges.'" The trial took two hours and the ruling was "suspended until a 'later date.'"

Likely (or given) reason for detention

CECC: For "displaying signs of religious extremism". A local township security official interviewed by RFA said that "he had also undertaken 'unapproved, private hajj' pilgrimages and been involved with imams who were not sanctioned by the state."

RFA report: sentenced for financing terrorism.

RFA report (Testimony 1-2: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/kishilik-hoquq/turmidiki-sodiger-abdujelil-hajim-02132018222009.h tml):

In 2014, after a few days the Elishqu Incident, he and Secretary of Kashgar Prefecture (Chinese) visited Elishqu to show concern for the people. Later, with the oral permission of the authorities, Abdujelil Hajim offered 50 tones of coal to the locals on behalf of Kashgar Prefecture Trade Association and a letter RFA received highlights that this caused his detention.

Testimony 8: Abdujelil is now accused of meeting with the 'Camel Group' of ETIM in Kashgar in 2008 and 2009.

Testimony 8: The "aiding terrorists" charge was for transferring money to a woman in Urumqi whose husband was in Turkey, and the "membership in a terrorist organisation" charge was for meeting with the 'Camel Group' of ETIM in Kashgar in 2008 and 2009, based on 30 witness interviews. The witnesses include "several other inmates currently serving prison terms."

Victim's status

CECC report: Sentenced to 18 years.

RFA: Charges dropped, but he remains in detention and in very poor health.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: It's not clear where Abdurahman Hesen knows this from (however, he is also a businessman from the same region).

Testimony 3-4: the sources hold police/government positions in the region.

Testimony 5: through official court documents.

Testimony 6: The anonymous relative provided VOA with a Chinese court document [not included in the article] that reportedly accused Abdujelil Helil of "materially aiding terrorist activities." In addition to the 14-year prison sentence, Abdujelil Helil also had all of his assets confiscated. In total, those assets were worth approcimately $11,000,000 [presumably USD].

Testimony 7: presumably from a mix of sources and previous investigations.

Testimony 8: not stated, though the sources cite "witness interviews".

Additional information

RFA coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/wealthiest-01052018144327.html (Testimony 3-4) https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/dangliq-sodiger-09122019154058.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/appeal-09172019145104.html (Testimony 5) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/appeal-03312021195653.html (Testimony 7-8)

Voice of America coverage (Testimony 6): https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/voa-news-china/china-retaliates-against-uighur-activists-impri soning-relatives-us

Mentioned in the CECC report: https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

His entry in HRWF database: https://hrwf.eu/hrwf-prisoners-database-china/#hrwf-prisoners-database/china-database-original-upload -221019-sheet1-details/5db6ba55afc9eb177bc1d7e1/

Testimony 6: According to the anonymous relative, after Abdujelil Helil was detained, [sic] "16 of his relatives, including his wife, son and his business associates" were also taken to concentration camps.

Testimony 7: Li Ningping (Secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Party Committee) insisted that Abdujelil remain in prison during the review of his case. Li led the review, which lasted "close to a year and a half", and led to more serious charges: "aiding terrorists" and "membership in a terrorist organization".

Listings of his company: https://archive.ph/klCpu https://archive.ph/ycWCR https://archive.is/7wSK3 https://archive.is/KIOjq

Company he was a shareholder of: https://archive.is/8H1zn

Lawsuits that he's been involved in: https://www.shahit.biz/supp/wenshu/abdujelilhelil1.pdf https://www.shahit.biz/supp/wenshu/abdujelilhelil2.pdf

Mentions in local media: https://archive.is/rU8DQ https://archive.is/L0Fsh https://archive.is/2WrLx (recognized as one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs in Kashgar) https://archive.is/xj6Th https://archive.is/Xw7Yf https://archive.is/gi2aJ (visit to Bukhara)

Supplementary materials photo (second from right): https://shahit.biz/supp/3377_1.jpeg photo (center): https://shahit.biz/supp/3377_2.jpeg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3377_3.jpg visiting factory in Bukhara: https://shahit.biz/supp/3377_4.jpg

Entry created: 2019-04-01 Last updated: 2021-06-14 Latest status update: 2021-03-31 3379. Mutellip Nurmehmet (木他力甫·努尔麦麦提)

Chinese ID: 6501??19780918??O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 40 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: deceased Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3: Erkin Sidiq, an Uyghur-American NASA engineer living in the United States. He was born in Aksu and is a graduate of Xinjiang University. (friend)

Testimony 2: Rishat Musajan, the mayor of Hotan.

Testimony 4: Mir'ehmet Ablet, a Dutch citizen of Uyghur descent. (friend)

About the victim

Mutellip Nurmehmet earned two master’s degrees in the United States - one in business administration from California State University, and one in information systems from Northeastern University.

He had two children who had been born in the United States. In 2004, he returned to Xinjiang, where he would have several businesses, including the (previously foreign owned) "Ice Mountain" ice cream shop/factory.

Victim's location

Died in Urumqi.

When victim was detained

He was allegedly forced to revoke the US citizenship of his two children upon returning to Xinjiang.

In 2018, he was sent to a camp and kept there for about 9 months. According to Erkin Sidiq, he was nearly tortured to death there, before being returned to his parents and dying 8-9 days later in the hospital from internal bleeding.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Possibly for studying in the US. Victim's status

Deceased.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not clear how Erkin Sidiq, the victim's friend and source of the original testimony, learned about Mutellip's detention and death.

The death has been confirmed by the Chinese officials.

Additional information

The "Ice Mountain" ice cream business: https://archive.fo/WppaI

Other businesses: https://archive.vn/he3re https://archive.vn/5s3ff

Mentioned in a report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project: https://docs.uhrp.org/pdf/UHRP_UPDATE-ThePersecution_ofTheIntellectuals-in-the-Uyghur-Region.pdf

Originally reported by Erkin Sidiq on one of his websites: http://www.uyghuremergency.org/

Following the victim's case being mentioned in the 2019 Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, the Xinjiang People's Government Information Office held a press conference (https://archive.vn/2J2qV), in which they confirmed Mutellip's death but said that he had "never studied at a vocational education and training center before his death" and "died of excessive drinking, respiratory failure and acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding". CGTN also produced a similar video, "interviewing" both Mutellip's father and wife.

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

[This is an excerpt from an official press conference held on March 2, 2020 by the XUAR People's Government Information Office.]

China Global Television Network: The CECC’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019-China alleged that:"Xinjiang arbitrarily detained ethnic minorities including the Uygur and tortured the detainees. Nurmuhemmet Tohti, a famous Uygur writer, died in a detention camp; A Uygur named Mutellip Nurmehmet died 9 days after releasing from the Education and Training Center." Is it true?

Xu Guixiang: This question goes to Rishat Musajan.

Rishat Musajan, Mayor of Hotan City: Xinjiang fights terrorism and extremism in accordance with law, which doesn't target any ethnicity, and protect people under the threat of terrorism and extremism instead. This is the important principle we uphold all the time. In practice, we insist that everyone, regardless of his or her identity or ethnicity, is equal before the law as long as he or she breaks the law. Anyone who engages in terrorism and extremism related activities or endangers public safety and property, will surely be brought to justice. In line with the principle of the criminal law that advocates a combination of punishment and leniency, we resort to education and rehabilitation to bring about and educate people who are infected by religious extremism and committed minor offences in education and training Centers established according to the law. So-called “arbitrary detentions of ethnic minorities including the Uygur” have never existed at all.

In real practice, the education and training centers strictly followed the Constitution and laws to prevent any violation of the basic rights of the trainees. Trainees' personal freedom at the education and training centers were protected. The centers were managed in residential education model which allowed trainees to go back home and ask for leave to attend personal affairs. The trainees’ right to use their spoken and written languages were fully protected at the centers. The regulations, curriculum, and menus at the centers all used local ethnic languages as well as standard Chinese. The customs of all ethnic groups were fully respected and protected, and a variety of nutritious Muslim food was provided free of charge. The education and training centers respect the trainees’ freedom of religious belief. The trainees decided on their own whether to take part in religious activities when they went back home. The centers were fitted with clinics on campus providing the trainees with 24-hour medical care free of charge. Minor ailments were treated in the clinics, while acute and serious illnesses will be timely referred to and treated at hospitals.

The allegations in the CECC's report that writer Nurmuhemmet Tohti died in a detention camp; and Mutellip Nurmehmet died 9 days after being releasing from a education and training center are totally fabricated rumors out of thin air. Nurmuhemmet Tohti is a Uygur from Hotan who has never studied in any education and training center. He had been suffering from heart disease for 20 years, in which he either was hospitalized for treatment or stayed at home for recuperation for quite long time. On the evening of May 31, 2019, he was struck by a massive heart attack and rush to a hospital where he died after emergency rescue failed.

Mutellip Nurmehmet, male, Uygur, a native of Urumqi, Xinjiang, had never studied in any education and training center before he died. According to the information reporters obtained through a visit to his home, he died of excessive drinking derived acute alcohol intoxication, alcoholic encephalopathy, respiratory failure and acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

The death of one’s relatives is a heart broken experience. However, some Americans made rumors about it, which made them extremely angry. I think anyone with a conscience would never do such a immoral thing.

...

China News Service: It was mentioned in the CECC’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019-China that the Washington Post interviewed the wife of Zharqynbek Otan, a Chinese Kazakh by ethnicity who had been held in a "Vocation Education and Training Center" for nearly two years before he returned back to Kazakhstan. After release, he suffers memory impairment, among other health problems". Can you give some more information on this?

Xu Guixiang: This question goes to Elijan Anayit.

Elijan Anayit, Spokesperson of the Information Office of the People's Government of XUAR: Zharqynbek Otan is a 33-year-old Kazakh from Zhaosu County of Ili Kazakh Prefecture, Xinjiang. On January 16, 2017, he entered China via Horgas Port from Kazakhstan. Border check found his passport pages from 15 to 20 were missing and his Kazakhstan Visa on Page 22 was deliberately altered by him manually. According to Item 1, Article 71 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Entry and Exit Administration. he was handed an administrative punishment and his passport nullified by local police agency.

Since then, Zharqynbek Otan has been living in his father's house at No.186 Honghanai Street, Zhaosu Country. His personal freedom has never been restricted and he never studied at any Vocational Education and Training Center. On October 26, 2018, upon his personal application for visiting his family members in Kazakhstan, local authority issued him a new passport through due procedures and he departed China on November 11, 2018. His family members in China affirmed that he was in good health condition with no memory problems before he left, let alone such a thing that he barely recognizes his family members.

With this opportunity, I would like to remind journalists from some American media, the handful of so-called witnesses you had interviewed, especially "East Turkistan" members wandering overseas, not only fabricate rumors themselves but also exploit the international media coverage by every means to mislead public opinion. I hope that your future reports must be based on fact and truth. Don't fall into traps of these vicious people and become a spreader of rumors, which damages your public credibility.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGJasI2NOWc CGTN propaganda video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=413JjdxKNW0 Twitter mention: https://twitter.com/Uyghurspeaker/status/1077115029927931904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/mirehmet/status/1349849114318614529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw alleged hospital form (state media): https://shahit.biz/supp/3379_4.png alleged cause of death (state media): https://shahit.biz/supp/3379_6.png official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_3379.png

Entry created: 2019-04-01 Last updated: 2020-06-01 Latest status update: 2018-12-22 3405. Hernisahan Semet

Chinese ID: 65280119????????E? (Korla)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Bayingolin Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|3: Omerjan Hemdul, originally from Korla but now residing in Turkey. (son)

Testimony 2: PRC consulate-embassy staff, a staff member at a People's Republic of China embassy or consulate.

Testimony 4: Omerjan Hemdul, as reported by Bitter Winter. (son)

About the victim

Her name is Hernisahan Semet. She is 60 years old. She can't walk [as the testifier says that she sits on a wheel chair.] (Testimony 4: she is paralyzed)

[Presumably, she is from Korla as that's where the family is from.]

Testimony 4: she is a widow, as her husband passed away while in Saudi Arabia.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Bayingolin.]

When victim was detained

Unclear if detained.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Unknown. The testifier says that he doesn't know if the victim is in the camp or at home; or alive. Testimony 2: in a message to Omer Hemdul, the PRC mission in Turkey staff told him that his parents don't want to talk to him because of his involvement in "anti-China organizations" (his video petitions).

Testimony 3: she is living by herself.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[Presumably by virtue of being unable to contact her.]

Testimony 2: this is an official source.

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 2): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/uyghurda-tutqun-02142020184252.html

Bitter Winter coverage (Testimony 4): https://bitterwinter.org/missing-uyghurs-do-not-reappear-the-case-of-the-hamdullah-family/

Victims among relatives

Rozi Hemdul (5381), Memet Hemdul (5382), Horigul Barat (4933), Ablimit Ziyawudun (4934), Hawagul Hemdul (584), Zeynigul Hemdul (3179), Muhammettahir Ablimit (4935), Zeripe Omer (15169), Zahide Omer (15168)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xotoMccsKg Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/OmerHemdulla/status/1271114020112777218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with son: https://shahit.biz/supp/3405_3.png

Entry created: 2020-05-09 Last updated: 2020-10-12 Latest status update: 2020-06-11 3418. Rahima Senbai (热黑曼·山拜)

Chinese ID: 654027198???????E? (Tekes)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"extremism", "terrorism", phone/computer Health status: has problems Profession: other

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rahima Senbai, as reported by Globe and Mail. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Rahima Senbai, an interpreter from Tekes County who now lives in Kazakhstan. She's a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang, having spent a year in a camp. (the victim)

Testimony 3: Rahima Senbai, as reported by The Believer. (the victim)

Testimony 4: Rahima Senbai, as reported by Apple Daily. (the victim)

Testimony 5: Rahima Senbai, as reported by New York Times. (the victim)

Testimony 6: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Rahima Senbai is from the Military Horse Farm village in Ili's Tekes County. She moved to Kazakhstan with her husband and four children in 2013, but would often go back and forth between the two countries, working as an interpreter in the ICBC (trade zone) at Khorgos.

According to her testimony, she was able to travel visa-free between China and Kazakhstan (and as such very likely had Kazakhstan residence).

Victim's location

In Kazakhstan.

When victim was detained

Called by Tekes County police on October 16, 2017, after which she was taken directly to a detention center. She stayed there for 70 days before being transferred to a "recruitment center".

She was released from the camp in October 2018, and was finally allowed to leave China in December. Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Rahima's testimony, she asked the people at camp why she was there and they told her that she was guilty of using WhatsApp.

Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office, confirmed her detention and said that she had been reported for watching "terrorist and extremist footage on her phone", while adding that police exercised leniency after "educating her" because "her offense was minor" (he claimed, however, that she was only detained for 3 hours).

Victim's status

Released after nearly a year in detention. Allowed to return to Kazakhstan, where she lives now.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Mention in the Globe and Mail (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-i-felt-like-a-slave-inside-chinas-complex-system-of-incar ceration/):

On the same day in October, 2017, that Ms. Auelhan entered China, police in Xinjiang’s Tekes County asked Rahima Senbai to come to their office. “It won’t take much time,” they said.

When she arrived, they took her directly to a detention centre, where she was placed in a cell with 24 women. At one point, she and the others were handcuffed and shackled for a full week. She stayed for 70 days before being sent to a place called a ”recruitment centre,” where people in masked biohazard suits delivered injections of what they said were anti-flu medication. Guards there once shocked her with a stun gun to the shoulder when she was too weak to walk quickly. “I felt like a slave,” Ms. Senbai said.

...

The detention-centre cell where Ms. Senbai stayed was equipped with cameras, a loudspeaker and a television set that displayed programming “about Chinese policies and Xi Jinping. We had to watch it,” Ms. Senbai said. Later, at the indoctrination centre, instructors asked us, ’Why do you believe in God? Do you think that if you need money and you pray, that God will give you money? You should think logically,’ ” Ms. Senbai recalled.

...

In nearly a year of detention, Ms. Senbai spent 45 days studying hairdressing.

“But in fact we didn’t learn anything,” she said. “For example, I didn’t learn how to cut hair.” Daily lessons consisted of two hours of theoretical instruction. Students were then given books to study. In a month and a half, she completed a single haircut, on another detainee who she persuaded to volunteer so she could make an attempt. ---

From a video interview given to Talpyn Zhastar: They had cold showers at the detention facility [unclear which]. The number of inmates in the cell was 24 at the beginning, but would grow to 70-80, with people forced to take turns sleeping. Rahima is now suffering from kidney problems.

---

Speaking to the Apple Daily (https://uat-xinjiangcamps.appledaily.com/受害者/熱黑曼/全文), Rahima mentioned having to undress in front of other detainees on several occasions. She also talked of young girls being taken away by police into closed rooms, with some of them never returning.

---

Rahima told the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/world/asia/leak-chinas-internment-camps.html) that the detainees in camps were graded on a point-based system. Everyone entered with a score of 1000, after which points could only be deducted. Anyone whose score dropped below 500 was made to stay in the camp for another year.

---

Global Times article on the Xinjiang press conference in which she was mentioned: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187107.shtml

Eyewitness account

[The following is the victim's first-person account to The Believer magazine, as reported by Ben Mauk.]

Yes, I was in the camp. For more than a year...

We were thinking of our children, you know? And their future. That’s why we moved here. We came because it’s the motherland. All Kazakhs should return to Kazakhstan! That’s what we were told. So, in 2013, we came: my husband and I and our four little children — two daughters and two sons. But since I had a permit for visa-free travel, I went back and forth. My parents were still in China, so I’d go to see them. And until 2017, there were no problems. Crossing the border was easy. That summer I even worked at the border, at the International Centre of Boundary Cooperation at Khorgos. It’s the free-trade zone. Do you know it? I was working as an interpreter at one of the Chinese bazaars: the Yu bazaar. Kazakhs would travel there to buy Chinese goods. I worked as a translator. When my children were about to go to school, I went back to Almaty. In August 2018, my parents called me back to China. The authorities had been to see them.

Ours is a very small village in Tekes County. It’s simply called Military Horse Farm. When I arrived, the authorities wanted to see me. They took a blood sample, my fingerprints, recorded my voice on a computer, took my picture from the front and in profile, then let me go. At the time, they didn’t tell me what it was for. I didn’t understand it. They took my phone number and I went back to Kazakhstan. Later that month, they called me and said I had to come to China again. At first I said no. Three days later, my parents called. The authorities had been to see them again. So, you see, I had to come.

That October, I crossed the border, spending the night at a guesthouse at Khorgos. I reached my village the next day and spent the night at my parents’ house. On the morning of the sixteenth, the authorities showed up. They told my parents that if I didn’t come with them, we’d be in violation of some law. They took photos of my mother and father, they photographed the house, then they took me away. They didn’t tell me they were taking me to a prison. They said I just had to answer some questions.

I was taken to prison in what was, for me, a new mode of travel: a police car. The guards didn’t say anything, didn’t explain anything. As I was about to enter the prison, they cuffed my hands and my legs. That’s when I realized I wouldn’t be going back home.

There were a lot of us in the prison. There were twenty girls in each room and there were many rooms. We sat, stood, and ate in this room. We slept there too. There was no exercise, no yard. We were in the room day and night. The guards weren’t violent. They didn’t beat us for nothing, but we couldn’t leave, and if we didn’t follow instructions quickly, they shouted and cursed at us. Eventually I got to know a few of the other women. Some I’ve kept in touch with, if I was able to find them after our release. Some of them spent a long time there. As for me, I was in prison for only seventy days. That December, they took me from the prison to a camp.

They called it a Professional Reeducation Center. We took Chinese-language lessons from morning till evening, every day. We also studied domestic politics. I already speak Chinese — I worked as a translator — so these lessons weren’t useful for me. But forget about me; there were people in the camp who were college graduates! Who am I to complain? What were these people doing there?

All this time, I didn’t know what was going on. I wondered: What did I do wrong? What crime have I committed? Why am I here? When I asked at the camp, they told me I was here because they’d found WhatsApp on my phone. You are guilty of using WhatsApp, they said. They claimed it contradicted the law. It’s a foreign application: Why are you using it in China? I told them that I lived in Kazakhstan. I bought the phone there! I tried to explain. But of course it’s clear to me now this was just a pretext. If it hadn’t been WhatsApp, they would have found another reason. Everyone there had his own story. Some were similar to mine. Some said they had been charged with reading namaz or studying the Koran. Some wore the hijab. I heard their stories when we were in our bedroom together, another large room that housed twenty or thirty people. We could talk inside this room. Outside, it was forbidden to make any noise at all.

The authorities in the camp were very strict, much worse than in the prison. They treated us not like humans but like animals. They would beat us, interrogate us, punish us by making us stand for hours, call us bad names, shout at us. Once, we were climbing the stairs to go to class as a group, and I felt ill. I’d had a headache that day. I got dizzy and stumbled, then began to fall, and someone — one of the guards — stuck me with an electric prod. My whole arm went numb. Another student had to hold me up so I wouldn’t keel over. Then we had to keep moving to get to class.

These prods, they used them constantly.

In the morning we would drink boiled water, one glass, and eat a plain steamed bun. For lunch we would eat Chinese cabbage boiled in water, simple as that. For dinner, we often had the same thing. There was no meat. Maybe once a month we would have plov.

It was the same situation for the entire year. We were never told when we would be released, if ever. We went to class every day. Once a week we were given an hour to exercise in the fenced yard outside. It would have been nice to know my last day — to be able to look forward to it — but they never told us. Each day was exactly the same. Some people in the camp had already been there a year by the time I arrived. I suspect some of them are still there. Some, I heard, were later sentenced to prison terms between five and twenty-five years. They claimed we were being trained, but I think their only goal is to destroy religion, to destroy nationality, to destroy tradition.

While I was in the camp, starting last August, my husband and children started to make petitions and videos about my case. They began to put pressure on the authorities. I think it’s because of the petitions, because my case was made public, that I was able to come back. It all happened suddenly one day. A guard came into our dormitory room and read my name aloud. Four of us were named, and they told us we were going to return to our homes. I was sent to my parents’ house first, but even then, for a while, they wouldn’t give me my passport. My family had to keep complaining. I got out of the camp in October and was finally able to leave China in December. So I’ve been home for only five months.

Except for the day I arrived and the day I left, only one day in the camp was different. That was the day of the open trial. They brought in seven women from a nearby prison who had been charged with gathering in a private home to pray together. During Ramadan, in the evening, you celebrate auyzashar ["mouth opener"], and the seven women had organized a meal and a prayer. That was their crime. At the trial, they read these accusations and sentenced each of the women to seven years in prison. They called it open court. None of the women spoke.

Source: https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

[This is an excerpt from an official press conference held on April 29, 2020 by the XUAR People's Government Information Office.]

Elijan Anayit: The third one, Rahima Xanba, is a totally liar. She said she was captured because she installed WhatsApp on her cellphone. She also said while being interviewed by The Globe and Mail, that she was put into a detention house for 70 days with shackles around her hands and feet. But that is not the truth. The real picture is that she was reported to the police because she stored and often watched terrorist and extremist audios and videos on her phone. Thus she was questioned by local police in accordance with the law. Considering her offence was minor and repentant attitude, the police exercised leniency on her according to law after educating her. Her mother, Danixman Musa, said, “it is indeed that my daughter was questioned in the police station on suspicion of committing offence after being infected with extremism. But she came back just after 3 hours. She was then at home attending to the cattle and sheep. What she said about 70 days of detention did not exist.”

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZHoDa6vpSU portrait (Globe and Mail): https://shahit.biz/supp/3418_1.jpg propaganda video attacking victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/3418_3.mp4 official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_3418.png

Entry created: 2019-04-02 Last updated: 2021-01-16 Latest status update: 2019-11-24 3423. Shafkat Abas (夏夫哈提·阿巴斯)

Chinese ID: 6501??19750123??O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 46 Gender: M Ethnicity: Tatar Likely current location: Changji Status: sentenced (10 years) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: medicine

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Anonymous, as reported by Amnesty International. (relative)

Testimony 2|3|4|5: Jaudat Abas, an ethnic Tatar from Xinjiang, now residing in Europe. (brother)

Testimony 6: Jaudat Abas, as reported by Living Otherwise. (brother)

About the victim

Shafkat Abas, a member of the Tatar ethnic minority, had studied traditional Uyghur medicine at the Xinjiang Uyghur Medicine College in Hotan for five years. Afterwards, he opened his own Uyghur medicine clinic. He would appear on a health show on the Urumqi radio station, and also gave lessons in traditional Uyghur medicine. In addition to his clinic, he also owned a small factory that produced herbal medicines.

He's married and has three children - a daughter and two twin sons (all underage).

Clinic's address: Apt. 1, Entrance No. 1, Building No. 1, 14 South Dawan Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi (鲁木齐市天山区大湾南路14号米兰1号楼1单元1号).

Residential address (as of 2015): 1-1-301 Honghui Residential Complex, 709 Tuanjie Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi (乌鲁木齐市天山区团结路709号宏汇小区1-1-301号).

Victim's location

Possibly a prison in Changji.

When victim was detained

Detained on March 13, 2017.

At some point, he was allegedly sentenced to 10 years in prison. Likely (or given) reason for detention

There are a number of likely reasons.

One is that his brother had used his computer to access foreign websites while visiting (as police questioned him just a few days after the event).

Other potential reasons are that he had an elderly patient who was an imam, as well as his possessing a number of banned religious books.

Victim's status

Serving a 10-year sentence.

According to his parents, who were able to visit him in November 2019 in prison, he was pale and had lost a lot of weight.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

In May 2017, his brother flew to Urumqi from Australia to find out more about Shafkat Abas’s detention. He went to a police station in Nanhu District in Urumqi to inquire about visiting him. When speaking to a vice police commissioner on May 8, he was told that visiting his brother was not possible, but that they would contact him if he left a copy of his passport and phone number.

However, there would be no word of Shafkat or his condition until the end of 2019, when his parents were able to visit him.

Additional information

Police allegedly told Jaudat's parents that Shawkat might be released if Jaudat deleted his testimonies from YouTube and Twitter, but he does not believe them.

Shawkat's and Jaudat's brother, who had gone to China in May 2017 to get information about Shawkat, has since been denied visas to China.

Amnesty International report: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/7678/2018/en/

Story covered in Living Otherwise: https://livingotherwise.com/2020/03/09/i-thought-it-would-be-convenient-to-use-my-brothers-computer-t o-check-my-email/

Business listing of his clinic: http://archive.is/ZuKXM

Listing of another business [possibly the aforementioned herbal medicines factory]: http://archive.is/GmAKK

His clinic is listed as making a 300RMB donation to the Municipal Red Cross in 2019: https://www.sohu.com/a/296154934_410241

A list of exam results, in which someone from the victim's clinic is marked as having failed: http://archive.is/ujCXv

Case mentioned in: https://centralasiaprogram.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Kasikci-CAP-Paper-219-June-2019.pdf

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HqTYMSDqp4 Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7DL4dT4P1c Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/Jaudat18/status/1100109495840227329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/Jaudat18/status/1220010763487715329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/3423_2.jpg dispute court case: https://shahit.biz/supp/3423_5.png

Entry created: 2019-04-02 Last updated: 2020-12-26 Latest status update: 2021-03-12 3563. Abduleziz Abdurahman (阿布都热合曼·阿布都力艾孜子)

Chinese ID: 65290120141121??O? (Aksu)

Basic info

Age: 6 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: --- When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|5: Abdurahman Tohti, originally from Beshtugmen Township but now residing in Turkey. (father)

Testimony 2: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by Business Insider. (father)

Testimony 3: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (father)

Testimony 4: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by Sky News. (father)

Testimony 6: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by New York Times. (father)

Testimony 7: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by Dilnur Reyhan. (father)

Testimony 8: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by This American Life. (father)

About the victim

Abdul'eziz Abdurahman is a Chinese citizen born in Turkey. His family is from Aksu's Beshtugmen Township (Yuqarqi Yengi'osteng Village).

Passport number: E55950164.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu prefecture.]

When victim was detained

In August 2016, Abdul'eziz's mother returned with him from Turkey to Xinjiang on a family visit, after which Abdurahman lost contact both with her and the children. It's not clear when exactly, but at some point before January 2019 Abdul'eziz seems to have been taken to a state-run orphanage, as in January 2019 his father saw a video of him at one, answering an instructor's questions in terse military style. Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Presumably because his mother was detained.]

Victim's status

As of January 2020, there is no one at Abdurahman's home in Aksu, and it is unclear if Abdul'eziz is still at the orphanage or elsewhere.

At some point in March 2020, the Chinese consulate called Abdurahman Tohti in relation to his children and told him that his children were with their uncle, not at a boarding school. The caller said that he did not know which uncle the children were with. (It is unclear whether this was true, or if it was a lie designed to keep Abdurahman Tohti quiet.)

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

From a video posted on Douyin.

(In approximately December 2018, a friend introduced Abdurahman Tohti to Douyin and showed him that he could search for videos posted by people in his hometown. As Abdurahman does not speak or write Mandarin, the friend typed in the name of Abdurahman's hometown for him. Afterwards, Abdurahman reportedly stayed in his apartment for a week, repeatedly searching for videos of Xinjiang, hoping to find someone that he recognized. Abdurahman saw the video of Abdul'eziz answering questions at the boarding school while he was lying in bed at approximately 2 in the morning on January 4, 2019.)

Additional information

At some point in 2020, Chinese authorities allegedly contacted Abdurahman (with his son), threatening him and telling him not to speak to media outlets.

Coverage in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

This American Life feature: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/701/transcript

Coverage by Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/family-of-uighurs-in-china-say-are-blocked-deleted-by-scared-family-20 19-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/mans-family-vanished-saw-son-2-years-later-in-china-propaganda-vide o-2019-2

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/video-03052019141910.html

In the German press: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/flucht-aus-china-das-schicksal-der-uiguren.795.de.html?dram:article_id= 458052

Sky News coverage: https://news.sky.com/story/mysterious-roadblocks-and-armed-police-on-the-trail-of-chinas-missing-uighu r-children-11822938

Miscellaneous media evidence

Context: Abdurahman Tohti has had no real news of his family since 2016, when his wife and children returned to Xinjiang and disappeared. In January 2019, Abdurahman saw a video of his son, Abdul'eziz Abdurahman, on the Chinese platform Douyin. In the video, one sees Abdul'eziz in a place with lots of other children - possibly in a classroom or a dorm. Prompted by a man speaking in Mandarin, Abdul'eziz answers questions about himself in terse, fast, military style. Many of the questions are "patriotic" in nature.

Video: https://shahit.biz/supp/misc_3563.mp4 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVMr3ZA-Xpc

Victims among relatives

Abdurahman Tohti (5385), Nadire Abdurahman (3636), Tohti Emet (5178), Peride Yasin (5997), Aynurhan Qasim (8237), Emetjan Tohti (8238), Memetjan Tohti (8239), Aygul Tohti (8240), Arzugul Tohti (8241), Abdulla Emetjan (8481)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU6lcXORf0c Testimony 5: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/abdurahm.tohti/posts/133 684061435317&width=300 Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/Yamamotokyukyu/status/1095861369578999808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 7: https://twitter.com/DilReyhan/status/1335542985245798402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw son and father: https://shahit.biz/supp/3563_2.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/3563_3.png

Entry created: 2019-04-10 Last updated: 2021-01-16 Latest status update: 2020-12-06 3630. Esmagul Ehmet (艾斯马古丽·艾合买提)

Chinese ID: 65322320????????E? (Guma)

Basic info

Age: under 18 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Local government employee, working in one of the government offices in Xinjiang. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2|3: Local police, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 4: Rishat Musajan, the mayor of Hotan.

About the victim

Esma(gul) Ehmet, believed to be around 10 years old, is from a family of seven.

Address: Qaghamehelle Village, Kokterek Township, Guma County, Hotan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hotan.]

When victim was detained

Her father, Ehmet Abliz, was taken to re-education, though it is unclear when.

His absence did appear crucial, however, as the village government started a fundraiser for Esma, who hurt herself accidentally with boiling water on February 18, 2018 and burned nearly 60% of her skin, requiring 300000RMB for treatment. The local notice for the fundraiser explicitly states her father's being in "training" as the reason for why Esma now requires the community's help.

At a press conference in January 2020, Hotan Mayor Rishat Musajan confirmed the situation, saying that Esma suffered major burns as described, and added that her mother, Bumeryem Dawut, was washing clothes in the yard at the time [he uses the post-2018 name of the village, Qumbostan, as opposed to Qaghamehelle]. He then goes on to say that the local villagers and officials raised money for Esma's treatment, and that she was eventually able to return to school. Likely (or given) reason for detention

She was reported to be in a compromised situation because of the detention of her father.

Victim's status

If Rishat Musajan is to be believed, she was able to recover and resume school. [Unfortunately, the press conferences held by the Xinjiang authorities have a record of lying, and so one cannot be fully certain. Rishat also incorrectly reports the year of the incident as 2017.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

These are official government sources or representatives of the local government(s).

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/daughter-03052018144433.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/drowning-09062019172050.html

Mention of her case at a Xinjiang press conference in January 2020: https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Official notice(s)

Original: https://shahit.biz/supp/notori_8.pdf Translation: https://shahit.biz/supp/nottran_8.pdf Side-by-side: https://shahit.biz/notview.php?no=8

Victims among relatives

Ehmet Abliz (3629)

Entry created: 2019-04-15 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 3817. Qahar Abdurehim (卡哈尔·阿不都热依木)

Chinese ID: 650102196402102638 (Urumqi) >> ID number invalid

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 2*: Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, now living in the United States. (mother)

Testimony 3: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Qahar Abdurehim (卡哈尔·阿不都热依木), oldest son of Uyghur human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.

Victim's location

Testimony 2: Possibly in Urumqi.

When victim was detained

From Rebiya Kadeer (Testimony 2): "He had been living under house arrest since I was arrested. He was detained on December 2016 in so called “re education camp” (to some extend they are concentration camps) in Urumqi. China said they are “vocational training centers ..” He has own business, doesn’t need any “vocational training”. He never committed any crime."

Testimony 3: the Global Times propaganda report shows him in a mosque, basically saying that everything is normal and free.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Unclear, but officials have exhibited a pattern of persecution and harassment against Kadeer's family in the XUAR since her release from prison in March 2005 and subsequent relocation to the U.S., warning her in 2005 that her businesses and children would suffer consequences if she spoke out about Uyghur human rights issues overseas.] Victim's status

Testimony 2: In re-education camp

Testimony 1: believed detained

Testimony 3: Global Times report shows him "living normally" [which means that either (a) he has been released, or (b) he was let out just for the purpose of the video].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 3: this is a state media outlet that "interviewed" the victim [it isn't clear how genuine this is, however].

Additional information

He is listed as the first signatory of a "public letter" to Rebiya Kadeer, issued in August 2009 (about a month after the Urumqi incident), in which the family "denounces" her: https://archive.vn/LNMcJ

There is also a transcript of an "interview" with him and other relatives given to state media (from 2009), in which they similarly denounce Rebiya Kadeer: https://archive.is/1Mr64

From RFA report (https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/relatives-10272017164417.html):

In 2006, authorities had detained Qahar for "tax evasion," imposing a fine on him. The fine imposed to him happened on November 27, 2006, a day after Rebiya Kadeer’s election as President of the World Uyghur Congress. https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Global Times article (Testimony 3): https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1176377.shtml

Amnesty call to action (Testimony 1): https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf

Mentioned at a Xinjiang press conference in January 2020: https://archive.is/K0Fvb, https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials another propaganda feature: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1219288544486645761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Global Times video: https://shahit.biz/supp/3817_1.mp4 Entry created: 2019-04-25 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 3818. Aydidar Qahar (阿依迪达·卡哈尔)

Chinese ID: 650102199???????E? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 2: Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, now living in the United States. (grandmother)

Testimony 3: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Aydidar Qahar is a graduate of Xinjiang University, where she [allegedly] participated in the arts club.

Victim's location

Urumqi.

When victim was detained

Aydidar was allegedly arrested while she was at school.

In a Global Times propaganda video from January 2020, she is shown walking around Urumqi and claims to be "living a normal life". [This suggests that she was either: never detained, was released, or was let out for the purpose of making the video.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Unclear, but presumably related to Aydidar's grandmother, Rebiya Kadeer. Rebiya was released from prison in March 2005 and would relocate to the United States. That year, officials warned that her businesses and children would suffer the consequences if she spoke out about Uyghur human rights issues overseas. Since then, officials have exhibited a pattern of persecution and harassment against her family in Xinjiang.] Victim's status

In a propaganda video released in January 2020, Aydidar was shown to be "living a normal life".

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Neither Rebiya Kadeer nor Amnesty International state how they learned of Aydidar's detention.

The propaganda video comes from a state media outlet with direct access to the victim.

Additional information

Amnesty International call for action: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf

Global Times article: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1176377.shtml

In August 2009 (soon after the Urumqi incident), the victim was listed as a signatory of the "public letter" by Rebiya Kadeer's family denouncing Rebiya Kadeer [she would have been around 14 at the time]: https://archive.vn/LNMcJ, https://archive.is/mGpJT

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU__aA3SOKY Global Times video: https://shahit.biz/supp/3818_2.mp4

Entry created: 2019-04-25 Last updated: 2020-11-04 Latest status update: 2020-01-11 3821. Ablikim Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|"separatism" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rebiya Kadeer, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (mother)

Testimony 2: Human Rights in China, a New York-based international, Chinese, non-governmental organization.

Testimony 3: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 4: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Ablikim Abdurehim (阿不力克木*阿不都热依木), 33 years old at time of first detention, son of Uyghur human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: Originally detained on May 20, 2006 and charged for "tax fraud" and "subversion" (according to HRIC report). Was hospitalized early during this detention. (Testimony 1: he was held in the Urumqi No. 4 prison.)

Detained again later (probably in 2016/2017) and put into a camp.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Unclear, but officials have exhibited a pattern of persecution and harassment against Kadeer's family in the XUAR since her release from prison in March 2005 and subsequent relocation to the U.S., warning her in 2005 that her businesses and children would suffer consequences if she spoke out about Uyghur human rights issues overseas.]

Victim's status

In re-education camp

According to Amnesty report, he had reportedly been tortured in prison during his 2006-2015 time there.

Testimony 4: the Global Times report from January 2020 showed him at home with his relatives [it is unclear, however, if he was released just for the purposes of this video or if he really is out of hard detention].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-3: not stated.

Testimony 4: this is a state-media outlet with direct access to the victim.

Additional information

Ablikim has already served a nine-year prison sentence until he was released in 2015 for “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities” https://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/CRF.4.2006/CRF-2006-4_Custody.pdf (Testimony 2) https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf (Testimony 3) https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Mention at the Xinjiang press conference in January 2020 (which was followed by the aforementioned Global Times video): https://archive.is/K0Fvb, https://archive.vn/GeG3E

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Global Times video: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1219288544486645761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Entry created: 2019-04-25 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 3822. Alim Abdurehim

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rebiya Kadeer, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (mother)

Testimony 2: Human Rights in China, a New York-based international, Chinese, non-governmental organization.

Testimony 3: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 4: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Alim Abdurehim (阿里木*阿布都热衣木), 31 year old at time of first detention, son of Uyghur human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

According to the HRIC report, he was detained on May 20, 2006, convinced under torture to "tax fraud" and "separatism", and (according to CECC report) was then given a 7-year sentence.

Recently (in 2016/2017, most likely), he was sent to a "re-education camp".

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear, but officials have exhibited a pattern of persecution and harassment against Kadeer's family in the XUAR since her release from prison in March 2005 and subsequent relocation to the U.S., warning her in 2005 that her businesses and children would suffer consequences if she spoke out about Uyghur human rights issues overseas. Victim's status

In re-education camp

Testimony 4: in a Global Times propaganda video aired in January 2020, Alim is shown at home with his wife and two children, saying that they are living good lives and telling Rebiya Kadeer to stop trying to break their happiness and social stability.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-3: not stated.

Testimony 4: this is a state-media outlet with direct access to the victim or his relatives.

Additional information

In 2006, authorities detained Alim for ""tax evasion,"" imposing a 7-year prison sentence on him.

The fine imposed to him happened on November 27, 2006, a day after Rebiya Kadeer’s election as President of the World Uyghur Congress. https://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/CRF.4.2006/CRF-2006-4_Custody.pdf (Testimony 2) https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf (Testimony 3) https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/CECC%20Pris%20List_20181011 _1424.pdf

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Aygul Abdurusul (4788), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Global Times video: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1219288544486645761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Entry created: 2019-04-25 Last updated: 2020-11-02 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 4289. Gulnar Murat (古丽娜尔·木拉提)

Chinese ID: 650121198201302422 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 37 Gender: F Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: housemaker

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Zhumagali Zhalel, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (husband)

Testimony 4|5: Zhumagali Zhalel, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (husband)

Testimony 6: Zhumagali Zhalel, as reported by Voices on Central Asia. (husband)

Testimony 7: Zhumagali Zhalel, as reported by The Believer. (husband)

About the victim

Gulnar Murat (古丽娜尔*木拉提) is a housewife. Her passport number is E13264898.

Address in China: Shuixigou township, Urumqi county

Address on ID: Sardaban township (萨尔达坂乡) 4-52, Urumqi county

Victim's location

[testifier: returned to Kazakhstan in mid-September 2019]

When victim was detained

May 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Had her passport confiscated when trying to fly back to Kazakhstan out of Urumqi. [testifier (Testimony 5): returned to Kazakhstan in mid-September 2019]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

[testifier to G.A. Bunin (Testimony 4): They were able to keep in touch - albeit rarely - via WeChat. Since the spring of 2019, they've been able to contact each other more often.]

Additional information

She was with her on son in China, while her two children are with their father in Kazakhstan. All of them are underage.

Not long after the testifier released his first video appeal, his wife was called by the local police and questioned, with them saying that they would issue her and her son their documents soon.

Testimony 3: The testifier has been receiving calls from Chinese officials asking him to come to Xinjiang, even though his Chinese citizenship has been annulled.

Mention in Voices on Central Asia (Testimony 6): https://voicesoncentralasia.org/between-hope-and-fear-stories-of-uyghur-and-kazakh-muslim-minorities-i n-the-xinjiang-province/

A court decision where the victim and her husband are being called to pay compensation: http://archive.is/71rrk

Zhumagali's interview to The Believer (Testimony 7) (https://believermag.com/weather-reports-voices-from-xinjiang/):

My wife is a housewife. She’s never worked. I think the only reason they’re holding her is to get to me. When I lived in China, I practiced Islam. I was a devout Muslim. You know, there are many types of Muslims in the world. Well, I was a typical one. A Kazakh Muslim. I follow the path set by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan. I’m not against the Chinese government. I don’t call for it to be overthrown. I know there are Muslims who call for this, but I’m not one of them. I can’t understand what they want with me. But I’ve heard they keep a list of those who practice Islam. And I didn’t just practice; I worked at the local mosque: I helped with its construction. I was an assistant to the imam.

In May 2017, our wife took our one-year-old to China to see her relatives. She spent a week there. Then, at the airport in Ürümqi, they wouldn’t let her board the plane. They took her passport. Then they put her under house arrest. Now, since she doesn’t have her passport, she can’t leave, can’t go anywhere. It’s been almost two years. The authorities have told my wife I should come back to China with my sons. The first time they told her this was a couple months ago. She can’t say so openly, but I could feel as she was saying this that she didn’t want me to come, that she was afraid. I could hear it in her voice over the phone. But all she said was that this is the reason they’re not letting her go.

Two of my sons and my older brother, Ozabled, who is mentally disabled, are here. We’ve always cared for him. So I have two kids and my brother to care for, and for two years now I haven’t had an official job. I’ve been working as a taxi driver. Of course, my younger son here barely remembers his mother. He wasn’t even six when she left. And look at the other one—the weight he’s lost!

Victims among relatives Abduzakir Zhumagali (4619)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uXJexJnaOQ Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x2Mty5pXqk Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Veo3nefqo Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/4289_4.png

Entry created: 2019-05-16 Last updated: 2021-03-06 Latest status update: 2019-09-15 4502. Ablimit Rozi

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

H.

Victim's relation to testifier

Information publicly available

About the victim name: Ablimit Rouzi gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur

Ablimit Rouzi is a brother of Sainawar Rouzi who has been living in the USA since 2001 with her husband Nijat Kadeer and her son. Sainawar has lost contact with most of her family members two years ago (as of 27 FEB 2019).

Victim's location unknown

When victim was detained unknown

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown

Victim's status in "concentration camp" according to Sainawar Rouzi How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? https://www.foxnews.com/world/muslim-majority-countries-stay-silent-on-alleged-chinese-uighur-abuses -while-the-u-s-fronts-their-fight-for-human-rights (published 27 FEB 2019)

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials protest testimony: https://shahit.biz/supp/4502_1.png

Entry created: 2019-05-28 Last updated: 2019-06-01 Latest status update: 2019-02-27 4503. Elzat Ablimit

Chinese ID: 65????19????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

H.

Victim's relation to testifier

Information publicly available

About the victim name: Elzat Ablimit gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur

Elzat Ablimit is a nephew of Sainawar Rouzi who has been living in the USA since 2001 with her husband Nijat Kadeer and her son. He is also likely to be the son of Ablimit Rouzi (Sainawar's brother) who has also been taken to a "re-education" camp. Sainawar has lost contact with most of her family members two years ago (as of 27 FEB 2019).

Victim's location unknown

When victim was detained unknown

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown

Victim's status in "concentration camp" according to Sainawar Rouzi

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? https://www.foxnews.com/world/muslim-majority-countries-stay-silent-on-alleged-chinese-uighur-abuses -while-the-u-s-fronts-their-fight-for-human-rights (published 27 FEB 2019)

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials protest testimony: https://shahit.biz/supp/4503_1.png

Entry created: 2019-05-28 Last updated: 2019-06-01 Latest status update: 2019-02-27 4504. Tursunmemet Ablimit

Chinese ID: 65??????????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

H.

Victim's relation to testifier

Information publicly available

About the victim name: Tursunmamat Ablimit gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur

Tursunmamat Ablimit is a nephew of Sainawar Rouzi, who has been living in the USA since 2001 with her husband Nijat Kadeer and her son. He is also likely to be the son of Ablimit Rouzi (Sainawar's brother) who has also been taken to a "re-education" camp. Sainawar has lost contact with most of her family members two years ago (as of 27 FEB 2019).

Victim's location unknown

When victim was detained unknown

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown

Victim's status in a "concentration camp" according to Sainawar Rouzi

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? https://www.foxnews.com/world/muslim-majority-countries-stay-silent-on-alleged-chinese-uighur-abuses -while-the-u-s-fronts-their-fight-for-human-rights (published 27 FEB 2019)

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials protest testimony: https://shahit.biz/supp/4504_1.png

Entry created: 2019-05-28 Last updated: 2019-06-01 Latest status update: 2019-02-27 4505. Nebi Salai

Chinese ID: 65??????????????O? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

H.

Victim's relation to testifier

Information publicly available

About the victim name: Nabi Sanai gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur

Nabi Sanai is a brother-in-law of Sainawar Rouzi, who has been living in the USA since 2001 with her husband Nijat Kadeer and her son. Sainawar has lost contact with most of her family members two years ago (as of 27 FEB 2019).

Victim's location unknown

When victim was detained unknown

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown

Victim's status in a "concentration camp" according to Sainawar Rouzi

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? https://www.foxnews.com/world/muslim-majority-countries-stay-silent-on-alleged-chinese-uighur-abuses -while-the-u-s-fronts-their-fight-for-human-rights (published 27 FEB 2019)

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials protest testimony: https://shahit.biz/supp/4505_1.png

Entry created: 2019-05-28 Last updated: 2019-05-28 Latest status update: 2019-02-27 4663. Abla Memet (阿卜拉·麦麦提)

Chinese ID: 65312519870720051X (Yarkand)

Basic info

Age: 32 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: culinary

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|4: Abdulla Tohti Arish, originally from Yarkand but now living in Germany. (former neighbor)

Testimony 2: @MehtumS, an unverified Twitter account.

Testimony 3: Zohre Muhemmed, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (sister)

Testimony 5: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

Testimony 6*: Abdulla Tohti Arish, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (former neighbor)

Testimony 7: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Ablajan Mamat, he was a founder of Ablajan Alnazar Naan bakery shop [in Urumqi], he has 6 Naan shop with other two brothers.

Victim's location

[Not clear if in Urumqi or sent back to his place of origin (Yarkand).]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: summer 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 3: for being a relative of a "separatist" Victim's status

Testimony 2: in concentration camp.

[testifier (Testimony 6): released in mid-late 2019]

[Testimony 5: a proof-of-life video from December 2019 shows the victim saying that he is fine and that everything said about him abroad is "false". While this is almost certainly coerced, it at least testifies to the victim being alive, and confirms what Abdulla has reported about him having been released.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: via his father, he stay in Istanbul

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 3): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/yeken-qirghinchiliqi-07312019122616.html

Victims among relatives

Mehmut Memet (4661), Ehmet Memet (4662), Ababekri Rehim (3562)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPAMo67GQKg Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6sZWD0fMAA Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/MehtumS/status/1096839644535316488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw ID photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/4663_1.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/4663_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-06-11 Last updated: 2021-03-29 Latest status update: 2019-12-29 4697. Ezimet Abley (艾孜麦提·阿不来)

Chinese ID: 654101198605082217 (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 33 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|2|3: Dana Hasan, an Australian citizen living in Melbourne. (relation unclear)

Testimony 4: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Ezimet Abley, an ethnic Uyghur from Ghulja.

Ezimet is regarded as a kind, well-mannered and sociable young man. He has sole custody of his two young children from a previous marriage. His sons, Muhammat (7) and Mustafa (6), are inquisitive and delightful children. From the time they were toddlers, Ezimet played the role of both mother and father. The way he was with his children garnered my admiration and respect. From feeding and clothing his children, to changing their nappies, to dealing with any sickness, he was a very hands-on father. Despite the unfortunate circumstances he found himself in, he took it upon himself to raise happy and well-mannered children by instilling good values and morals. Despite the many trials in his life, he would always remain positive and hopeful.

What struck me was how much his sons adored him. His younger son Mustafa would cry at night when he realized his father wasn’t sleeping beside him and I can’t help but think of those tears knowing their father is now in a concentration camp. I still recall the children’s laughter as they played with their father. No matter what, even if there were dozens of chores and matters that needed attending to, Ezimet would always make sure to put aside time to just be present and focus all his attention on them, without distraction.

The rare times Muhammat and Mustafa were at their birth mother's residence, they would insist on going back home and beg for their father to return, which would result in their stay being cut short. After these visits, Ezimet would have to spend the whole night taking care of them, as their young bodies expelled all the artificial sugar they had consumed during their short stay. Sweets were often used to placate them when crying and because of the lack of proper supervision, there was no one to curb their consumption of these foods.

Ezimet felt strongly about the health of his children, and he would always make sure that his sons ate nutritiously and moderately. He would cook them wholesome Uyghur dishes. Treats were given sporadically and within reason. He was consistent and rational in his approach to parenting and firm in his ideas of how children ought to be raised.

To the Chinese authorities, he is just a name or a number to reach their quota of detainees. To his children, not only is he their father, but a friend, a protector, a way to a better future. These early years are crucial to children’s development and without a strong parental figure, this may prove detrimental to the children’s growth. This cruel government cares not for the psychological, mental or physical effects Muhammat and Mustafa are enduring in the absence of their father. Despite everything, I hope they will grow to become men he will be proud of and I hope they share his qualities, whether it is his kind heart, his strong faith or his humanity.

For years, Ezimet was also the primary carer to his ailing father, who had a heart condition. Abley was a gentle and soft-spoken man in his 70s. He relied heavily on his son and often sought his son’s advice on matters. It was obvious that the trust and love between them had passed on to Ezimet’s relationship with his own sons.

When Ezimet got word of his impending visit to the "school", his father was very ill. Ezimet feared that his father’s condition would further deteriorate after hearing the news, and so he informed his father that it would only be for a few weeks at most, in order to protect him from the brutal truth that he may never see his son again. Those weeks stretched to months until Abley’s death.

His father passed away in December 2017, whilst Ezimet was in the concentration camp. Ezimet was released for a period of 3 days to attend his father’s funeral. A few years earlier, his mother had passed away because of a brain tumour, and Ezimet was now left with only his older brother and younger sister.

In October 2017, the authorities detained Ezimet. At the time, he was just like any other young man, doing his best to raise his family. He had not broken any laws nor committed any crimes. Ezimet was a law-abiding citizen. A few days earlier, he had been made aware that he would inevitably be detained because of the quota that the authorities had set for that area. He happened to fit their bill of being Uyghur, male and within the target age range.

I recall when, months before he disappeared into the abyss, Ezimet and his friend would pick me up to attend a dinner and I noticed traditional Uyghur boots and costumes strewn across the back seat. I was told they had just come back from a performance, which I found perplexing. They were not the type to partake in the arts. Turned out the local authorities were forcing them to don these costumes to dance for the mainly Han tourists.

He had a small business selling herbal medicines. He was also a qualified chef and had previously owned a restaurant. Many also knew him from his side job as a driving instructor.

Victim's location

Presumably in Ghulja.

When victim was detained

Detained in October 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention ---

Victim's status

There was no real news of Ezimet until he called me on June 26, 2019 via WeChat. The call lasted less than a minute and a half, and was our first conversation in ~20 months.

He called again on July 5, 2019 while visiting his children. This was a video call that lasted 30 minutes, and was very odd, confusing, and full of contradictions and code words. He looked very sleep-deprived. Towards the end of the call, he basically told me to do what it took to save him.

The last call we had was on July 20, 2019, when he called me from the streets of Ghulja while out getting a kawap-and-leghmen meal. It looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in a long while. I assume that this was just a day leave from the camp.

At one point, there was news that he was sentenced to another year of camp. However, he is now [as of February 2020] frequently posting on WeChat and seems to be "out", and is looking better than before.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

I visited Xinjiang from July 2016 to October 2016 and again from August 2017 to October 2017. I was in Ghulja when Ezimet was detained.

Additional information

---

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iynk0c8S1Zc Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcmYk4tqMzY ID info: https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_1.pdf ID info (English): https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_2.pdf photo with kids (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_3.jpg photo with kids (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_4.jpg photo with kids (3): https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_5.jpg victim's father and kids: https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_6.jpeg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/4697_9.png photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_4697.png

Entry created: 2019-06-14 Last updated: 2020-02-05 Latest status update: 2020-02-05 4702. Horiyet Abdulla

Chinese ID: 6501??197???????E? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: --- When problems started: Apr. 2019 - June 2019 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|"endangering state security" Health status: has problems Profession: housemaker

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Ablimit Tursun, as reported by Foreign Policy. (husband)

Testimony 2*|6|8: Vanessa Frangville, a scholar at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. (friend of relative)

Testimony 3*|5|10*: Hanna Burdorf, a postgraduate research student at the University of Newcastle. (friend of relative)

Testimony 4|9*: Ablimit Tursun, an Uyghur refugee living in Belgium. (husband)

Testimony 7: Horiyet Abdulla, as reported by NRC. (the victim)

About the victim

Horiyet Abdulla, 43 (as of June 2019), is a resident of Urumqi - a housewife and mother of four. Her husband Ablimit Tursun decided not to return to China after his brother's detention in 2017 (while Ablimit was on a business trip), and has been living in Belgium since.

Victim's location

[Presumably at her home in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

The victim's husband was trying to arrange a Belgian family-reunification visa for his wife and four children (it is likely that their passports were already confiscated at this point, and they were applying for a laisser-passer and visa). The application included a letter describing the family's situation as critical and called for discreetness. However, Horiyet and the kids would end up having to fly to Beijing twice, the second time on May 26, 2019, to hand in the final documents. The police went into their hotel room at the hotel where they were staying, asking to see their documents and interrogating them about the particulars of their stay in Beijing.

The next day, Belgian embassy officials informed Horiyet that the application would take at least three months to process, which prompted her to refuse to leave the embassy grounds out of fear that she might get detained. The security forced them out into the yard, where they stayed until 2 at night. At this point, the embassy called the Chinese police and asked them to remove the family. The Belgium ministry admitted to allowing the police into the embassy.

They were then interrogated by Xinjiang police in Beijing but refused to travel back to Urumqi, and as such stayed at the hotel. The next day, on May 31, the Xinjiang police forcefully entered their room and took them away, forcing them to go back to Urumqi. There was then an 18-day period of no news, after which - following international pressure - Horiyet re-established contact with Ablimit from Urumqi, but wouldn't tell him what had transpired in the 18 days.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

She is presumed to be monitored and under house arrest for having gone to Beijing to apply for a foreign visa.

After her return to Urumqi, local authorities told her that there were materials on her husband's computer that "endangered national security", while also trying to get her to sign a confession that she was guilty of this charge.

Victim's status

On June 18, Tursun briefly spoke with his wife, who told him that the authorities had returned her phone and that she and the children were “safe at home” in Urumqi, although it was unclear what kind of situation they were in and whether police were in their house when the call was made.

Ablimit also mentioned the authorities trying to coerce his wife into signing a confession to a crime against the country - having found "documents that endanger national security" on a hard drive - which she refused to do. Vanessa Frangville states that the family was subject to daily visits and interrogations from the police at this time.

Talking to a journalist from NRC, Horiyet said that she would be contacted by police whenever she went outside (as of August 2019), as they would want to know whom she met with and what she did. The police originally stayed in an apartment opposite to hers and drilled a hole in her wall to keep an eye on her. Later, the police surveillance lessened and it was just the people from the neighborhood administration who would come to check up on her.

Previously, Horiyet was believed to be at home, as confirmed by people who've been able to visit her. Hanna Burdorf visited in early September 2019 and described her as being very distressed and suffering from psychological health problems. She was also not allowed to leave the city, it appeared.

Since December 2019, however, Horiyet and the family have been out of contact, with Ablimit Tursun unable to reach them. Hanna Burdorf also mentions trying to add her WeChat account in June 2020, but only to find that it no longer exists.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Ablimit Tursun has been in contact with his wife directly at different points during this ordeal.

Hanna Burdorf met with the victim in person. Additional information

Friends have informed Ablimit that the local police had interrogated all his relatives in Turpan and Urumqi, had searched his home, and had taken away the family’s electronic devices.

While Belgian diplomats claimed to have spoken with Horiyet on the phone shortly after this incident, she allegedly said that she never received any phone call from the diplomats.

A petition to reunite the family: https://www.change.org/p/belgium-uyghur-association-ablimit-and-his-family-must-reunite-in-belgium

The story has seen ample media coverage, e.g.:

Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/14/belgiums-beijing-embassy-calls-chinese-cops-on-uighur-family/ RFA: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/belgiyede-uyghurmesilisi-06122019115752.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/family-06192019172120.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/arrest-10102019142104.html La Libre: https://www.lalibre.be/international/asie/la-famille-ouighoure-livree-a-la-police-chinoise-est-desesperee- 5d8f7ae2f20d5a53cc16e290 https://www.lalibre.be/international/asie/didier-reynders-s-explique-sur-l-affaire-de-la-famille-ouighoure- a-l-ambassade-a-pekin-il-n-y-avait-pas-d-autre-choix-si-l-on-voulait-une-solution-pour-la-famille-5d81112c 9978e25f642e289c AFP: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/uighur-belgium-fears-family-asylum-snag-161815077.html NRC: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/08/30/komt-dat-zien-het-exotische-land-der-oeigoeren-a3971701

Eyewitness account

[The following is an eyewitness account from Hanna Burdorf, a PhD candidate at Newcastle University, who visited the victim while in Urumqi and spent around two hours with her. The visit took place about three months after Horiyet and her children were taken from the Belgian embassy in Beijing and forced to return to Urumqi, following an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a family-reunification visa to reunite with the father in Belgium.]

In the early afternoon of September 11, 2019, I went to the address that Ablimit Tursun had given to me, in order to visit his wife Horiyet Abdulla and the couple’s four children. They live in Urumqi, near the Grand Bazar.

The entrance to the residential complex (小区) in which they live was accessible from the main road, although blocked by gates. The entrance gate for pedestrians was on the left – a big turnstile where you had to swipe your ID card to get in. To its right was a boom gate that would only be raised when cars wanted to get in or out of the complex. To the very right was the exit for pedestrians – a grille door that would be unlocked when you pushed a button from the side of the complex interior. It was through this exit that I entered, together with two or three Uyghur men, as the door was open because of several people leaving the complex at that moment.

The security guard was smoking and chatting with someone, and had turned his back to me, so I quickly crossed the road and entered the building where Horiyet’s apartment was, on the top floor. At that point, nobody seemed to have noticed me. There were no cameras at the entrance door downstairs and no cameras in the corridor.

After reaching the top floor, I saw two doors. The one on the left had a hole drilled out in the middle, about 7cm in diameter. This must have been her neighbors’ apartment – the one that had been occupied by the police when the Belgian diplomats came to Urumqi and tried to visit Horiyet previously. The door on the right was open, allowing me to peek into the apartment. However, the entrance was blocked by a second door, made of thin metal bars, letting air into the apartment and keeping visitors out. I tried to knock on this door, while doing my best to keep out of the sight of the other door’s peephole. I softly called Horiyet’s name.

She came out of the living room, crawling on all fours, and looked at me.

“I am your husband’s friend,” I told her.

Horiyet then opened the grille door and let me into the apartment, closing the outer (original) door behind me. She looked somehow concerned, so I told her that, as far as I could tell, nobody had followed me. I said that I was sorry to intrude and that her husband had sent me.

She then led me into the living room and reheated some of their lunch for me. I don’t remember the exact order of our conversation, nor the exact wording, since we spoke for about two hours. However, I believe my rendering of the events and dialogue to be fairly accurate, albeit possibly not complete.

Rather early in the visit, I told her that I had come to pick up some of her husband’s documents, such as his work and university diplomas, since he needed them for his job in Belgium. Getting a big folder full of documents from another room, she and her oldest daughter started going through them, putting those that they thought were important in a separate folder, which they would then give to me after they were done.

Horiyet started talking about divorcing her husband. She said that it had been quite a while already since she had last seen him, and that he was a man – she would understand if he wanted to divorce and start a new life. She said that she would be ready to sign divorce papers, if he so wished. I told her that her husband missed her very much and had sent me to come see her and the children, and that I could not imagine that he wanted to divorce her, because if that were the case he wouldn’t have asked me to visit her. I told her that as long as her husband did not tell her directly himself that he wanted to divorce her, she should not believe this to be the case, regardless of what she may hear.

Her oldest daughter was in the living room for the majority of our conversation. After helping find her father’s documents, she called him on WeChat and told him about my arrival. I waved to the camera. Their conversation did not last very long, but she would go on chatting with her father while I spoke with Horiyet.

Horiyet’s Chinese was perfect, making me think that she was a minkaohan (民考汉, a person from an ethnic minority group who had gone through the Chinese-language education system and thus spoke Chinese like a native). She told me that many people mistook her for a minkaohan, but that she had only started learning Chinese as a foreign language from the third year of elementary school (at age 8 or 9).

Later on, her daughter told me that she had been going to school and was preparing to take the gaokao (高考, university entrance exam) the following year. These days, she was at home taking care of her mother, who was sick. However, she wouldn’t miss any classes since the people at school were currently occupied with a sports event that would last several days.

Horiyet told me that she did not feel well. I asked her if she had a cold, as she did not look very healthy and I suspected that she might have caught one. She told me that she hadn’t, but did feel as if she had a fever. Her youngest daughter came into the room and crawled onto her lap. She also looked a little tired. Her mother explained that her youngest daughter was also a little sick, and probably because of her.

I asked her what this fever was, to which she said that she thought it was a reaction to her current situation. She said that she knew where this “disease” had come from – it was a reaction to her being under a lot of pressure. She said that even simple things, such as cooking for her children, looking after them, making sure they did their homework, and taking care of the household chores, were making her very weak and very tired. She said that nobody in the outside world could understand or imagine what they were going through.

“We are like the Jews in Nazi Germany,” she said, then started to cry.

She would start crying many times during our two-hour conversation.

When I asked what had happened to her after she was taken back from Beijing to Urumqi, she did not give an answer, simply telling me that nobody could imagine how bad the situation was and what “they” had done to her. She explained that the police had confiscated her husband’s personal computer after she was taken back, claiming to have found documents/writings on it that “endangered national security”. Although Horiyet explained to them that this was her husband’s personal computer and that she did not have access to it, not knowing the password, the police did not care, saying that this was the family’s computer and therefore her computer as well.

The police also tried to force her to sign documents admitting that she had “endangered national security”, but she did not give in to the pressure and refused. She had also demanded to see the documents that the police were basing the “endangering national security” accusation on, but they never showed anything to her.

I told her that I had wanted to take her to the police station to ask for her passport, but that given the situation she was in this would probably not be a good idea. Horiyet said that going to the police station would be of no use – she had argued with the police many times and they would not listen. She said that she had given up on reasoning with them.

There were several times when someone knocked on the door while we were talking, always prompting us to fall silent as the atmosphere grew very tense. Each time, Horiyet would tiptoe over to the door and have a look. However, it was always just one of her children coming home from school, or some other school-age children whom she was tutoring coming to her home to see her.

She explained that she had volunteered at a school before, but stopped because the school environment had gotten very strict. Nobody was allowed to do anything anymore, and she would not be able to interact with the children freely. Everyone was obligated to only follow the textbooks.

At one point, when all her kids had left the room, I asked her what she wanted. She was crying again, and said that she was willing to stay behind as long as her children were allowed to join their father in Belgium. She said that her biggest worry now was that her children might be taken away from her. At some point, someone – someone surveilling her, maybe the police or someone from the neighborhood administration, I’m not sure – had told her that they were still “being nice to her”, but could also choose to treat her “differently”. I said that her husband was hoping very much to see all of them, and that she should never agree to anything that would result in her being separated from her children. She was still crying, as she stood in front of me and nodded. I then hugged her and said that she had been doing such a good job already taking care of the kids, and that she should keep on doing this. I said that she should not listen to what anyone might tell her, and that we would send someone else to visit her soon. She nodded and smiled a little – the first and only smile I would see on her face.

I then said goodbye to her and her children, and walked down the stairs while they waved at me from the door frame. Not seeing anyone around, I quickly slipped out the main entrance door and out of the apartment complex, onto the street.

Source: shahit.biz

Victims among relatives

Abdujelil Tursun (5334), Rehime Ablimit (4771), Imran Ablimit (4772), Yunus Ablimit (4773), Hediche Ablimit (4774)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRa-wBgxIY Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sccVQi9Nyec Testimony 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6-xhTTj3ws Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/VanessaFrangvi1/status/1174025889631416327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw selfie with kids: https://shahit.biz/supp/4702_1.jpeg call with Urumqi police: https://shahit.biz/supp/4702_2.mp4 La Libre article: https://shahit.biz/supp/4702_5.pdf Testimony 9: https://shahit.biz/supp/4702_8.pdf

Entry created: 2019-06-16 Last updated: 2020-07-09 Latest status update: 2020-06-27 4788. Aygul Abdurusul

Chinese ID: 652827197210190323 (Hejing)

Basic info

Age: 47 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 2: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

Testimony 3*: Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, now living in the United States. (mother-in-law)

About the victim

Aygul Abdurusul, Kahar Abdurehim's (daughter in law of Rabiya Kadeer) wife, 47 years old, taken to camp on October 2017 in Urumqi, no further information about her situation.

Testimony 2: she's a graduate of the Xinjiang Arts Institute.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Urumqi.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 3: Detained in October 2017.

Testimony 2: She is shown as being at home with her family in a video provided by the Xinjiang government and published by Global Times in January 2020. [Whether she was taken out of detention for this video or if she is out of hard detention is unclear.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Presumably for being related to Rabiya Kadeer.] Victim's status

Not known

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear

Additional information

Amnesty call for action (Testimony 1): https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-08/FI25117_1_1.pdf

Victims among relatives

Gheni Qadir (5280), Ehmetjan Qadir (5281), Helchem Qadir (2467), Arzugul Qadir (2469), Mehmet Qadir (2468), Ablikim Abdurehim (3821), Qahar Abdurehim (3817), Alim Abdurehim (3822), Dildar Qahar (3820), Zulpiqar Qahar (3819), Aydidar Qahar (3818), Roshengul Abdurehim (4310)

Supplementary materials

Global Times video: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1219288544486645761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Entry created: 2019-06-19 Last updated: 2020-11-02 Latest status update: 2020-01-20 4827. Qelbinur Hamut

Chinese ID: 65????19????????E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abduweli Ayup, a language activist, linguist, and writer, originally from Kashgar but now residing in Norway. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Mirqedir Mirzat, a resident of France. He is the vice president of France Uyghurs Association. (son)

About the victim

Qelbinur Hamut, a teacher, Number 19 Primary School, one of the editors of Uyghur textbook, retired in 2015.

Victim's location

---

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: 2017

Testimony 2: She was placed into a camp on 19 April 2018. Her last voice message to her son (the testifier) was on 1 April 2018. After having testified for his mother on facebook [time not specified], the testifier was immediately called by his father who asked him to take his testimony off the internet. His father told him not to show photos of the mother on the internet, even if she is very thin. Around 15 days later, his father called again telling the testifier that his mother would be released very soon. At some point [not clear whether or not this happened right after the phone call], the father sent a photo of the mother to the testifier. In the photo, the mother was dressed all in red but was very thin. According to the testifier, she had lost about 20 to 25 kg. The mother was eventually released from camp [no date given].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

Testimony 1: Detained.

Testimony 2: released from camp [no date given].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Not stated.

Testimony 2: The testifier learned about his mother's detention and having been taken to camp from his father.

Additional information

This victim is included in the list of detained Uyghur intellectuals (Testimony 1), available at: shahit.biz/supp/list_003.pdf

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/4827_1.mp4

Entry created: 2019-06-23 Last updated: 2021-05-30 Latest status update: 2020-10-02 4946. Eziz Niyaz (艾则孜·尼牙孜)

Chinese ID: 652923195611261816 (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: 64 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Anonymous, as reported by AidET. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Mahire Eziz, a resident of Canada. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Eziz Niyaz, a technician. DOB: November 26, 1956. Address: Kucha county, Ishxila town (依西哈拉镇), Maza Putan village (麻扎埔坦), 4th Group, First Alley No. 2, 1st Ping No. 6.

Testimony 3: according to the Global Times report, he retired in July 2019 from the county's water conservancy authority in Kuqa.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu prefecture]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: July 2017

Testimony 2: On December 9, 2019, the victim and his family were used in a propaganda report by CGTN, where they were shown "happily" living at home.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 1: Visiting his son abroad

Victim's status Testimony 1: In detention

Testimony 2: CGTN report showed the victim and other family members as being at home, but testifier claims that she has not been able to call/contact them.

Testimony 3: according to the Global Times, he and his wife are reported to be living at home with their three year old grandson.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: not stated.

Testimony 2: from the CGTN report.

Testimony 3: this is state media with direct access to the victim (intended to discredit the claims of family members abroad).

Additional information

Global Times report (Testimony 3): https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1174468.shtml

Victims among relatives

Meryem Gayit (4948), Hebibe Gayit (4950), Yusup Eziz (4949)

Supplementary materials

CGTN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH6TpV5BmXs Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/mahire53263554/status/1257673967520940032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/4946_2.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/4946_4.png still from CGTN report: https://shahit.biz/supp/4946_6.jpg Global Times video: https://shahit.biz/supp/4946_7.mp4

Entry created: 2019-07-06 Last updated: 2020-10-02 Latest status update: 2021-01-07 4948. Meryem Gayit (买热叶木·尕依提)

Chinese ID: 65292319641010072X (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: 56 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: housemaker

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Anonymous, as reported by AidET. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2|3: Mahire Eziz, a resident of Canada. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Meryem Gayit (买热叶木*尕依提), born on October 10, 1964. A housewife. Address: Kucha county, Ishxila town (依西哈拉镇), Maza Putan village (麻扎埔坦), 4th Group, First Alley No. 2, 1st Ping No. 6.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu prefecture]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: July 2017

Testimony 2: on December 9, 2019, she and her family were featured in a CGTN propaganda report, which showed the family living happily (in an attempt to discredit Mahire's testimonies).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 1: Visiting relatives abroad

Victim's status

Testimony 1: In re-education camp. She told her relatives through WeChat that she was ordered to go to the camp by local police. She asked her relatives not to call her. (Testimony 3: testifier mentions that she was in an open camp.) Testimony 2: Unclear, as CGTN showed them as "living normally". However, Mahire says that she has not been able to call/contact her family.

Testimony 4: according to the Global Times, she and her husband are reported to be living at home with their three year old grandson.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 2: from CGTN report.

Testimony 4: this is state media with direct access to the victim (intended to discredit the claims by relatives abroad).

Additional information

Global Times report (Testimony 4): https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1174468.shtml

Victims among relatives

Hebibe Gayit (4950), Eziz Niyaz (4946), Yusup Eziz (4949)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDETlNGefg CGTN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH6TpV5BmXs Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/mahire53263554/status/1257673967520940032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/4948_2.png Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/4948_4.png with husband (CGTN report): https://shahit.biz/supp/4948_6.jpg Global Times video: https://shahit.biz/supp/4948_8.mp4

Entry created: 2019-07-06 Last updated: 2020-10-02 Latest status update: 2021-01-07 4949. Yusup Eziz

Chinese ID: 65292319870312??O? (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: 33 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: medicine

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Anonymous, as reported by AidET. (relation unclear)

Testimony 2: Mahire Eziz, a resident of Canada. (sister)

Testimony 3: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Yusuf Eziz (玉苏甫·艾则孜), a doctor in the Kucha People's Hospital. DOB: March 12, 1987.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu prefecture]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: June 2017

Testimony 2: on December 9, 2019, he and his family were featured in a CGTN propaganda report, which showed the family living happily (in an attempt to discredit Mahire's testimonies).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown

Victim's status

Testimony 1: In detention

Testimony 2: Unclear, as CGTN showed them as "living normally". However, Mahire says that she has not been able to call/contact her family. Testimony 3: according to the Global Times, he is working at the hospital.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 2: from the CGTN video.

Testimony 3: this is state media with direct access to the victim (with the report intended to discredit the claims of relatives abroad).

Additional information

Global Times report (Testimony 3): https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1174468.shtml

Victims among relatives

Meryem Gayit (4948), Hebibe Gayit (4950), Eziz Niyaz (4946)

Supplementary materials

CGTN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH6TpV5BmXs Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/mahire53263554/status/1257673967520940032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/4949_2.png

Entry created: 2019-07-06 Last updated: 2020-10-02 Latest status update: 2020-11-07 5022. Qudret Mehsut

Chinese ID: 652101??????????O? (Turpan)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Guli Mehsut. She came to Canada in 2012 for her study, and stayed in Canada after. She focused on her study before 2016, and was visiting her family back home until 2016. She actively testified about her family after she learned detention of her brother. She also went to Turkey to help World Uyghur Congress on gathering information about Uyghurs to relocate them to Canada. She was harassed by Chinese police in 2019 for her activities at overseas.

Victim's relation to testifier

RFA report includes victim and testifier, victim is testifier's brother

About the victim

Qudret Mehsut. He is from Toxsun county of Turpan city. He was doing border trade between Kazakhstan and China at Alataw city. He was arrested and placed in concentration camp in April, 2017. He was released from camp in February, 2019 and allowed to return home.

Victim's location unknown (likely in Toxsun, Turpan)

When victim was detained

April, 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention unknown

Victim's status released from concentration camp after 22 months of detention How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Family back home told her in April, 2017

Additional information

Testifier believes her brother was released because of her activities. She was threatened by chinese police that if she doesn't cooperate with them, her entire family back home will be in danger.

RFA coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/guli-mexsut-05222019134444.html

Supplementary materials police threat to testifier: https://shahit.biz/supp/5022_1.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-07-19 Last updated: 2019-07-20 Latest status update: 2019-05-22 5026. Lutfy Omer

Chinese ID: 6501??201708????O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 3 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|4: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (father)

Testimony 2|6|9: Sadam Abdusalam, originally from Xinjiang but now an Australian citizen. (father)

Testimony 3: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (father)

Testimony 5: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by The Guardian. (father)

Testimony 7|8: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's national broadcaster, founded in 1929.

About the victim name: Lutifer (Lutfy) Omer* gender: male ethnicity: Uyghur age: born in August 2017 place of origin: born in Urumchi city place of residence: Urumchi

Father: Sadam Abdusalam, an Australian citizen, currently in Australia Mother: Nedire Omer (Nadila Wumaier), a Chinese citizen, currently in Urumchi, China

Lutifer obtained Australian citizenship in February 2019. Since his birth in August 2017, he has not been able to leave China to join his father in Australia. His mother was detained for one week (some reports say two weeks) when Lutifer was six months old in early 2018 (in some reports shortly after she gave birth). One report mentions, that during his mother's detention, Lutifer stayed with his grandparents, another report mentions that he was detained with her. His mother was released from detention, because she was breastfeeding Lutifer, but she was told that she would be imprisoned for five years once Lutifer turned one year old. Lutifer would be given to a state-run orphanage where he would be adopted by a Han Chinese family. However, since this first detention, Lutifer and his mother have not been detained again, but placed under town arrest in Urumchi. His mother wishes to take Lutifer to Australia to join his father.

Lutifer's case was made public on July 15, 2019. Two days later, ABC news reported that the Australian government has formally asked China to allow Lutifer and his mother to leave the country.

* No publicly available source mentions Lutifer's last name. However, a court document refers to him by his initials "LW" and to his mother Nedire Omer (Chinese pinyin: Nadila Wumaier) as "Ms. W". It is therefore to be assumed that Lutifer carries his mother's last name. The same court document also mentions that Lutifer's father is not registered on his birth certificate, making it very unlikely that Lutifer would carry his father's first (or last) name as his last name.

Victim's location with his mother at home in Urumchi

Testimony 9: in Australia

When victim was detained not detained

Likely (or given) reason for detention no reason given

Victim's status under town arrest, his mother' documents have been confiscated and she cannot leave China

Testimony 7: Australia’s Foreign Ministry has raised the issue with Chinese diplomats on multiple occasions, however, sources close to the Chinese government report that China insists the case is an “internal matter” and will merely publicly express willingness to cooperate.

Testimony 9: on December 11, 2020, his father reported that Lutfy and his mother both arrived in Australia, with the family now reunited.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The first non-anonymous report by father about Lutifer: four corners video 'tell the world' (Testimony 1): https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tell-the-world/11311228 (15 JUL 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-17/uyghur-china-response-four-corners-xinjiang-detention/113167 52. (17 JUL 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49013142 (17 JUL 2019)

Also mentioned anonymously here: http://channeltherage.libsyn.com/episode-49-a-uyghur-muslim-refugees-desperate-plea. (Testimony 2) (29 JUN 2018) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/australia-boy-xinjiang-china-uighur-muslims (Testimony 3) (19 FEB 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-20/australian-diplomats-called-on-to-help-uyghur-family/1082955 6 (Testimony 4) (20 FEB 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47301766 (20 FEB 2019) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-father-separated-from-baby-son-by-uighur-crackdown-speaks-o ut (22 FEB 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/06/revealed-five-australian-children-trapped-in-china-ami d-uighur-crackdown (Testimony 5) (5 APR 2019) https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2018/7/9/the-uighur-muslim-crisis-is-worse-than-you-think. (9 JUL 2019)

Additional coverage: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-24/china-hostage-diplomacy-affecting-australian-toddler/1163179 4 (Testimony 7) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/sadam-abdusalam-uyghur-family-q+a-australia-china/1199880 8 (Testimony 8)

Additional information

His father, Sadam Abdusalam, came to Australia in 2009 as a student, applied for asylum and later became an Australian citizen in 2014. He is now living and working in Sydney, Australia. Sadam and his wife Nedire Omer (Nadila Wumaier) got married in Xinjiang in 2016. Sadam returned to Australia in 2017 to work while his wife stayed in Xinjiang with their son waiting for her spouse visa for Australia to be approved. However, she had her passport confiscated and never obtained a visa.

Miscellaneous media evidence

Context: Nadire Omer returned to Xinjiang in April 2017, having her documents confiscated and thereby unable to leave the country to join her fiance, Abdusadam, in Australia. In August of that year, she gave birth to their child, Lutfy, to whom Australia would grant citizenship in February 2019. However, neither Nadire nor Lutfy have been allowed to leave the country and have remained under surveillance.

On February 23, 2020, Abdusadam's question was aired on the Australian TV show "Q&A", in which he asked Wang Xining, the deputy head of the Chinese embassy in Australia, why his fiancee and son were not being allowed to leave China and join him. In response, Wang Xining suggested that it was because Nadire and Lutfy themselves did not wish it. Within two days, Nadire posted a photo from Urumqi in which she directly contradicted this, holding up a sign saying "I want to leave and be with my husband. 2020.02.25".

Photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/misc_5026.png Source: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1232116450875170816

Victims among relatives

Nadire Omer (5027)

Supplementary materials

4corners documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-axd1Ht_J8 Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1207963008695037952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1337174612208074753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with mother: https://shahit.biz/supp/5026_1.png father w/ Lutfy's passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5026_2.png citizenship application decision: https://shahit.biz/supp/5026_3.pdf photos: https://shahit.biz/supp/5026_6.jpg

Entry created: 2019-07-22 Last updated: 2021-01-05 Latest status update: 2020-12-11 5027. Nadire Omer

Chinese ID: 65????199???????E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|4: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (husband)

Testimony 2|6|9|10|11|12: Sadam Abdusalam, originally from Xinjiang but now an Australian citizen. (husband)

Testimony 3: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (husband)

Testimony 5: Sadam Abdusalam, as reported by The Guardian. (husband)

Testimony 7|8: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's national broadcaster, founded in 1929.

About the victim name: Nedire Omer (Nadila Wumaier) gender: female ethnicity: Uyghur age: 26 (as of 19 FEB 2019) place of residence: Urumchi

Nedire's documents were confiscated after she returned to Xinjiang from her honeymoon to the USA and Turkey in April 2017. In August 2017, she gave birth to her son Lutfy (entry no 5026) without Sadam Abdusalam, her husband, present since he was not able to obtain a visa for China. Nedire was detained for one week (some reports say two weeks) when her son Lutfy was six months old in early 2018 (in some reports shortly after she gave birth in August 2017). She was released from detention, because she was breastfeeding her son, but she was told that she would be imprisoned for five years once Lutfy turned one year old. Her son would be given to a state-run orphanage where he would be adopted by a Han Chinese family. After Nedire's detention, she and her son have been placed under town arrest in Urumchi. Nedire wishes to take her son, an Australian citizen since February 2019, to Australia to join his father.

Nedire's and Lutfy's case was made public in Australian media on July 15, 2019 by Nedire's husband. On July 16, Nedire was briefly detained by Chinese authorities and questioned about her husband's remarks on TV. She was released, but according to her husband she was told to tell her husband to "keep [his] mouth shut", otherwise Nedire's life would be in danger. On July 17, ABC news reported that the Australian government has formally asked China to allow Nedire and her son to leave the country.

Victim's location

Urumchi

Testimony 12: in Australia.

When victim was detained early 2018, documents confiscated in 2017

Testimony 10-11: on April 27, 2020, she was taken by police for interrogation, but allowed to return home soon after.

Testimony 12: On December 11, 2020, Abdusalam reported that his wife and son were finally able to come to Australia.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

1. trying to leave the country to join her husband in Australia, 2. because she had travelled to Turkey

Victim's status documents confiscated, under town arrest

Testimony 7: Australia’s Foreign Ministry has raised the issue with Chinese diplomats on multiple occasions, however, sources close to the Chinese government report that China insists the case is an “internal matter” and will merely publicly express willingness to cooperate.

Testimony 8: On February 23rd, 2020, the testifier appeared on Q&A (an Australian news show on ABC) and asked Wang Xining, the deputy head of mission at the Embassy of China in Australia, why his wife and son were not allowed to leave China and travel to Australia. In response, Wang Xining suggested Nadire and their son did not want to come to Australia.

Following this, victim sent her husband (testifier) a picture of her and her son, in which she holds a handmade sign which reads “I want to leave and be with my husband 2020.02.25,” which testifier posted on twitter (Testimony 9). According to testifier, victim later reported that after sending this picture Chinese police appeared at her home to question her.

Testimony 12: allowed to come to Australia.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Sadam appears to have been in direct contact with his wife for many periods of this ordeal. Additional information

Her husband, Sadam Abdusalam, came to Australia in 2009 as a student, applied for asylum and later became an Australian citizen in 2014. He is now living and working in Sydney, Australia. Nedire and her husband got married in Xinjiang in 2016 and Sadam returned to Australia in 2017 to work while Nedire stayed in Xinjiang, gave birth to their son and waited for her spouse visa for Australia to be approved. However, she had her passport confiscated and never obtained a visa.

The first non-anonymous report by her husband: four corners video 'tell the world' (Testimony 1): https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tell-the-world/11311228 (15 JUL 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-17/uyghur-china-response-four-corners-xinjiang-detention/113167 52. (17 JUL 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49013142 (17 JUL 2019)

Also mentioned anonymously here: http://channeltherage.libsyn.com/episode-49-a-uyghur-muslim-refugees-desperate-plea (Testimony 2) (29 JUN 2018) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/australia-boy-xinjiang-china-uighur-muslims (Testimony 3) (19 FEB 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-20/australian-diplomats-called-on-to-help-uyghur-family/1082955 6 (Testimony 4) (20 FEB 2019) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47301766 (20 FEB 2019) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-father-separated-from-baby-son-by-uighur-crackdown-speaks-o ut (22 FEB 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/06/revealed-five-australian-children-trapped-in-china-ami d-uighur-crackdown (Testimony 5) (5 APR 2019) https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2018/7/9/the-uighur-muslim-crisis-is-worse-than-you-think. (9 JUL 2019)

Additional coverage: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-24/china-hostage-diplomacy-affecting-australian-toddler/1163179 4 (Testimony 7) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/sadam-abdusalam-uyghur-family-q+a-australia-china/1199880 8 (Testimony 8)

The victim's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNCKHyGDR1H/

Miscellaneous media evidence

Context: Nadire Omer returned to Xinjiang in April 2017, having her documents confiscated and thereby unable to leave the country to join her fiance, Abdusadam, in Australia. In August of that year, she gave birth to their child, Lutfy, to whom Australia would grant citizenship in February 2019. However, neither Nadire nor Lutfy have been allowed to leave the country and have remained under surveillance.

On February 23, 2020, Abdusadam's question was aired on the Australian TV show "Q&A", in which he asked Wang Xining, the deputy head of the Chinese embassy in Australia, why his fiancee and son were not being allowed to leave China and join him. In response, Wang Xining suggested that it was because Nadire and Lutfy themselves did not wish it. Within two days, Nadire posted a photo from Urumqi in which she directly contradicted this, holding up a sign saying "I want to leave and be with my husband. 2020.02.25".

Photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/misc_5027.png Source: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1232116450875170816

Victims among relatives

Lutfy Omer (5026)

Supplementary materials

4corners documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-axd1Ht_J8 Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1207963008695037952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 9: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1232116450875170816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 11: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1254855377943801856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 10: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1254707995478388736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 12: https://twitter.com/SMusapir/status/1337174612208074753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with son Lutfy: https://shahit.biz/supp/5027_1.png Q & A discussion: https://shahit.biz/supp/5027_4.mp4 photo following Q & A: https://shahit.biz/supp/5027_6.jpg

Entry created: 2019-07-22 Last updated: 2021-01-05 Latest status update: 2020-12-11 5052. Abdurahman Memet (阿不都热合曼·买买提)

Chinese ID: 652101198909171831 (Turpan)

Basic info

Age: 31 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: no news for over a year When problems started: July 2019 - Sep. 2019 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: --- Profession: other

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*: Gene A. Bunin, independent scholar and curator of shahit.biz. (friend of relative)

Testimony 2: Muherrem Muhemmed'eli, as reported by The Guardian. (nephew)

Testimony 3: Muherrem Muhemmed'eli, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (nephew)

About the victim

Abdurahman Memet was a tour guide at the Turpan branch of the "Golden Bridge" (altun kowruk, 金桥) International Tour Agency (full name in Chinese: 新疆金桥国际旅行社吐鲁番分社). He finished high school and had 8 years of Mandarin-language education.

Address: No. 2 Group, Bulaq Village, Uzumchilik (Putao) Town, Idiqut (Gaochang) District, Turpan City.

Phone number: +8618690321952.

Victim's location

In Turpan.

When victim was detained

On July 6, 2019, he was preparing to take a tour group to Ghulja for a 5-day trip, starting on July 7, 2019, for which he appears to have left as planned. On the same day (July 7), letters that his family had received from relatives in camp, which he had sent to his nephew in Japan in 2018, were published on shahit.biz and also posted on social networks, spreading quickly and prompting the Turpan police to call Abdurahman on July 9 to ask whom he shared the letters with. On July 11, he returned to Turpan and contact with him was definitively lost. By July 20, it became clear through a mix of sources that he was being held in detention in Turpan.

Likely (or given) reason for detention Almost certainly the fact that the letters from camp that he had shared with his relative abroad were widely posted online.

Victim's status

Presumably in a detention center in Turpan. [However, there's been no real news since his disappearance.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

His nephew used his contacts in Xinjiang and inner China to get updates about his uncle's case.

Additional information

Phone number of the Gaochang District police station: +869958564820.

Tour company phone: +869958832300 (landline), +8613899318116 (mobile).

A Financial Times reporter visited Turpan on July 13 and asked about Abdurahman. Without confirming the detention, the police gave a vague reply about staying in touch with the reporter and letting him know later. Nothing appears to have come of this, however.

His story has been featured in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/14/uighur-man-held-after-leaking-letters-from-xinjiang-ca mp-inmates-says-family

RFA has also covered his story: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/abdurahman-memet-08142019190434.html

Victims among relatives

Muhemmedeli Tursun (4958), Mehmud Muhemmet (4964), Ayshemhan Yasin (4957), Memet Ismayil (4959), Ehmed Muhemmed (4960), Nureli Ehmed (4961), Omer Ehmed (4962), Nurislam Ehmed (4963), Abdusalam Muhemmed (4965)

Supplementary materials photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_1.jpg photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_2.jpg tour company logo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_3.jpg tour company info (Turpan): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_4.jpg tour company info (general): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_5.png 5-day tour announcement: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_6.jpg letter from mother in camp: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_7.png nephew's summary of events: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_9.pdf call to PSB (Aug. 4, 2019) (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_10.mp3 call to PSB (Aug. 4, 2019) (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_11.mp3 Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_12.jpg call to PSB (Aug. 5, 2019) (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_13.mp3 call to PSB (Aug. 5, 2019) (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_14.mp3 call to PSB (Aug. 8, 2019): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_15.mp3 RFA report (Uyghur): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_16.mp3 translation of letter: https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_17.pdf call to PSB (Mar. 29, 2020): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_18.mp4 call to PSB (Apr. 2, 2020): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_19.mp3 call to PSB (Apr. 5, 2020): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_20.mp3 photo (3): https://shahit.biz/supp/5052_21.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-07-29 Last updated: 2020-02-02 Latest status update: 2020-11-07 5075. Heyrulla Muhemmet

Chinese ID: 65300119820424??O? (Atush)

Basic info

Age: 37 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"terrorism" Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Heyrulla Muhemmet, originally from Atush but now an Australian citizen. He is a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang, having spent around three weeks in a detention center in Urumqi. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, as reported by The Australian.

Testimony 3: Heyrulla Muhemmet, as reported by Voice of America. (the victim)

About the victim

Heyrulla Muhemmet (referred to on Australian television as "Hairullah Mai") is a plasterer. Originally from Atush, he is now an Australian citizen and lives in Melbourne.

He has a wife and stepson, both of whom are in Xinjiang.

Victim's location

In Australia.

When victim was detained

He was detained at the Chengdu airport in July-August 2017 while flying back to Xinjiang (presumably to see his wife and stepson).

He was then put on a plane to Urumqi, where he would be held in a detention center outside the city for about 3 weeks. Two weeks into his detention, he was visited by an Australian diplomat from the Beijing embassy.

After his release, he would stay with his wife and son, but would soon be ordered to leave Xinjiang and banned from visiting for 5 years. Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the "Four Corners" report in which Heyrulla gave his eyewitness account, he was detained for being a potential terrorist.

Victim's status

Released and back in Australia. However, he is banned from visiting Xinjiang (or possibly China altogether) for 5 years now. His wife and stepson are still in Xinjiang.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Heyrulla's is an eyewitness account.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, who confirmed providing him assistance after his detention, were directly involved in the case.

Additional information

Heyrulla is one of three Australian citizens who were detained in China (and later managed to return).

Eyewitness account featured on ABC's "Four Corners": https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tell-the-world/11311228

Voice of America coverage: https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/china-targets-foreign-nationals-uighur-origin

Anonymous mentions: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-25/three-australians-were-detained-in-chinas-xinjiang-camps/1042 9116 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/beijings-hidden-hitlist-targets-100-fugitives-here/news-story/ac3 39c63d1dfeeaf05a0e85f15cdf730

Heyrulla does not mention being subjected to forced labor while at the No. 1 detention center (where he was allegedly held), but there is some evidence for this practice existing there.

Eyewitness account

[The following is the transcript of the victim’s account, together with the reporter’s narration, as presented on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Four Corners” television program in July 2019. Quotes from the victim are preserved in their original, retaining any grammatical errors.]

37-year-old Melbourne plasterer, Heyrulla Mai [sic], is one of three Australian citizens who have been jailed in Xinjiang. He’s speaking out for the first time.

Heyrulla:

“It’s bit hard to explain, in my feeling at that time. Yea, never been happen like that before, in my life.” In August 2017, while traveling on his Australian passport, Heyrulla was questioned, and then detained, at China’s Chengdu Airport.

Heyrulla:

“When I go to that detention center in Chengdu, they put chain on my ankle, put on a handcuff on my hand. So I just be shocked, because I don’t know what’s the reason why I… they should to do this to me.”

Heyrulla wasn’t allowed to call the Australian embassy or his family. Security forces marched him onto a plane and flew him to Xinjiang. He says he was brought here [satellite image of detention compound] – to this detention center near Urumqi – and put in a cell with around 40 other men.

Heyrulla:

“Yea… There is not enough space. You just lie down properly and turn around, something like that – you can’t do that. We just sleeping 2 hours, after 2 hours we wake up, and then we standing 2 hours, and then they wake up, you going to sleep. Something like that.”

Classified as a potential terrorist, each day the Australian citizen was forced to undergo 6 hours of indoctrination, praising the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping.

Heyrulla:

“You have to watch the brainwashing program TV. There’s TV, in the detention center, in that room. That TV, the people is talking about Communist Party’s rules and then, Xi Jinping’s good. Something like that.”

After two weeks, Heyrulla says he received a visit from an Australian official who introduced himself as Mark, from the Beijing embassy.

Heyrulla:

“He trying to ask the officials – the Chinese officials – this guy asking me: ‘Why are you guys put him to the detention center and then lock him up about two weeks, more than two weeks? What’s the reason?’ And then, the Chinese official says: ‘Still no time to answer to this question.’”

A week later, Heyrulla was released, to be with his wife and his stepson. But authorities ordered him to leave Xinjiang and banned him from visiting for 5 years. Heyrulla’s wife was blocked from leaving with him.

Heyrulla:

“She just keep saying: ‘Don’t leave me alone, don’t leave me alone. Take me with you. I can’t live without you.’ That feeling is, you know, break my heart. I just left. Even I can’t turn around and see her again, because I, from the far away, near the gate, I can see… see her just crying and crying.”

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-axd1Ht_J8

Supplementary materials

4corners documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-axd1Ht_J8 still from 4corners: https://shahit.biz/supp/5075_2.png Testimony 1: https://shahit.biz/supp/5075_4.mp4

Entry created: 2019-07-30 Last updated: 2020-10-20 Latest status update: 2020-01-18 5137. Patigul Sadiqjan

Chinese ID: 65????19????????E? (place of origin unclear)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

RFA (https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/ana-bala-07232019174213.html)

Victim's relation to testifier none

About the victim

Patigul Sadiqjan. Her son was born in Virginia, USA in October, 2015. In April, 2017 she took her son Hamdan Hushtar back to her hometown Ghulja. Her passport was confiscated and she and her son were trapped at Ghulja. After her son's information was reported, American diplomats contacted local authorities and helped her to leave china. Chinese authorities returned her passport in May, 2019. She went to France in June, then USA in July of 2019 with her son to meet with her husband.

Victim's location

USA

When victim was detained her passport was taken away

Likely (or given) reason for detention not detained

Victim's status in abroad now

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? husband reported

Additional information

She married to her husband in 2014 in Turkey, some businessman from Ghulja went to Turkey to attend her wedding. In 2017, all of those businessman got detained.

Victims among relatives

Hemdan Hushtar (5136)

Entry created: 2019-08-19 Last updated: 2019-08-23 Latest status update: 2019-07-23 5143. Maqsum Kasei

Chinese ID: 654324??????????O? (Kaba)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Altay Status: documents withheld When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Testimony 1-2: Bolatqan Saipolla lives in East Kazakhstan.

Victim's relation to testifier

Testimony 1-2: brother-in-law

About the victim

Maqsum Kasei is a Chinese citizen. He was leaving China for Kazakhstan in 2018 and sold his house there, but they were not allowed to get their passports from the local administration office. Residential address: Kolbay township, Habahe county, Altay region

Victim's location

[Presumably in Altay.]

When victim was detained not stated

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status documents withheld

Testimony 2: he went again to the local police office to get his passport on 19 August, 2019, yet the policeman told him that his relative in Kazakhstan made a phone call and disturbed them, so he could not get his passport back

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? not stated

Additional information

The testifier called the Entry-Exit Bureau of Habahe county to ask for the reason why his brother-in-law couldn't get his passport back, they asked him to contact the next day, yet never picked up the phone again.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ut4BufWZCg Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKCyUS6B9o

Entry created: 2019-08-20 Last updated: 2021-03-15 Latest status update: 2019-08-23 5164. Memettursun Dayim (买买提吐松·达依木)

Chinese ID: 65292319????????O? (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Apr. 2019 - June 2019 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abdurehim Gheni, an Uyghur activist famous for his solo protests in Amsterdam. (former student)

Testimony 2: @Nasir__Sidik, an unverified Twitter account. (former student)

Testimony 3|4: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 5: Local school employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (colleague)

Testimony 6: "Uyghuriya Alp", an unverified Facebook account. (relation unclear)

About the victim

Memettursun Dayim (买买提吐松·达依木), worked for 25 years as a chemistry teacher in Kucha's No. 4 Middle School (school address: 库车县东城街道石化新村社区福鸿路14号). His wife is disabled.

Address: Kucha county, Aksu prefecture

[RFA report: appears to be a Party member, based on the pictures of him posted on Facebook.]

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu.]

When victim was detained

April 2019

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

Testimony 1: In re-education camp

Testimony 2: Testifier demands the Chinese authorities to show the victim.

Testimony 4: worker at the Education Bureau verified that Memettursun is detained.

Testimony 5: detained.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: not stated.

Testimony 3-5: these are local sources with presumably relatively direct knowledge of the case.

Additional information

His article on children's education: http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-CZZX201420131.htm (https://archive.vn/ePOqx)

Listed among selected "star teachers": https://archive.fo/ELR5H

Listed among selected "high-class teachers": https://archive.fo/r0JPd

RFA coverage (Testimony 3-5): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/uyghur-oqutquchi-03232020154813.html

Testimony 3: the chairman of the Kucha County Education Bureau said that information regarding the victim was a state secret.

Testimony 6: after the publication of the RFA article, a Chinese official messaged the testifier to tell him that the victim had allegedly gone off to work on the National College Entrance Examination [thereby "explaining" his disappearance].

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1 (removed): https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/urhun.uyghur/posts/26728 27366071013&width=300 Testimony 6: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/UYGHURIA1023/posts/647 436735857632&width=300 Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/Nasir__Sidik/status/1257566680366153728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5164_3.jpg article authored by victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/5164_4.pdf

Entry created: 2019-08-28 Last updated: 2021-04-11 Latest status update: 2020-07-19 5314. Yehya Qurban

Chinese ID: 65312619660701??O? (Kaghilik)

Basic info

Age: 54 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: house/town arrest When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Euronews. (daughter)

Testimony 3|5: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Yahya Qurban, a 52-year-old man holding Turkish citizenship (has been a Turkish citizen for 40 years). He had been living in Urumqi with his family (Testimony 3: where he ran a shop and would travel between Turkey and Xinjiang for trade.)

Testimony 3: he is originally from Kargilik County.

Testimony 5: he migrated to Turkey with his family when he was 13.

Victim's location

Testimony 4: in Kashgar.

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: On the 11th of September 2017, the victims' daughter Hankiz received a message from her mother that read "the police are taking us, please contact the Consulate".

Testimony 3: he and his wife were sent to Kargilik County after the arrest.

Testimony 3: Hankiz received a call from Yehya in late 2019. He warned her not to become involved in any "untoward" matters. 2-3 months later, he called again (together with his wife, Amine). Hankiz believes there was someone sitting next to them during the call. (There have been multiple calls since then, but some were disconnected if they did not go "as expected".)

Testimony 5: Arrested on September 10, 2017. In a video chat, Yehya told Hanqiz that he and Amine were held in an internment camp and released in October 2019. Yehya's Turkish passport had been confiscated in 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Holding Turkish citizenship

Testimony 3: "Being witness to crimes committed against Uyghurs."

Victim's status

Since the detention, there has been no news about them at all. Ankara has been telling the victim's daughter that the situation has been forwarded to the Consulate General in Beijing and the response is expected. When the victim's daughter communicates with the Consulate General in Beijing, they say " please wait," and this has been going on for over 2 years.

Testimony 4: One source said that Yehya and Amine were "under his jurisdiction and were not permitted to return to Turkey".

Testimony 5: On May 13, 2021, Yehya and Amine called their children in a monitored video chat that lasted almost 30 minutes. They hadn't seen each other for 4 years [as previous calls were audio only]. Hanqiz provided a recording of the video chat to RFA. Two unknown people were sitting with Yehya and Amine in the call. Hanqiz believes they were security personnel. Currently, Yehya and Amine are unable to travel from Kaghilik to Urumqi. They are living in an apartment complex called "Karlik" [which RFA imply might be a residential camp, but this is unconfirmed].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: Her mother Amina, as she was being detained, sent the following voice message to Hankiz: "They’re taking us away, contact the embassy”.

Testimony 4: this is a local government official, presumably with direct knowledge of the case.

Testimony 5: Hanqiz spoke to her parents via video chat.

Additional information

The victim's four children are all in Turkey.

Buzzfeed coverage (Testimony 1): https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/turkey-uighurs-china-muslim-internment-camps

Euronews coverage (Testimony 2): https://tr.euronews.com/2019/04/18/cin-deki-toplama-kamplarinda-turk-vatandaslari-da-mi-tutuluyor

RFA coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/couple-04302021171012.html (Testimony 3-4) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/turkish-05192021191321.html (Testimony 5)

Voice of America mention: https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/china-targets-foreign-nationals-uighur-origin

Testimony 5: His children in Turkey have been able to call him and his wife once every 2-3 months since late 2019.

Victims among relatives

Amine Qurban (5315), Memetimin Nasir (5312)

Supplementary materials

Turkish passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5314_1.jpg photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/5314_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-09-28 Last updated: 2021-07-07 Latest status update: 2021-05-19 5315. Amine Qurban

Chinese ID: 65312619690701??E? (Kaghilik)

Basic info

Age: 51 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: house/town arrest When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Buzzfeed News. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Euronews. (daughter)

Testimony 3|5: Hanqiz Qurban, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Amina Qurban, an Uyghur woman with Turkish citizenship who had been living in Urumqi. She's been a Turkish citizen for 40 years.

Testimony 3: she is originally from Kargilik County. She and her husband owned a shop in Urumqi.

Victim's location

Testimony 4: in Kashgar.

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: On the 11th of September 2017, the victims' daughter Hankiz received a message from her mother that read "the police are taking us, please contact the Consulate".

Testimony 3: she and her husband were sent to Kargilik County after the arrest.

Testimony 3: Hankiz received a call from her father in late 2019. He warned her not to become involved in any "untoward" matters. 2-3 months later, he called again (together with Amine). Hankiz believes there was someone sitting next to them during the call. (There have been multiple calls since then, but some were disconnected if they did not go "as expected".) Testimony 5: Arrested on September 10, 2017. In a video chat, Yehya (Hanqiz's father) told Hanqiz that he and Amine were held in an internment camp and released in October 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Holding Turkish citizenship

Testimony 3: "Being witness to crimes committed against Uyghurs."

Victim's status

Since the detention, there has been no news about them at all. Ankara has been telling the victim's daughter that the situation has been forwarded to the Consulate General in Beijing and the response is expected. When the victim's daughter communicates with the Consulate General in Beijing, they say " please wait," and this has been going on for over 2 years.

Testimony 4: One source said that Yehya and Amine were "under his jurisdiction and were not permitted to return to Turkey".

Testimony 5: On May 13, 2021, Yehya and Amine called their children in a monitored video chat that lasted almost 30 minutes. They hadn't seen each other for 4 years [as previous calls were audio only]. Hanqiz provided a recording of the video chat to RFA. Two unknown people were sitting with Yehya and Amine in the call. Hanqiz believes they were security personnel. Currently, Yehya and Amine are unable to travel from Kaghilik to Urumqi. They are living in an apartment complex called "Karlik" [which RFA imply might be a residential camp, but this is unconfirmed].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: Her mother Amina, as she was being detained, sent the following voice message to Hankiz: "They’re taking us away, contact the embassy”.

Testimony 4: this is a local government official, presumably with direct knowledge of the case.

Testimony 5: Hanqiz spoke to her parents via video chat.

Additional information

The victim's four children are all in Turkey.

Buzzfeed coverage (Testimony 1): https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/turkey-uighurs-china-muslim-internment-camps

Euronews coverage (Testimony 2): https://tr.euronews.com/2019/04/18/cin-deki-toplama-kamplarinda-turk-vatandaslari-da-mi-tutuluyor

RFA coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/couple-04302021171012.html (Testimony 3-4) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/turkish-05192021191321.html (Testimony 5)

Voice of America mention: https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/china-targets-foreign-nationals-uighur-origin

Testimony 5: Her children in Turkey have been able to call her and her husband once every 2-3 months since late 2019.

Victims among relatives

Yehya Qurban (5314), Memetimin Nasir (5312)

Supplementary materials

Turkish passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5315_1.jpg photo with husband: https://shahit.biz/supp/5315_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-09-28 Last updated: 2021-07-07 Latest status update: 2021-05-19 5316. Hepizem Nizamidin

Chinese ID: 65292419????????E? (Shayar)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Aziz Isa Elkun, as reported by Daily Mail. (son)

Testimony 2: Aziz Isa Elkun, an Uyghur writer and now British citizen. (son)

Testimony 3|4: Aziz Isa Elkun, as reported by The Telegraph. (son)

About the victim

Hepizem Nizamidin, a 76-year-old Uyghur woman.

Testimony 3: she is a widow, as her husband passed away at some point in 2017 or earlier (at the age of 78). She is from Toyboldi Municipality [judging by her daughter-in-law visiting her there in 2012].

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu.]

When victim was detained

Contact was initially lost in 2017.

Testimony 4:

Aziz Isa Elkun received messages from Hepizem Nizamidin in July 2019. Hepizem Nizamidin had sent him some pictures of herself and asked him to contact her. The messages were sent via WhatsApp from a Turkish number he didn't recognise. Aziz Isa Elkun interpreted the messages as a warning [from the Chinese government] to stay silent.

From July 2019, over the course of approximately one year, Aziz Isa Elkun received more voice messages [left by Hepizem Nizamidin] via foreign numbers from Turkey and Hong Kong. Aziz Isa Elkun believes that Hepizem Nizamidin was forced by Chinese police to record the messages. In at least one message, Hepizem Nizamidin's voice trembled as she stated "today, a working group of officials came to visit me. They said 'we will help you to speak with your son.'"

Aziz Isa Elkun says that the messages he received from his mother starting in July 2019 were Chinese agents attempting to contact Aziz Isa Elkun and stop his activities; the messages were essentially telling Aziz Isa Elkun that the Chinese government were keeping Hepizem Nizamidin hostage.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

[Presumably not in detention - at least, for when the state media had her go on camera.]

Testimony 4: Aziz Isa Elkun is reportedly still unable to call Hepizem Nizamidin directly.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Isa Elkun last spoke with his mother in 2017 and has not had any contact since.

Testimony 2: All telephone communication between the testifier (Aziz Isa Elkun, son of the victim) and the victim ceased before the end of 2017, shortly after the death of the victim's husband, Isa Abdulla. (The last time the testifier heard the victim's voice prior to the CGTN interview was reportedly February 2017.)

Testimony 2: Prior to the CGTN interview conducted with the victim (which was published on 13 January 2020), the testifier learnt from friends that the victim was still alive more than two years after contact with the victim ceased.

Additional information

Daily Mail article (Testimony 1): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7019847/Chinese-dissident-living-London-asks-UK-authorities-h elp-tracing-family.html

Testifier's reply to China's state-media propaganda (Testimony 2): http://www.azizisa.org/en/response-to-the-chinese-global-times-cgtn/

Testimony 2: The victim's husband worked "for 40 years as a medical doctor for Shayar County, Toyboldi town hospital" and died on 4 November 2017.

Testimony 2: The testifier discerned from IMINT via Google Earth satellite photography that the graveyard and tomb of the victim's husband had been destroyed.

Testimony 2: The testifier also learnt from friends at some point before the CGTN interview (dated 13 January 2020) was published that the testifier's sister had been detained in an interment camp for more than a year and a half. The name of the testifier's sister is not provided and no further information is given. The current status and whereabouts of the testifier's sister are unknown.

The Telegraph coverage (Testimony 3-4): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/12/british-uighur-calls-uk-government-help-search-missing-fa mily/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/16/exclusive-china-continues-harass-exiles-british-soil-claim- victims/

Supplementary materials

CGTN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXBIeKpUq_c

Entry created: 2019-09-28 Last updated: 2021-04-11 Latest status update: 2020-08-16 5340. Bagdat Akin (巴合达提·阿肯)

Chinese ID: 654322199203101910 (Koktokay)

Basic info

Age: 29 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: sentenced (7 years) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): "problematic" association|"terrorism" Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Nursapa Zhenishan, a citizen of Kazakhstan. (grandmother)

Testimony 2: Gulbaran Omirali, as reported by National Public Radio. (aunt)

Testimony 3: Bagdat Akin, a student at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, who was detained after his return to China in May 2017, to be tortured, forced into confessing to terrorism, and given a long prison sentence. (the victim)

Testimony 4*: Anonymous, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (acquaintance)

About the victim

Bagdat Akin was a student at the Al-Azhar university in Egypt, where he started his studies in 2012. He's married and has a son.

Residential address: Qashuyn Village, Shaqurty Municipality, Koktogai County, Altay Prefecture.

Victim's location

No. 2 District of the Xin'an Prison (新安监狱二监区).

When victim was detained

He was detained at the Urumqi airport by the Koktogai National Security Bureau branch on May 20, 2017, immediately after returning to China. He would then be tortured for 20 days, from May 20 to June 9, before being transferred to the Koktogai detention center.

His official detention didn't take place until August 25, 2017, however, with the formal arrest following on August 31, 2017. He says that the police had him recite his forced confession on camera on August 25, which he did as they threatened to sentence his wife, father, and younger sister if he did not cooperate.

On November 13, 2018, there was a closed trial, during which he was sentenced to 14 years and 5 years' deprivation of political rights. He appealed to the prefectural court but had the appeal rejected, after which he appealed to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region High People's Court on July 22, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

The policemen forced him to confess that he was involved in the East Turkistan Terrorist Organization while in Egypt.

His grandmother says that the charge stemmed from him transferring some money to an Uyghur acquaintance in 2016 over WeChat, so as to get a cheaper plane ticket from Egypt to Urumqi.

Victim's status

Originally sentenced to 14 years with 5 years' deprivation of political rights, though relatives have reported this has been reduced to 7 years following their appeals.

[It is very likely that he is being subjected to forced labor while at the prison, as the Shihezi Xin'an Cotton Processing Plant is based here.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The majority of the information comes from the victim's own appeal letter.

It is not clear how Bagdat's acquaintances/relatives in Kazakhstan learned about the sentence reduction.

Additional information

Mentioned by National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/764153179/china-has-begun-moving-xinjiang-muslim-detainees-to-form al-prisons-relatives-say

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-10262017104004.html

Letter from detention

Original: https://shahit.biz/supp/letori_4.pdf Translation: https://shahit.biz/supp/lettran_4.pdf Side-by-side: https://shahit.biz/letview.php?no=4

Victims among relatives

Akin Kemel (10382), Arai Kerim (10383), Madina Akin (10384)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLPzTYTq-_4 Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_2.png student certificate: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_3.png study documents: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_4.png proof of self-funded study abroad: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_5.png confirmation of registration: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_6.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5340_7.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-10-02 Last updated: 2021-03-28 Latest status update: 2021-03-25 5349. Baimurat Nauryzbek (巴依木拉提·那如孜别克)

Chinese ID: 654121199008111219 (Ghulja County)

Basic info

Age: 31 Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: Tacheng Status: sentenced (10 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"inciting ethnic hatred" Health status: --- Profession: security/police

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Madihan Kunbolat, born in 1987, now a Kazakhstan citizen. (cousin)

Testimony 3|4|5|6|9|10: Baibolat Kunbolat, now residing in Kazakhstan. (cousin)

Testimony 7: Madihan Kunbolat, as reported by National Public Radio. (cousin)

Testimony 8: Gu Ming, a staff member of the Chinese mission in Kazakhstan.

Testimony 11: Baqyt Zharyqbasova, born in 1983, is a Kazakhstan citizen. (sister-in-law)

Testimony 12: Bazarbai Adilzhan, originally from Ghulja County, immigrated to Kazakhstan in 2008 and obtained citizenship there. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Baimurat Nauryzbek was born on August 11, 1990, and was adopted by relatives (Baibolat and Madihan's aunt) at the age of 5 months. After studying at the Almaty Technology University for a year in 2012-2013, he went back to China, where he'd work as an auxiliary police officer (协警). He's a fluent Chinese speaker, having gone to a Chinese school until ninth grade and having graduated from high school in Shanghai.

Address: Group No. 3, Shormanbulaq Village, Qarayaghach Township, Ghulja County (新疆伊宁县喀拉亚尕齐乡下奥依曼布拉克村三组).

Chinese passport: G43889756. Kazakhstan green card: 026674161.

Victim's location

Confirmed by the Xinjiang authorities to be in Wusu Prison.

When victim was detained The official Chinese account and that of relatives differ.

According to his relatives, he was detained in March 2018 and kept in a camp for 18 months before being sentenced to 10 years in October 2019.

The official account, as conveyed by a representative of the Chinese mission in Kazakhstan, Gu Ming (顾明), is that he was sentenced on April 11, 2018 (to 10 years and 5 years of deprivation of political rights) without ever having been in an "education & training center".

An early testimony from a fellow villager, Bazarbai Adilzhan, appears to support the official version, as already in October 2018 Bazarbai had testified that Baimurat had allegedly been sentenced to 10 years for something found on his phone.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Gu Ming, Baimurat was found guilty of "inciting ethnic hatred" (for an article he posted on Baidu Tieba in 2012, in addition to other later posts).

Victim's status

Serving a 10-year prison sentence.

There is also a strong likelihood that he is subjected to forced labor, as there are indications of this happening at Wusu Prison.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

While it's not clear how the victim's relatives in Kazakhstan learned about his status, that Baimurat has been sentenced to 10 years has been confirmed by Gu Ming, who is a representative of the Chinese government and says he got the information from the Xinjiang government directly.

Additional information

The victim's case has been mentioned by NPR: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/764153179/china-has-begun-moving-xinjiang-muslim-detainees-to-form al-prisons-relatives-say

Baibolat has tried calling the victim's mother, Yrzyq Asengazy (mobile number: +86 176 9939 6047), more than ten times, but she didn't answer. She picked up the phone once, but hung up immediately. In a later testimony, the testifier reported that she sent him a message telling him to stop petitioning, claiming that it was making their lives even harder.

The Rights Protection Blog (https://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2020/03/10.html?spref=tw) has given a differing account, in which the victim was formally arrested at the end of 2019, instead of being released from the camp, and then sentenced by the Ghulja County People's Court in March 2020. [However, this seems to have a number of inconsistencies, both with the official confirmation from the Chinese mission that came earlier and with the fact that the 10-year sentence is reported as starting from March 2018, which would imply a formal arrest in March 2018, and not the victim being sent to camp. In the absence of additional information, this account will not be integrated into the entry for the time being.] Official communication(s)

Source: Chinese Mission in Kazakhstan

------

Baibolat Kunbubek [Kunbolat],

The embassy has just received the formal reply from the Xinjiang regional government. I can now inform you of the formal result regarding your brother Baimurat Nauryzbek’s case.

Your brother was never in an education & training center (what you call “study class”). On March 20, 2012, your brother posted an article on the Chinese social network platform Baidu Tieba, in which he incited ethnic sentiment and ethnic hatred. Afterwards, your brother would continue to leave remarks inciting ethnic hatred on social media, doing so on multiple occasions. As a result, the Xinjiang Ili Yining People’s Court – in accordance with Articles 249 and 56 of the “Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China” – judged your brother guilty of inciting ethnic hatred and sentenced him to 10 years of prison and 5 years of deprivation of political rights on April 11, 2018. He is currently serving his sentence in Wusu Prison.

Provided above is the official reply. What follows now are my remarks on the behalf of the embassy:

1) There is no so-called “totally groundless arrest”. China is a country and society of law. If you continue to slander the Chinese government, then we will engage with the Kazakhstan government to have action taken against you.

2) Your brother committed a crime and must submit to the appropriate punishment. I hope that he can successfully reform while in prison and become a new person. Should you continue to act here as a pawn of the anti-China forces and to continue to make trouble, then rest assured – your brother and your brother’s family will certainly not wish your actions to further affect your brother’s reform.

3) The embassy and consulate here, together with the Xinjiang government, have dedicated time to formally look into and inquire about your brother’s case. You ought to be grateful, and I hope that you’ll be more careful with your actions in the future. Don’t expect such politeness and assistance the next time that you cause trouble. As we’ve learned, your brother was adopted by your aunt’s family when he was 5 months old. Your aunt and uncle are still living in Xinjiang, and your actions can have an effect on them. They don’t want you to keep making trouble. If they’re not happy with the verdict, they can simply appeal through the legal channels. Don’t think that you can do whatever you like just because you’ve obtained Kazakhstan citizenship. Nor is the Kazakhstan government going to protect those who harm China-Kazakhstan relations, attacking and insulting the Chinese people, even if that person happens to be a citizen of Kazakhstan.

Finally, I hope that you can distance yourself from those negative people, and to use these best years of your life to really work hard, to earn more money, and to take good care of your parents. Don’t get involved with anti-China forces. I trust you to get all that sorted.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFWBETIF4M4 Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myksF_fKHlU Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxZL3Gvzv1s Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL9gkIORTRE Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1-c_UG9Qjw Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIBMhKYZ6mY Testimony 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjaX3kCcqE Testimony 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfJwuikKONE Testimony 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srdBjhFgsiA Testimony 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWoUMUnLGlg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5349_2.jpg Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/5349_8.png Gu Ming phone call: https://shahit.biz/supp/5349_14.mp4 Almaty student ticket: https://shahit.biz/supp/5349_20.jpg Kazakhstan residence: https://shahit.biz/supp/5349_21.jpg official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_5349.png

Entry created: 2019-10-04 Last updated: 2021-01-11 Latest status update: 2021-08-29 5385. Abdurahman Tohti

Chinese ID: 652901198???????O? (Aksu)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"terrorism" Health status: has problems Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by Deutschlandfunk. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by New York Times. (the victim)

Testimony 3: Abdurahman Tohti, as reported by This American Life. (the victim)

About the victim

Abdurahman Tohti, from Aksu prefecture, 32 years old (as of 5 Sept 2019), father of Abdulaziz Abdurahman (entry 3563).

Testimony 2: The victim was originally a cotton farmer when he was in Xinjiang, but now sells used cars in Istanbul.

Victim's location

Istanbul, Turkey.

When victim was detained

[very likely arrested before the 2017- repressions, judging by the context and what's been reported in other articles]

Testimony 2: The victim left Xinjiang and immigrated to Turkey in 2013.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 1: The police suspected that he, being a Muslim, supported "militant groups".

Testimony 3: arrested and subsequently tortured "for learning Arabic." Victim's status

He was arrested and mistreated by police in Xinjiang several times. Furthermore, he was detained by police for one month in Urumchi. He was hung up on his arms every day and his feet were put in water. This happened in november when it was cold. Until today, he does not have any feeling in his feet. He went to Turkey after having been mistreated by police in Xinjiang.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

His wife Helime [Peride, according to most reports] was detained after having returned to Xinjiang in August 2016 with the couple's three children. She is now serving a 10-year prison sentence (note in entry 3563). In the deutschlandfunk.de article, her status is described as probably being in a "re-education" camp. All three children are still in China and Abdurahman has lost contact with them.

Dlf report (Testimony 1): https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/flucht-aus-china-das-schicksal-der-uiguren.795.de.html?dram:article_id= 458052 (5 September 2019)

New York Times mention (Testimony 2): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

Story in This American Life (Testimony 3): https://www.thisamericanlife.org/701/transcript

Testimony 3: In approximately April 2020, a contact on Douyin told Abdurahman Tohti that local government officials in Aksu went on the village loudspeaker and made a public announcement saying that anyone with information about the Tohti family (Abdurahman Tohti's family) was forbidden to share it.

Victims among relatives

Abduleziz Abdurahman (3563), Nadire Abdurahman (3636), Tohti Emet (5178), Peride Yasin (5997), Aynurhan Qasim (8237), Emetjan Tohti (8238), Memetjan Tohti (8239), Aygul Tohti (8240), Arzugul Tohti (8241), Abdulla Emetjan (8481)

Supplementary materials photo with son: https://shahit.biz/supp/5385_1.png photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/5385_2.png

Entry created: 2019-10-12 Last updated: 2021-01-16 Latest status update: 2020-04-17 5392. Hesenjan Ismayil (艾山江·司马义)

Chinese ID: 652801197???????O? (Korla)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: unclear (hard) When problems started: Apr. 2018 - June 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): other|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|4: Elijan Memet, now residing outside of China, a former owner of the 606 language school in Korla. (friend)

Testimony 2: Camp employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur.

Testimony 3: Elijan Memet, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (friend)

About the victim

Hesenjan Ismayil, 41 (as of September 2019), from Korla, is a graduate of the Dalian Science & Technology University, where he studied trade and industry.

He is the founder of the 606 Language & Technical Skills School (in Korla) and the Jahan Finance and Stock Company. The assets of the 606 school are valued at over 3 million RMB.

He's married and has one child - his wife works in a hospital.

Victim's location

Previously in a Hejing County camp, but unclear if still there.

When victim was detained

Around May 2018.

On April 28, 2020, Elijan reported that Hesenjan's situation had gotten worse, and that he would have been released from camp had Elijan not spoken out. However, it's not clear what this means.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the RFA report, the presumed reason is that the 606 school taught courses in Turkish. Victim's status

Unclear. According to Elijan, his situation may have worsened because of Elijan speaking out.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Via the internet, with Radio Free Asia obtaining confirmation from a camp officer.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/school-10072019173008.html https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/hesenjan-ismail-09232019223332.html

Business listing in Qichacha: http://archive.ph/T19vN

Victims among relatives

Altungul Ismayil (5582)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/EliUyghurjan/status/1255148351483293697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5392_1.jpeg school interior: https://shahit.biz/supp/5392_2.jpeg business license: https://shahit.biz/supp/5392_3.jpeg

Entry created: 2019-10-16 Last updated: 2020-05-11 Latest status update: 2020-04-28 5417. Mahire Yaqup (玛依拉·亚库甫)

Chinese ID: 654101197710050028 (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 43 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (6 years) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"terrorism", assisting "criminals", "extremism" Health status: has problems Profession: corporate work

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|5: Merhaba Yaqup, originally from Ghulja but now living in Australia. (sister)

Testimony 3: Nyrola Elima, as reported by Washington Post. (cousin)

Testimony 4: Merhaba Yaqup, as reported by Washington Post. (sister)

Testimony 6|8|14: Nyrola Elima, residing in Sweden. (cousin)

Testimony 7: Merhaba Yaqup, as reported by Amnesty International. (sister)

Testimony 9: Nyrola Elima, as reported by CNN. (cousin)

Testimony 10: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

Testimony 11: Chinese Mission to the EU, China's official representative body in the European Union.

Testimony 12: XUAR People's Government Information Office, the formal body in charge of making official public statements to the outside world regarding events in Xinjiang.

Testimony 13*: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, as reported by Nyrola Elima.

Testimony 15: Nyrola Elima, as reported by Amnesty International. (cousin)

About the victim

Mahire Yaqup is a single mother of three. She worked as an insurance saleswoman for the Ili branch of China Life, did private business, and was also a part-time Mandarin teacher, teaching Mandarin to adults in a training center in Ghulja. She was also a tutor who taught English, Mandarin, and mathematics to primary school students.

Address: Ghulja City, Ili Prefecture. Chinese passport: G38324942.

Victim's location

Ili Women's Prison.

(Her correspondence address is given as 212 East Airport Street, Ghulja City, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang (新疆伊犁哈萨克自治州伊宁市飞机场东街212号).)

When victim was detained

Mahire underwent a police check in Urumqi on December 26, 2017, during which she was let go, but with the system reporting that she was a "person under surveillance having come to Urumqi" (来乌布控人员).

She was taken to a concentration camp in Ghulja at the beginning of March 2018, then released from camp in the December of the same year, at which point she called her sister abroad to tell her that she was fine, in addition to praising the Party. She disappeared again on April 9, 2019, being taken to the Ghulja City pre-trial detention center (伊宁市看守所).

Following pressure from the Australian authorities, the Chinese side gave an official reply in which they said that Mahire had been formally arrested in May 2019, on crimes that the testifier believes are made up. She was prosecuted in July 2019, and charged in January 2020 for "financing terrorist activities" (资助恐怖活动罪).

On September 4, 2020, she was released from police custody, but would be taken to the Ghulja People's Hospital without a reason the day after, with authorities warning Nyrola's parents to tell Nyrola to stop tweeting publicly about the case. There would be no news of Mahire for weeks.

When Nyrola tweeted about Mahire being taken to the hospital, her parents pleaded with her to stop (the police having shown up at their home soon after with printouts of Nyrola's tweets). She did, going silent for months. However, Mahire was later taken back to the detention center. Nyrola later reported that Mahire spent a total of 3 months in the hospital.

On December 12, 2020, she was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison. Her savings have allegedly been confiscated as well.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

In their report to the Washington Post, Mahire's sisters say that she was prosecuted for "funding terrorist activities", when in reality this money had been sent to Australia to help her relatives buy a house in Adelaide.

She was ultimately sentenced for "financing terrorist activities" and "illegal possession of extremist items".

Victim's status

In prison. [There is a high likelihood that she is subjected to forced labor at the Ili Women's Prison, as this practice has been documented there.] According to her cousin, she looked pale and weak after her release in September 2020, and had lost a lot of weight. She had already been diagnosed with liver damage following her release from camp before that.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not completely clear how the details of the initial detention in camp or the later detention in custody became known, but her sister mentions having to appeal to the Australian government for help as contact with relatives in Xinjiang could not be established. Mahire was able to contact her relatives abroad after her initial release from camp, however.

Her cousin Nyrola was able to video chat with her after she was released from custody in 2020. Nyrola has also been able to contact her family.

Confirmation of her trial and sentencing were obtained from official government representatives.

Additional information

Her aunt, Gulbekrem Memtimin, and uncle, Qasim Tohti, were taking care of the three children (including the youngest, who was born prematurely) during Mahire's detention. All three are attending a Mandarin-language school.

The victim's story has been featured in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/for-chinas-embattled-uighurs-a-bank-transfer-abroa d-can-become-a-terrorism-ordeal/2019/09/19/eb6a8b1e-c3dd-11e9-b5e4-54aa56d5b7ce_story.html

CNN feature: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/16/china/uyghurs-silenced-abroad-intl-dst-hnk/index.html

Amnesty International campaigns: https://action.amnesty.org.au/act-now/help-free-mahira https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/emailambassadormahira/

Amnesty International case info: https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR002

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

Concerning the situation of Mahire Yaqup: Mahire Yaqup ("Mayila Yakufu" in Chinese) is from Ghulja City in Ili Prefecture. Her father, Yaqup Sabir, and mother, Bahar Memet'imin, are members of the "East Turkestan Liberation Organization". In June 2013, the public security organs had already informed her, in writing, that her father and mother were taking part in a terrorist organization abroad, and notified her that she should not send funds abroad to them. However, during the time period between July 2013 and December 2014, she still used her own, as well as her maternal aunt's and uncle's, bank cards to remit money to her parents on multiple occasions, with the sum accumulating to 758741RMB. The public security organs also found 192 religious extremist photos on her computer. On December 12, 2020, Mahire Yaqup was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months for the concurrent crimes of financing terrorist activities and illegal possession of extremist items.

Query hereby addressed. Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Information Office June 8, 2021

Victims among relatives

Gulbekrem Memtimin (10328), Qasim Tohti (10329)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDSYYprAjY Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tff7ErptHic teaching video: https://twitter.com/Yusura0531/status/1204867969563541504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/Yusura0531/status/1253648580079792128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/nyrola/status/1292841245644070912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw victim's words after camp: https://twitter.com/nyrola/status/1294706448245686272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 8: https://twitter.com/nyrola/status/1301976044174561280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 14: https://twitter.com/nyrola/status/1437085251260633090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5417_2.png Testimony 11: https://shahit.biz/supp/5417_9.png official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_5417.png

Entry created: 2019-10-25 Last updated: 2021-09-20 Latest status update: 2021-06-08 5524. Zumret Dawut (早木热·达吾提)

Chinese ID: 65012119820616134X (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 37 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: outside China Status: free When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|contact with outside world Health status: has problems Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Zumret Dawut, a survivor of the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. She now resides in the United States. (the victim)

Testimony 2|5: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (the victim)

Testimony 3: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Globe and Mail. (the victim)

Testimony 4: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Washington Post. (the victim)

Testimony 6: Zumret Dawut, as reported by NBC. (the victim)

Testimony 7: Imran Muhemmed, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (husband)

Testimony 8: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Zumret Dawut was born and raised in Urumqi. Working as a shuttle trader between Urumqi and Pakistan, she would get married to Pakistani businessman Imran Muhemmed in 2005. The couple have three children together.

Victim's location

United States of America.

When victim was detained

Zumret's passport was confiscated sometime in 2017.

On March 31, 2018, she was called by the local neighborhood administration, after which she was taken to the local police station for questioning. Fixed to a tiger chair, she would then be interrogated about her marriage to a Pakistani and her bank transfers with Pakistan. She would then be hooded and taken to the Beyzen (北站) "training center", where she would spend around 2 months, being released on June 2 thanks to negotiations by Pakistani diplomats on her husband's behalf.

Though she intended to leave the country immediately with her husband and kids, she was first forced to pay a 18000RMB fine for her third child being born "outside the plan". She was then further required to undergo sterilization in order to be given permission to leave the country, and on October 22, 2018 underwent the procedure in a local facility (previously an epidemic prevention center).

In late January 2019, the family was finally able to leave for Pakistan - to see Imran's sick father - on the condition that they return by February 27. Fearing for their safety, they went to the US on April 2, 2019 instead, applying for asylum there.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Zumret, the authorities questioned her about her marriage to a Pakistani and her money transfers with Pakistan, prior to sending her to camp.

While not giving any specifics, a police record from February 26, 2018 classifies her ID as belonging to a "suspect" (嫌疑人身份证), and notes that she was added to the iTap database on that day.

Victim's status

Applying for asylum in the US.

Her health has suffered as a result of her time in detention, in addition to her alleged sterilization.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

This is an eyewitness account.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia's interviews with the victim: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/zumret-dawut-09202019231510.html https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/zumret-dawut-09232019220429.html https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/zumret-dawut-09242019195536.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-inmate-09242019174449.html

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has publicly commented on the case, denouncing the Chinese government’s treatment of Dawut. Chinese media have responded to Pompeo’s remarks (http://archive.is/hK2X0), claiming that Zumret Dawut is a member of the World Uyghur congress and that in fact her father - who had died in October 2019 after allegedly being interrogated numerous times - had perished at a hospital because of heart failure.

Abduhelil Dawut, her brother, has uploaded a video in which he denounces claims made by Pompeo regarding Zumret’s detention. Abduhelil claims Zumret has never been to a re-education camp, was never sterilized, and has merely had a womb operation. (Zumret has replied by saying that she believes this video to have been forced and staged: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/concerned-10142019174054.html)

On November 17, 2019, the [propaganda outlet] Global Times also published a video interview (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1170249.shtml) with Abduhelil Dawut, where he urges his sister to delete the "rumors" she had posted on social media and claims his family’s life in Xinjiang is good. Abduhelil’s wife then rhetorically asks Zumret "When did you go to the vocational training center? You have never been there, have you?", before saying that the sterilization Zumret had reportedly suffered after birth was actually a fibroid removal procedure, to which Zumret’s husband signed the papers.

Parts of her and her father's story were covered by the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-like-a-movie-in-xinjiang-new-evidence-that-china-stages- prayers/

She has been featured in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/17/she-survived-chinese-internment-camp-made-it-virg inia-will-us-let-her-stay/

Talking to Radio Free Asia about the "becoming family" campaign (https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/campaign-11192019152349.html), Zumret says that, during the days following her release, she was monitored by a local official at home and forced to eat pork as part of the "Becoming Family" initiative that forced local Uyghurs to host Han officials in their homes. Zumret also said that the officials would require Uyghurs to prepare Han-Chinese style food. They would refuse to tell the hosts anything about their personal lives, despite constantly interrogating the hosts.

Speaking to NBC (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/secret-chinese-documents-reveal-inner-workings-muslim-detention- camps-n1089941), Zumret has said that, while in camp, they were subjected to a points-based system used to rate detainee behavior. She herself received points for arriving to class on time, not sharing food, and swallowing pills that had a numbing effect.

Eyewitness account

[The following account has been assembled from a series of three articles published by Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur service, following their interview with the eyewitness.]

Zumret Dawut is an Uyghur woman who was born and raised in Urumqi. Working as a shuttle trader between Urumqi and Pakistan, she would get married to Pakistani businessman Imran Muhemmed in 2005. She is now 37 years old and a mother of three. On March 31, 2018, she was summoned by the local neighborhood administration in Urumqi’s Science & Technology Development Region, getting locked away in a camp that locals referred to as “Beyzen Prison” [from 北站, or “north (train) station”], but which the Chinese authorities called the “Urumqi Advanced Science & Technology Development Region Training Center”.

“It was a perfectly normal Saturday on March 31 when I got the call from the neighborhood administration,” Zumret recalls. “They ordered me to go over there, saying it was urgent, and so I went. Who would have thought…”

As she describes it, she was first interrogated at the neighborhood police station, where they would ask her about the reason for her marriage to a Pakistani and the several money transfers with Pakistan that she had in her bank account history. She would then be locked up for a few hours, without reason, before having a black hood put over her head like a convict and, joining the other Uyghur women who had been summoned in the same way she had, being rudely taken away.

She was first taken to the hospital for a physical examination, where staff wearing white coats over police uniforms would take her blood sample, do an examination of her organs, and do an X-ray. She also had her fingerprints taken and her irises scanned. Not a single bit of food or water were given to her throughout this whole process, from her initially being questioned to the end of the medical examination. Fatigued by both hunger and worry, Zumret was once more hooded as she was taken to “Beyzen”. When the hood was removed, she could tell that it had gotten dark.

Upon her arrival at the camp, Zumret was asked to undress and change into prison clothes – something that she says she had to do in front of three male police officers. Afterwards, the guards made her wear 5-kilogram fetters and ushered her into a dark cell.

Zumret shared her cell, which had a camera in every corner, with over 30 other detainees, all sharing a single bathroom. Because of the lack of space, they had to take turns sleeping in two-hour blocks. They then had to wake up at five in the morning, Xinjiang time, and would be given a minute each to wash up. Those who weren’t quick enough would be punished. The cellmates were not allowed to talk to one another.

The daily meals given to the camp inmates consisted in either vegetable soup or plain watery rice porridge, together with a steamed bread bun. Not knowing the rules at the beginning, Zumret shared her bun with an older woman suffering from diabetes, and was beaten heavily by the guards for it. The pain from the blows made her groan “Oh, God…!”, which led to further corporal punishment.

According to Zumret, the women she was interned with were innocent and of different ages, professions, and backgrounds, including doctors and teachers. The authorities’ claims that the camp detainees were being taught Chinese, she says, are all false:

“Their saying that they’re teaching the people in those camps Chinese is a complete lie. They say that just to fool the world. In reality, the only thing we did was sing Communist songs and memorize the government white papers. The teachers there would instruct the inmates to express gratitude to Xi Jinping and the Party several times a day. ‘There is no such ethnic group as the Uyghurs,’ they’d tell us. ‘They’re all a part of the Chinese group.’ That was the kind of propaganda they taught us in order to make us reject our ethnic identity.”

Zumret says that, from two to four every day, the police would take them out of the cell and bring them to the classroom. The room, even though it had small desks and chairs and resembled a classroom, was split in two by metal grating, the teacher separated from the students.

“The so-called teachers would teach class from inside a cage, as if we were real criminals capable of murder. They probably thought to prevent us from attacking them, though in reality where would we get the thought or the strength, given how starved and lifeless we were, with 5-kilo fetters on our feet, and cameras everywhere?! In reality, we didn’t even have the strength to hurt an insect…”

She had no way of keeping track of how many days she had spent at the camp.

Zumret says that they were given unknown pills daily and administered an injection once a week. While she doesn’t know what these were, she says that she still feels the effects to this day, and even says that she feels to have developed a sort of addiction to the shots. “They made us take a white pill every day,” she says. “They would supervise to make sure that we all took it. Afterwards, we felt lethargic, and all of our periods stopped. I haven’t had my period since being locked in that camp.”

She adds:

“The injections were once a week, and I got them several times during my two-month stay. When I asked them what it was, they said that it was a vaccine against infectious diseases. After you got it, you’d feel totally empty – not even the thoughts of my children would come to mind. You’d feel very light and relaxed, as if you didn’t have a worry in the world. I feel like I got addicted to them – to the point where even now I’ll long for one when I feel really stressed… I was a rather big woman, actually, but the time in camp made me lose 12 kilos. The treatment and self-care afterwards let me return to my old form.”

While she underwent the daily brainwashing and survived on the minimal food provided to them, her husband Imran was busy tracking down her whereabouts and getting her out, a process during which, he says, he became witness to the systematic repression targeted at Uyghurs that has intensified so significantly in the past 3 years.

From the day that she was taken, he would go to government and legal bodies of all levels – for Urumqi, the autonomous region, and Beijing – as he asked for justice for his wife. On several occasions, he would gather with other Pakistanis whose Uyghur wives had been taken as they went to the Pakistan embassy in Beijing to petition and protest. In the end, the Pakistani authorities promised to help them on the condition that they not make a scene. Following diplomatic action from the Pakistani authorities, Zumret would be released, having spent 2 months in detention.

While her immediate impulse was to go to Pakistan with her husband and kids, she would be required by the local authorities to first pay a 18000RMB fine for her third child being born “outside the plan”. After fulfilling this requirement, Zumret was nevertheless further required by the authorities to undergo a sterilization surgery. This time, Imran protested, as both a foreigner and a Muslim, saying that such a thing could significantly harm his wife’s health. However, the authorities threatened them, saying that they wouldn’t be able to go to Pakistan until this requirement was fulfilled. In the end, Zumret chose to make the sacrifice for the good of the family, having no choice but to undergo the operation.

Staff from the neighborhood administration and the birth planning office took Zumret and five other Uyghur women, aged twenty to thirty, to an epidemic prevention center in Urumqi’s High-Technology District, leading them to a prepared operating room. The procedure started with Zumret being hooked up to an IV, which led to her losing consciousness. When she came to, in great pain and feeling like her body was frozen, she found 7-8 other women, moaning from pain, all lying in the same room with her.

“There weren’t any doctors or nurses at their side…” she recalls.

That she was now sterile for good Zumret learned from the neighborhood administration doctor. It made her feel as if she had been turned into a disabled person.

Source: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/zumret-dawut-09202019231510.html

Victims among relatives

Dawut Abdurahman (5621) Supplementary materials brother's "counter-testimony": https://twitter.com/MashaBorak/status/1183586588409749505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_1.png Global Times propaganda feature: https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_3.mp4 with Chinese "relatives": https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_4.jpeg birth-policy fine receipt: https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_5.jpg photo with ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_6.jpg regarding birth-policy violation: https://shahit.biz/supp/5524_7.png

Entry created: 2019-11-16 Last updated: 2021-06-01 Latest status update: 2019-11-17 5621. Dawut Abdurahman

Chinese ID: 6501??19????????O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: deceased Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Globe and Mail. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Zumret Dawut, as reported by Washington Post. (daughter)

Testimony 4: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

About the victim

Dawut Abdurahman, originally from Urumqi, was a former employee of the Bureau of Non-Ferrous Metal Industry.

Victim's location

He passed away in Urumqi.

When victim was detained

According to Zumret, he was interrogated on multiple occasions [times unclear]. On October 12, 2019, he passed away. [The exact circumstances remain unclear, though Xinjiang officials have claimed that it was due to coronary heart disease.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Deceased. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

A former neighbor sent a message to Zumret on October 12, 2019, notifying her of her father's death.

The Global Times and China Daily are Chinese state-media outlets with essentially direct access to the information.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/xitay-teshwiqati-11042019234745.html

Globe and Mail coverage: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-like-a-movie-in-xinjiang-new-evidence-that-china-stages- prayers/

Washington Post feature: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/17/she-survived-chinese-internment-camp-made-it-virg inia-will-us-let-her-stay/

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has publicly commented on the case, denouncing the Chinese government’s treatment of Dawut. Chinese media have responded to Pompeo’s remarks (http://archive.is/hK2X0), claiming that Zumret Dawut is a member of the World Uyghur Congress.

Erkin Dawut, a brother of Zumret, was also interviewed by the Global Times for a piece that ran on November 17, 2019 (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1170249.shtml). He told the [state-run] outlet that his father had "never been oppressed". The same was reiterated by Abduhelil Dawut, another one of the brothers, who currently lives in Urumqi.

According to Zumret, Dawut was at one point bribed and coerced by government officials to stage religious ceremonies/prayers at a local mosque as well as make false statements to foreign journalists regarding religious freedom in the region. The mosque, which was closed in March 2017, was briefly reopened for the purpose of the staged presentation.

State-media report(s)

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1170249.shtml

RELATIVES OF SO-CALLED UYGHUR ACTIVISTS SLAM POMPEO'S DETENTION CLAIM

By Liu Xin and Fan Lingzhi in Yining

Source: Global Times

Published: 2019/11/17

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region released a statement on November 9 refuting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks that claimed the so-called Uyghur activists' family members are detained in Xinjiang.

Pompeo issued a statement on November 5, titled "Harassment of the Family Members of Uyghur Activists and Survivors in Xinjiang, China," claiming that family members of the so-called activists Furkhat Jawdat, Alapat Arkin, Zumrat Dawut have been subject to harassment, imprisonment, and arbitrary detention.

The Xinjiang statement said what Pompeo stated "is simply not the case." The fact is the relatives of the names mentioned live and work normally in Xinjiang, and they are ashamed of the scum among their families.

The Global Times reporters visited the relatives of Furkhat Jawdat, Alapat Arkin, Zumrat Dawut in Urumqi and Yining and recognized that what Pompeo said is not consistent with the truth. No family members of the three people have been mistreated and they lead a normal life with numerous assistance from the residential community.

NO MORE LIES

Zumrat attracted Pompeo's attention for her accusation that she made overseas against the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy. The Global Times reporters learned from Xinjiang authorities that before going abroad, Zumrat, 37, lived in Urumqi. She married a Pakistani national in November 2013. On January 3, the couple together with their three children went to Pakistan and later to the US.

The November 5 statement was not the first time Pompeo mentioned about Zumrat.

On October 2, Pompeo said in a meeting in Vatican that he listened to Zumrat's story and learned that she was summoned to the public security bureau in Xinjiang in April and was sent to a "concentration camp." Pompeo claimed that during her stay there, she was injected with some drugs.

A report on the Chicago Tribune on September 28 noted that Zumrat was forcefully sterilized.

Abduhelil Dawut, one of Zumrat's elder brothers spoke through a video about a month back to quash the rumors, saying "these are outright lies." In the video urging Pompeo to stop disturbing their peaceful lives, he said, "Respect the facts and do not make use of my sister Zumrat Dawut to make up lies."

The Global Times reporter visited Abduhelil, who lives in Urumqi. Abduhelil and his wife now work for a residential community in the city. The interior of their house and the cleanliness suggests that residents live a good life there.

Abduhelil told the Global Times his sister has never been to a vocational education and training center and "when delivering the third child, she was found to have fibroid and later had a surgery."

Abduhelil released a video on October 13 to refute Pompeo's remarks on her sister. Zumrat recently wrote on an overseas social media platform that the Chinese government spread rumors on her uterus being removed. However, no one has mentioned about anything on this.

The whole family was against Zumrat's marriage but Zumrat "was stubborn."

The relations between Zumrat and the other family members were "strained" after that. Abduhelil said, "She treated our father well when she was in a good mood, but when my father said something she did not like, she would slam the door and refrain from speaking to him for a year."

In 2018, Zumrat, her husband and the three children went to Pakistan and never came back. She finally went to the US without informing the family members, including their father. Their father died of a heart disease last month. Abduhelil had a video chat with Zumrat and "I told her to stop spreading rumors and retract the lies she peddled online previously. She cried and said yes. But later, she continued peddling lies online."

Pompeo claimed that Zumrat's father, who was reportedly "detained and interrogated multiple times by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang in recent years, recently passed away under unknown circumstances."

However, Abduhelil told the Global Times that their father lived a normal life with them, and had neither been "interrogated" nor "detained."

After suffering from serious heart diseases, he died at the age of 80 at a hospital in October 2019 after medical treatment was exhausted. While he stayed at hospital, his relatives looked after him.

The death certificate of Zumrat's father mentioned the cause of death as "coronary heart disease."

Erkin Dawut is one of Zumrat's elder brothers. He was the one who signed his father's death certificate. He thought his father's physical conditions worsened partly because he missed Zumrat very much.

Erkin did not want to talk to Zumrat since "she always uttered lies since childhood."

"She is the youngest one among us. She was my father's favorite. My father grieved as she left without telling him," he told the Global Times.

Erkin was visibly in tears, as he recalled their father. "I keep my father's phone number and hope that he could call me like before," he said.

NOT TO BE MANIPULATED

Pompeo also mentioned about Furkhat Jawdat and Alapat Arkin, claiming that Alapat's mother was also put in the "concentration camp" since 2017 and his father was imprisoned in March 2018.

After meeting with Pompeo on Mar 26, 2019, Furkhat Jawdat claimed his mother was moved to a prison from a vocational education & training center.

The Global Times reporters learned from authorities in Xinjiang that Alapat and Furkhat were born in Yining. Alapat went to the US in 2015 and then joined the infamous violent terrorist and separatist organization "World Uygur Congress."

Furkhat went to the US in 2011 and later became a member of the "World Uygur Congress." Furkhat's father, brother and two sisters have obtained green cards in the US.

The Global Times reporters met with Alapat's mother who currently lives with Alapat's grandmother in Yining.

Gulnar Talat, Alapat's mother, told the Global Times that she lives a normal life and is not under detention. She plans to get medical treatment in Urumqi.

She said she wants to tell Alapat that "you should not be influenced by your father or take part in something bad. You should not be manipulated by others." "Do not believe those who have ulterior motives. We live a good life. You were born and grew up in China. Thanks to the development of the country, you have the opportunity to study overseas. Hope you can study hard in the US and come back to contribute to the country."

The Global Times reporters learned that Alapat's father Erkin Tursun is in prison for inciting hatred and discrimination among different ethnic groups and covering up criminals.

Alapat's deeds worried his relatives. Alapat's uncle Asat Talat hoped to tell his nephew that his father was imprisoned for breaching the laws. "You should neither believe in rumors nor spread it. We sent you abroad to study and to honor the country. Not for something bad," Asat said.

Pompeo also noted about Furkhat’s mother in his November 5 statement. Apart from Alapat, Furkhat's father, a younger brother and his two sisters, all live in the US now.

His mother failed to obtain her visa and now lives in their house in Yining.

Munawar Tursun, the mother, told the Global Times that she talks to her son almost every day. She pointed to a TV set in their house that her son bought online and was delivered to the house days earlier.

Furkhat did not admit that he is a member of the "World Uygur Congress." But he defended the organization on overseas social media and participated in its activities.

Munawar told the Global Times that she knows nothing about what her son has done overseas and persuaded him not to get involved in any illegal activities. "I told him, if he wants me to go abroad, it must be via legal means and that he must not engage in illegal activities."

Munawar believes Rebiya Kadeer, a separatist from Xinjiang, is a scum among the Uyghurs.

Furkhat claimed that the Chinese government harasses Muslim families in Xinjiang and they went abroad to seek asylum.

However, according to Munawar, Furkhat's father went to work in the US in 2006 and the children went to the US one after another within the next five years.

Furkhat's uncle Enwar Tursun told the Global Times that he used to be against all the children going to the US since Furkhat had good academic records and would have had a better future if he stayed in China and he can also take good care of his mother.

"Furkhat, you are a smart boy. What you are doing is wrong. You will regret it!" Enwar said, insisting that the "World Uygur Congress" is a separatist organization. "As for Pompeo, I think he took advantage of my nephew, which is ignominious."

RECEIVING HELP

In order to rally support from the overseas separatist groups, Zumrat, Alapat, and Furkhat distorted the truth and played victims. Separatists from China's Xinjiang share a common interest in hyping Xinjiang issues. "Detention" or "oppression" are the words usually mentioned by them.

The Global Times reporters did not find any oppression or detention of their relatives. Instead, family members of these so-called Uyghur activists are taken good care by the local residential communities. Alapat's mother Gulnar Talat told the Global Times that she was in hospital in Urumqi due to some ailment in her spine. Colleagues and head of the kindergarten where Gulnar works for, visited her and donated 2,000 yuan toward her treatment.

The Yining educational bureau also allowed her to take a long vacation so that she could fully recover.

Furkhat's mother Munawar has become "the relative" of Zhang Liping, secretary of the residential community, who has taken a good care of Munawar.

Munawar has no job or earnings aside from the governmental subsidiaries.

In September, there was something wrong with the water pipes in Munawar's house. Munawar also owed 500 yuan in water fees. Zhang paid that amount herself to help Munawar with the water fees.

"My monthly salary is around 3,000 yuan. I treat her as my family member and would not hesitate to help her," Zhang told the Global Times.

Zhang lost her 25-year-old son in 2017, while Munawar's children are far away in the US. The common emotion of parental love toward their children brings Zhang and Munawar together.

Zhang said she once saw Munawar shed tears while talking about her son. She comforted her by sharing the sorrow of losing her son.

"I often say to Munawar that I envy her because she can see her children via video chat. But I can only see the tomb of my son," Zhang said.

"There are many senior residents in my residential community. They comforted me and helped me get over my pang. As grassroots public servants, we need to devote our heart in helping the residents. The senior residents here also like me and greet me whenever we meet. This makes me happy," Zhang said.

Victims among relatives

Zumret Dawut (5524)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_XI-aiCa34 Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/zaomure.dawuti/posts/177 442543412367&width=300 Global Times propaganda mention: https://shahit.biz/supp/5621_2.mp4

Entry created: 2019-11-25 Last updated: 2021-07-12 Latest status update: 2019-10-12 5624. Ablizjan Eynidin (阿不来孜江·艾依丁)

Chinese ID: 65212319????????O? (Toksun)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Guly Mehsut, an Uyghur activist and YouTuber, originally from Turpan but now residing in Canada. (friend of relative)

Testimony 2: CGTN, an international English-language news channel based in Beijing and owned by China Central Television.

Testimony 3: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

His name is Abliz Eynidin.

Testimony 3: he lives in Tianquan Neighborhood, Toqsun County, Turpan.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Turpan.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 2: Guly Mahsut (Twitter: @Guly780), a friend of Amina Amat (the victim's wife), made a post on Twitter on 10 December 2019 [post shown in the CGTN video] saying that Amina Amat deleted her from WeChat after Guly Mahsut exposed the victim's forced labour experience during the "#provethe90%" campaign. Guly Mahsut believes that local authorities told the victim's wife not to contact her. The CGTN video about the victim tries to discredit the testimony of Guly Mahsut by saying that she had "just added [Amina Amat] through a college WeChat group in August [2019]" before downloading a photo of Amina Amat and posting it online, and denies that the victim (Ablizjiang Ayindin) is part of a forced labour program. The CGTN video says that the victim "Ablizjiang Ayindin" has never met Guly Mahsut, and Amina Amat has not been in touch with the testifier for more than 10 years. (Testimony 3: the second proof-of-life contradicts the first, in that the victim says here that Guly Mehsut is his friend, whereas he claimed that she was a stranger to both him and his wife before.) Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown

Victim's status

Testimony 1: In the camp.

Testimony 2: out of detention [at least at the time of the CGTN video].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Not Stated. [probably from Wechat since she writes that may my friend who told me her tough situation without any fear is safe all the time.]

Testimony 2-3: this is state media with direct access to the victim.

Additional information

Link to Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/lee.li.5851127/posts/430079187756285

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eczT4vd0nHw Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/1211569528536088582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 1: https://shahit.biz/supp/5624_2.png

Entry created: 2019-11-26 Last updated: 2021-03-29 Latest status update: 2019-12-30 5645. Iminjan Seydin (依明江·赛都力)

Chinese ID: 650102196504284534 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: --- When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: has problems Profession: publishing

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|3|4|8: Semire Imin, a student in Boston, daughter of famous publisher Iminjan Seydin. (daughter)

Testimony 2: Radio Free Asia Uyghur, the Uyghur-language service of Radio Free Asia.

Testimony 5: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 6: Semire Imin, as reported by Voice of America. (daughter)

Testimony 7: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

Testimony 9: Semire Imin, as reported by Daily Express. (daughter)

Testimony 10: Semire Imin, as reported by Associated Press. (daughter)

About the victim

Iminjan Seydin was a book publisher and an associate professor of history at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute. Originally from the Say District of Atush City's Ustun Atush Municipality, he settled in Urumqi for work in 1990, shortly after his graduation from the Xinjiang University Department of History. In 1988, he had started teaching Chinese history classes at the Xinjiang Islamic institute.

His daughter refers to him as the kindest and most generous person she knows, saying that he was very supportive of his family and others in need. According to her, his students liked his teaching and insightfulness, his business partners appreciated his integrity and generosity, and he earned respect by dedicating his whole life to improving the intellectual level of the community.

After a major car accident some years back, he decided to start up his own publishing company - the Emin Publishing House - in 2012, publishing nearly 50 books on topics such as language, education, technology, and psychology, including many translated versions of world-class books (including "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey and "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonigal). His work focused on delivering advanced knowledge to those who could only read Uyghur, so that they would not lag behind because of language barriers in society. According to his daughter, he wanted to improve the connections between all groups in society as a whole.

Sometime in 2016-2017, he was sent to rural Hotan for the local government's mandatory rural-village work program.

Victim's location

Previously reported by his daughter to be in a prison in a Bingtuan part of Urumqi. [Not clear if this is the Bingtuan prison in southwestern Urumqi.]

However, it is unclear if he is still there or if he's been released home.

When victim was detained

He was taken by the Chinese officials back in May 25, 2017. He was then accused with false charges and sentenced to 15 years of prison, with 5 years' deprivation of political rights and a 500000RMB fine, in February 2019.

On May 4, 2020, China Daily aired a "proof-of-life" video of Iminjan, in which he said that his life in Xinjiang was good, while saying that anti-China forces abroad had used his daughter. [His completely shaved head seems to indicate that he had recently been released.]

Likely (or given) reason for detention

His daughter says that Iminjan has always obeyed the law, and adds that the false accusation against him is totally unacceptable and needs to be strongly condemned internationally.

According to a Radio Free Asia report, which cites multiple sources and documents, he was accused of "propagating extremism". Amnesty International has run an urgent action for him, in which it says that he was sentenced for "inciting extremism". His daughter also cites "inciting extremism" as the reason in her interview to Voice of America, adding that the specific act was his publishing the book "A Teacher of Arab Tongue, the Science of Rhetoric" in 2014, with the permission of the government.

Victim's status

Unclear. Previously in prison, but unclear if he's now been released following his "proof-of-life" video.

About a week after the video, his daughter posted on Twitter, saying that she is "lectured" every time that she tries to talk to her father, and demands that the authorities stop pressuring her parents and let them talk normally.

In her interview to the Daily Express, Semire mentions that her father suffers from high blood pressure.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

His daughter says that she got the information from a reliable source. In a later report from Voice of America, she says that she heard this through a friend in Beijing. Additional information

Business entry of his book company: http://archive.is/3DfAK

Associated Press coverage: https://apnews.com/article/bcbf0108163c692e0dcab51bf5d3dca9

A Chinese state media article from June 2017 quotes him supporting the Party policies: http://archive.is/Oh3uH

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/islam-instituti-12022019170235.html

Amnesty International's Urgent Action: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/1792/2020/en/

Covered by the Daily Express: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1282764/China-news-Beijing-nazi-concentration-camps-muslim-U yghur-Xinjiang-coronavirus-latest

Radio Free Asia adds that the Xinjiang Islamic Institute has cancelled its contract with him and has demanded that he return 2 years' worth of his salary (from 2017 to 2019).

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08BmlQW7lzY Testimony 4: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php%3Fstory_fb id%3D2334345826827032%26id%3D100007549125674&width=300 daughter's song: https://twitter.com/SamiraImin/status/1207578484517814272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 7: https://twitter.com/ChinaDaily/status/1257249358367674368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 8: https://twitter.com/SamiraImin/status/1260936387181842432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with daughter: https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_1.jpg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_2.jpeg photo (zoom): https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_3.jpeg speech photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_4.jpg leisure photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_6.jpeg proof-of-life video: https://shahit.biz/supp/5645_10.mp4 photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_5645.png

Entry created: 2019-12-02 Last updated: 2020-12-18 Latest status update: 2020-05-14 5652. Eset Telet (艾斯艾提·塔拉提)

Chinese ID: 65410119671028??O? (Ghulja City)

Basic info

Age: 52 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: government

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|2: Arafat Erkin, originally from Ghulja, but now living in the United States. (nephew)

About the victim

Eset Telet (Aisiaiti tailaiti) Residential address: No.6, 9th avenue, Xinhua xi Road,Ghulja, Uyghur Autonomous region Employee at Gulja Local Taxation Bureau Date of Birth :1967 October 28 He was released in Early 2019 Ironically, He appeared on State propaganda video on November 2019 (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1170249.shtml), forced to speak against his sister's son Alfred Erkin ,part of Chinese government's campaign to discredit Alfred's testimony about his arbitrarily detained parents (in the video, he expresses ‘disappointment’ towards Arafat saying that he should be ashamed of ‘posting rumours online’, focus on studying and serve China when he comes back.)

Victim's location

Ghulja

When victim was detained

October, 2017

Likely (or given) reason for detention unclear, probably because his son studied abroad

Victim's status

Released early 2019 How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

An Kazakh family friend who fled to Kazakhstan

Additional information

His wife Halide Zordon were also detained around March 2018 . His sister Gulnar and Gulchekre (Both of them teacher at public school)were also detained to the camp

Victims among relatives

Erkin Tursun (179), Gulnar Telet (1387), Abdushukur Abliz (1388), Halide Zordon (1389), Halit Abdushukur (5170), Mewjudem Abdushukur (5171), Hebibulla Tohti (1492), Ilzat Gheni (4340), Gulchekre Telet (1247), Gheni Abdushukur (5654), Gulzar Nizamidin (5653), Turmemet Nurmemet (5655)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-6x_IbeBKQ photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/5652_1.jpeg Global Times propaganda video: https://shahit.biz/supp/5652_3.mp4

Entry created: 2019-12-04 Last updated: 2020-04-15 Latest status update: 2020-01-07 5755. Shahdiyar Shawket

Chinese ID: 6501??199707????O? (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 22 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyg-Tat Likely current location: outside China Status: other When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): other|--- Health status: --- Profession: student

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Shahdiyar Shawket, as reported by Business Online. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Shahrizat Shawket, as reported by Business Online. (brother)

Testimony 3: Ruslan Nagiyev, as reported by Business Online. (lawyer)

Testimony 4: Shahdiyar Shawket, as reported by Moscow Times. (the victim)

Testimony 5: Zukhra Khamroeva, as reported by Moscow Times. (lawyer)

Testimony 6: Zukhra Khamroeva, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (lawyer)

Testimony 7: Lilia Akhmadullina, as reported by Radio Azattyq. (judge)

About the victim

Shahdiyar Shawket, an Uyghur-Tatar born in Urumqi, is a Chinese citizen and a student at the Kazan Federal University, where he studies [interior] design.

He speaks Mandarin, English, Tatar, and Uyghur, which has allowed him to do part-time translation in Kazan (to make ends meet following losing contact with his parents). This had led to him missing classes and being expelled from the university in October 2018 - also in part because of the World Tatar Congress being late in transferring the tuition money. He was reinstated on October 23, 2019.

Victim's location

Kazan, Russia.

When victim was detained

It is hard to define "detention" in this case, but it may be seen as when the victim first started facing the threat of deportation. It is unclear when exactly this happened (or rather, how soon after he was expelled in October 2018).

The Moscow Times has also reported that the victim and his brother were told that they would need to return to China to extend their Russian visa, but that the brothers did not do this out of fear that they would be placed in a camp (like their parents and some close friends).

After initially being refused asylum, the victim appealed to Russia's Supreme Court, but - following a hearing on December 13, 2019 - had the judge recommend that the appeal be rejected on the grounds that there was not enough evidence that the victim would face persecution in China.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Being expelled from the university, thereby no longer having a legal reason to remain in Russia.

Victim's status

Seeking asylum and facing deportation to China.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

All of the testifiers are directly involved in the case.

Additional information

According to Shahdiyar, he and his brother haven't talked to their parents since 2017, when their father told them that they wouldn't be able to see each other again and forbid them from returning to China (according to the Russian judge, as reported by Radio Azattyq, however, their mother had told them this in February 2018). According to the brothers' friends in Urumqi, the parents have since been taken to "re-education" camps. Some extended family members were allegedly arrested after the victim and his brother spoke to the media about their case as well.

Russian press coverage: https://m.business-gazeta.ru/article/444025

Moscow Times coverage: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/11/27/uighur-twins-asylum-plea-rejected-as-deportation-to-chin a-looms-a68345

Radio Azattyq coverage: https://rus.azattyq.org/a/russia-tatarstan-twins-shfvkat-deportation-china/30325552.html

Victims among relatives

Shahrizat Shawket (5754)

Supplementary materials photo with brother: https://shahit.biz/supp/5755_1.jpg

Entry created: 2019-12-16 Last updated: 2020-10-11 Latest status update: 2019-12-14 6118. Amannisa Tahir (阿曼尼沙·塔依尔)

Chinese ID: 65310119????????E? (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: media/journalism

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Rune Steenberg, an anthropologist from Denmark. (friend)

Testimony 2: Global Times, a daily tabloid that is closely linked to the People's Daily and is often known for loud, nationalistic views aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party.

About the victim

Amannisa Tahir, a journalist at Qeshqer Geziti, a newspaper run by her father Tahir Talip, a famous poet and intellectual.

Victim's location

Presumably Kashgar

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: detained in April-May 2017

Testimony 2: she appeared in a video posted by Global Times on February 1, 2021, where she is shown at home.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Rumoured to be released

Testimony 2: [presumably no longer in detention, given her appearance in the propaganda short] How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: From shared acquaintances

Testimony 2: this is a state media outlet with direct access to the victim (putting her on camera).

Additional information

---

Victims among relatives

Tahir Talip (1561), Ilham Tahir (1562), Koresh Tahir (1554)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI2oUJTYOpc propaganda video still: https://shahit.biz/supp/6118_2.png Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/6118_3.mp4

Entry created: 2019-12-28 Last updated: 2021-04-30 Latest status update: 2021-02-01 6121. Mewlan Nurmuhemmed (买吾拉尼·努尔买买提)

Chinese ID: 65270119860605??O? (Bortala)

Basic info

Age: 34 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Shihezi Status: sentenced (9 years) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"separatism" Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1: Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, one of the thematic special procedures overseen by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Testimony 2: Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, as reported by Bitter Winter. (sister)

Testimony 3: Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, as reported by 1 News. (sister)

Testimony 4|6: Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, a scholar residing in New Zealand. (sister)

Testimony 5*: Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, as reported by Gene A. Bunin. (sister)

Testimony 7: Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

Testimony 8: Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, as reported by Amnesty International. (sister)

About the victim

Mewlan Nurmuhemmed is a father of one, who worked as a fiber internet technician prior to his arrest. He had also lived in Turkey from 2012 to 2014 as a language student, hoping to improve his career prospects.

Victim's location

Beiye First Prison in Shihezi City. [Presumably the first district/area of the Eighth Division Beiye Prison.]

When victim was detained

Mewlan was arrested in January 2017 by plainclothes police officers while on lunch break at a local restaurant. According to the report published in Bitter Winter, he was allegedly "hooded, shackled, and hauled away by machine-gun brandishing police officers".

As of March 2017, he was reported as being at a Bortala detention center [presumably 博乐市看守所]. At one point during his detention, there was reportedly a false alarm that he would be released, but this never happened.

There was no immediate trial following the arrest, and the Chinese authorities did not initially provide an explanation as to why the victim was being detained.

According to Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed, Mewlan was transferred between a concentration camp and "prison" [likely: pre-trial detention center] several times after the initial arrest.

Information later obtained by the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) showed that Mewlan had been sentenced to 9 years in prison for "splitting the Chinese state". According to a later statement by the Chinese embassy [presumably in New Zealand], he had been sentenced in August 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

"Separatism".

Victim's status

Serving a prison sentence.

On June 10, 2020, Mewlan's mother was reportedly allowed one brief video call with him, after which she said that he looked "okay". Rizwangul reported this as confirmation that the victim was still alive. (She adds that he's never had problems with his health prior to detention.)

[There is a strong likelihood of him being subjected to forced labor at the prison facility, as the prison has been documented to have textile workshops, previously contracted to the Zhuofan Garments & Accessories LTD.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Through [monitored] conversation(s) with her mother over WeChat, as well as via official statements from the Chinese authorities.

Additional information change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/help-me-get-my-brother-back-help-him-get-his-normal-life-back-he-is-innocent -yet-arbitrarily-detained-for-more-than-3-yrs-in-china

(Since starting this petition, Rizwangul Nurmuhemmed has received "several intimidating phone calls", which she reported to both the Chinese embassy and the New Zealand police. About three weeks after the petition was launched, she also started to receive voice WeChat messages from her mother, after approximately two and a half years of silence.)

UN Human Rights Commission report: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/A_HRC_WGEID_118_1_Advance.pdf

1 News coverage: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/top-kiwi-scholar-speaks-her-imprisoned-brother

Bitter Winter coverage: https://bitterwinter.org/rizwangul-a-uyghur-woman-in-search-of-a-brother-who-disappeared/

Amnesty International urgent action: https://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent-actions/urgent-action-uyghur-jailed-for-nine-years-in-secret-trial-chi na-ua-135-20

Amnesty International case info: https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#case-SR060

Mewlan's company in Bortala City: https://archive.is/zpC6n

Supplementary materials

Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-6SkPO5NsI photo with son: https://shahit.biz/supp/6121_2.jpg

Entry created: 2019-12-28 Last updated: 2021-09-23 Latest status update: 2021-05-01 6206. Memtimin Rusul

Chinese ID: 65312319????????O? (Yengisar)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: religion

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Guly Mehsut, an Uyghur activist and YouTuber, originally from Turpan but now residing in Canada.

About the victim

Memtimin Rusul, around 50 (as of December 2019). He was an imam at a local mosque.

Address: No. 2 Neighborhood, No. 7 Village, Siyitle Township, Yengisar County, Kashgar.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

Taken away on July 23, 2014 and later sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was released from prison on January 19, 2020.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Allegedly, for having a beard and for having his children study (religion).

Victim's status

Released from prison.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

From people in Xinjiang.

Additional information His release came shortly after Guly did her first video testimony for him.

Victims among relatives

Muhemmed Memtimin (6207), Ibrahimjan Qasim (3180)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g__xYYWmyCs Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gtf7FOEwH4

Entry created: 2020-01-06 Last updated: 2020-09-06 Latest status update: 2020-02-18 6378. Hawahan Memet

Chinese ID: 653121193807102927 (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 82 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: no news for over a year When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: critical Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. He is originally from Kashgar. (son)

Testimony 3: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, as reported by AsiaNews. (son)

About the victim

Her name is Hawahan Memet (spelled as AWAHAN MAIMAITI in Chinese). She was born on the 10th of July 1938. She is 82 years old and she is a farmer. Her residential address is No. 20, No.2 Group, Ayaghsaybagh Village, Beshkirem Township, Kashgar City.

Victim's location

In Kashgar.

When victim was detained

She was not detained, but her sons were detained so she is left alone without care and any financial support. The testifier hasn't been able to contact her since March 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status

Testimony 3: she suffers from Alzheimer's.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The testifier says that he has received a reliable message a week ago (November 2019) about the victim. Additional information

The victim's sons were detained and the victim is left alone without any care and financial support. She has a serious health issue.

Additional coverage: https://www.uygurhaber.com/vicdan-ehline-sesleniyoruz-allah-askina-lutfen-ses-cikartin https://qha.com.tr/haberler/abdurresit-celil-karluk-cin-buyukelciligi-mustesarinin-iddialarina-cevap-verdi/ 127841/ http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Karluk:-I,-a-Uyghur,-denounce-Chinese-fascism-in-Xinjiang-49552.html (Testimony 3)

The Chinese Ambassador in Ankara blamed Uyghurs, taking Mr. Qarluq as an example, abroad for lying. The spokesman mentions Mr. Qarluq's posts on Twitter and says that he doesn't know if Mr. Qarluq is Chinese citizen or Turkish citizen, but it is not important; if anyone who is or was a Chinese citizen encounters any problems in China, he or she can come to Chinese Embassy and Chinese Embassy is here to help, that is what an Embassy does. Mr. Qarluq never came to Embassy; if he came, the Embassy would help solve the problems; (but Mr. Qarluq states on a post on Twitter that he has mentioned his family's situation in a meeting between Xinjiang Representatives, among them assistant governor Erkin Turniyaz, and Turkish Representatives, among them Mr. Qarluq; Mr. Qarluq says that especially Zulhayat Ismail who was among the Xinjiang Representatives knew this very well.) The spokesman said that he would look into Mr. Qarluq's family and give an answer to him, but there hasn't been any reply from the spokesman yet.

Victims among relatives

Tudaji Jelil (6379), Ablimit Jelil (6380), Jappar Jelil (6381), Abdughappar Jelil (6382), Memetturghun Jelil (12277)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuM2I8e0Y4 Chinese ambassador reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOpmMPdf3s Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/c_karluk/status/1200121979141009409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/6378_3.jpg

Entry created: 2020-01-01 Last updated: 2020-11-26 Latest status update: 2021-02-09 6379. Tudaji Jelil (吐达吉·吉里力)

Chinese ID: 653121195707212917 (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 63 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: no news for over a year When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. He is originally from Kashgar. (brother)

About the victim

Turdihaji Jelil (吐达吉·吉里力 ) is a common farmer. he was born on the 21st of July 1957. His residential address: No. 27, No. 8 Group, Bashsaybagh Village, Beshkiem Township, Kashgar City. he came to Turkey in 2016 to visit the testifier and stayed for a month, then went back;

Victim's location

In Kashgar.

When victim was detained

The testifier couldn't get any information about him since 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

Unknown.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Not Stated.

Additional information The testifier has no contact with him at all. So the testifier doesn’t know anything about him: if he is alive or in the camp or in prison; also, the testifier doesn't know any information about the victim's wife, children, as well as grandchildren;

Additional coverage: https://www.uygurhaber.com/vicdan-ehline-sesleniyoruz-allah-askina-lutfen-ses-cikartin https://qha.com.tr/haberler/abdurresit-celil-karluk-cin-buyukelciligi-mustesarinin-iddialarina-cevap-verdi/ 127841/

The Chinese Ambassador in Ankara blamed Uyghurs, taking Mr. Qarluq as an example, abroad for lying. The spokesman mentions Mr. Qarluq's posts on Twitter and says that he doesn't know if Mr. Qarluq is Chinese citizen or Turkish citizen, but it is not important; if anyone who is or was a Chinese citizen encounters any problems in China, he or she can come to Chinese Embassy and Chinese Embassy is here to help, that is what an Embassy does. Mr. Qarluq never came to Embassy; if he came, the Embassy would help solve the problems; (but Mr. Qarluq states on a post on Twitter that he has mentioned his family's situation in a meeting between Xinjiang Representatives, among them assistant governor Erkin Turniyaz, and Turkish Representatives, among them Mr. Qarluq; Mr. Qarluq says that especially Zulhayat Ismail who was among the Xinjiang Representatives knew this very well.) The spokesman said that he would look into Mr. Qarluq's family and give an answer to him, but there hasn't been any reply from the spokesman yet.

Victims among relatives

Hawahan Memet (6378), Ablimit Jelil (6380), Jappar Jelil (6381), Abdughappar Jelil (6382), Memetturghun Jelil (12277)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuM2I8e0Y4 Chinese ambassador reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOpmMPdf3s Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/c_karluk/status/1200122375125323779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/6379_3.jpg

Entry created: 2020-01-01 Last updated: 2020-01-14 Latest status update: 2021-02-09 6380. Ablimit Jelil (阿布力米提·吉力力)

Chinese ID: 653121196403202933 (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. He is originally from Kashgar. (brother)

Testimony 3: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, as reported by AsiaNews. (brother)

About the victim

Ablimit Jelil (阿布力米提 ·吉力力)is a businessman. He was born on the 20th of March 1964. His residential address is No. 302, No. 4 Block, No. 40 Apartment, Farfur Buyumlar Zawuti Alley, Tengritagh District, Urumchi City. He came to Turkey in June 2012 and stayed for a short while, then went back. His passport number is G58804745.

Victim's location

In Urumqi.

When victim was detained

Unclear. The testifier lost contact with the testifier in 2016.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unclear.

Victim's status

Testimony 1-2: In a camp in Urumchi.

Testimony 3: released from camp.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Unclear. But the testifier says that he has received a message about the victim.

Additional information

The victim is in a camp in Urumchi and when he would be released is not clear. The victim's extended family's whereabouts are unknown.

Additional coverage: https://www.uygurhaber.com/vicdan-ehline-sesleniyoruz-allah-askina-lutfen-ses-cikartin https://qha.com.tr/haberler/abdurresit-celil-karluk-cin-buyukelciligi-mustesarinin-iddialarina-cevap-verdi/ 127841/ http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Karluk:-I,-a-Uyghur,-denounce-Chinese-fascism-in-Xinjiang-49552.html (Testimony 3)

The Chinese Ambassador in Ankara blamed Uyghurs, taking Mr. Qarluq as an example, abroad for lying. The spokesman mentions Mr. Qarluq's posts on Twitter and says that he doesn't know if Mr. Qarluq is Chinese citizen or Turkish citizen, but it is not important; if anyone who is or was a Chinese citizen encounters any problems in China, he or she can come to Chinese Embassy and Chinese Embassy is here to help, that is what an Embassy does. Mr. Qarluq never came to Embassy; if he came, the Embassy would help solve the problems; (but Mr. Qarluq states on a post on Twitter that he has mentioned his family's situation in a meeting between Xinjiang Representatives, among them assistant governor Erkin Turniyaz, and Turkish Representatives, among them Mr. Qarluq; Mr. Qarluq says that especially Zulhayat Ismail who was among the Xinjiang Representatives knew this very well.) The spokesman said that he would look into Mr. Qarluq's family and give an answer to him, but there hasn't been any reply from the spokesman yet.

Victims among relatives

Hawahan Memet (6378), Tudaji Jelil (6379), Jappar Jelil (6381), Abdughappar Jelil (6382), Memetturghun Jelil (12277)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuM2I8e0Y4 Chinese ambassador reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOpmMPdf3s Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/c_karluk/status/1200122571036991488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/6380_3.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/6380_4.png

Entry created: 2020-01-01 Last updated: 2020-11-26 Latest status update: 2020-03-14 6381. Jappar Jelil (加帕尔·吉力力)

Chinese ID: 653121197006162952 (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 50 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: critical Profession: farmwork, herding

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|4: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. He is originally from Kashgar. (brother)

Testimony 3: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, as reported by AsiaNews. (brother)

Testimony 5: Urumqi police records, as reported by Yael Grauer.

About the victim

Jappar Jelil (加帕尔·吉力力)is a farmer. He was born on the 16th of June 1970. His address is No. 2. No. 2 Group, Ayaghsaybagh Village, Beshkirem Township, Kashgar City. He came to Turkey with his mother to visit the testifier in June 2016, after 10 days, police in his hometown asked them to return immediately, then they went back. His passport number is: E19548282

Victim's location

[Presumably In Kashgar.]

When victim was detained

At the beginning of 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

In the camp.

Testimony 3: had a cerebral hemorrhage and is paralyzed [presumably not in detention anymore] Testimony 4: released and at home, but in bad condition.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

In 2018, the testifier learned about him from a former Chinese student who is from inner China, hearing that the victim was taken in January 2017.

Testimony 3: the testifier got the info about the victim's poor health status from Chinese diplomats.

Additional information

The victim was physically tortured and subjected to medical experiments; his whole body was paralyzed, lost the speaking ability and he wasn't allowed to get treatment in the hospital. His wife was also detained and their four children's whereabouts are unknown.

Additional coverage: https://www.uygurhaber.com/vicdan-ehline-sesleniyoruz-allah-askina-lutfen-ses-cikartin https://qha.com.tr/haberler/abdurresit-celil-karluk-cin-buyukelciligi-mustesarinin-iddialarina-cevap-verdi/ 127841/ http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Karluk:-I,-a-Uyghur,-denounce-Chinese-fascism-in-Xinjiang-49552.html (Testimony 3)

The Chinese Ambassador in Ankara blamed Uyghurs, taking Mr. Qarluq as an example, abroad for lying. The spokesman mentions Mr. Qarluq's posts on Twitter and says that he doesn't know if Mr. Qarluq is Chinese citizen or Turkish citizen, but it is not important; if anyone who is or was a Chinese citizen encounters any problems in China, he or she can come to Chinese Embassy and Chinese Embassy is here to help, that is what an Embassy does. Mr. Qarluq never came to Embassy; if he came, the Embassy would help solve the problems; (but Mr. Qarluq states on a post on Twitter that he has mentioned his family's situation in a meeting between Xinjiang Representatives, among them assistant governor Erkin Turniyaz, and Turkish Representatives, among them Mr. Qarluq; Mr. Qarluq says that especially Zulhayat Ismail who was among the Xinjiang Representatives knew this very well.) The spokesman said that he would look into Mr. Qarluq's family and give an answer to him, but there hasn't been any reply from the spokesman yet.

Victims among relatives

Hawahan Memet (6378), Tudaji Jelil (6379), Ablimit Jelil (6380), Abdughappar Jelil (6382), Memetturghun Jelil (12277)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuM2I8e0Y4 Chinese ambassador reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOpmMPdf3s Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/c_karluk/status/1200285449354457088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/UygurHaber/status/1359007594686406658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/6381_3.png Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/6381_4.png photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/6381_5.png

Entry created: 2020-01-01 Last updated: 2021-03-14 Latest status update: 2021-02-09 6382. Abdughappar Jelil

Chinese ID: 6531211978??????O? (Shufu)

Basic info

Age: 42-43 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (11 years) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: private business

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. He is originally from Kashgar. (brother)

Testimony 3: Abdureshit Jelil Qarluq, as reported by AsiaNews. (brother)

About the victim

Abdughappar Jelil (spelled as ABUDUGEPAER JILILI in Chinese Pinyin) is a businessman. He was born in 1978. He was one who looks after the mother of the family. His address is No. 20, No.2 Group, Ayaghsaybagh Village, Beshkirem Township, Kashgar City.

Victim's location

[Unclear, as he's been sentenced.]

When victim was detained

Unclear. According to the testifier, in 2017 or 2018.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

In prison. According to the testifier, the victim was sentenced 11 years in prison (Testimony 3: forced labor).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Unclear. Additional information

The victim was physically tortured during the detention. Also, the victim's wife was detained and their children's whereabouts are unknown.

Additional coverage: https://www.uygurhaber.com/vicdan-ehline-sesleniyoruz-allah-askina-lutfen-ses-cikartin https://qha.com.tr/haberler/abdurresit-celil-karluk-cin-buyukelciligi-mustesarinin-iddialarina-cevap-verdi/ 127841/ http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Karluk:-I,-a-Uyghur,-denounce-Chinese-fascism-in-Xinjiang-49552.html (Testimony 3)

The Chinese Ambassador in Ankara blamed Uyghurs, taking Mr. Qarluq as an example, abroad for lying. The spokesman mentions Mr. Qarluq's posts on Twitter and says that he doesn't know if Mr. Qarluq is Chinese citizen or Turkish citizen, but it is not important; if anyone who is or was a Chinese citizen encounters any problems in China, he or she can come to Chinese Embassy and Chinese Embassy is here to help, that is what an Embassy does. Mr. Qarluq never came to Embassy; if he came, the Embassy would help solve the problems; (but Mr. Qarluq states on a post on Twitter that he has mentioned his family's situation in a meeting between Xinjiang Representatives, among them assistant governor Erkin Turniyaz, and Turkish Representatives, among them Mr. Qarluq; Mr. Qarluq says that especially Zulhayat Ismail who was among the Xinjiang Representatives knew this very well.) The spokesman said that he would look into Mr. Qarluq's family and give an answer to him, but there hasn't been any reply from the spokesman yet.

Victims among relatives

Hawahan Memet (6378), Tudaji Jelil (6379), Ablimit Jelil (6380), Jappar Jelil (6381), Memetturghun Jelil (12277)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuM2I8e0Y4 Chinese ambassador reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOpmMPdf3s Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/c_karluk/status/1200123263093018630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/6382_3.jpg

Entry created: 2020-01-01 Last updated: 2020-11-26 Latest status update: 2021-02-09 6502. Serik Galymgazy

Chinese ID: unknown

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Kazakh Likely current location: --- Status: --- When problems started: before 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party (submitted by third party)

Publicly available information from Foreign Policy (https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/06/xinjiang-china-uighur-camps-orphan-children-kazakhstan/). The article captured stories told my the victim's son (Seyil Eldos) and a relative (Ershat Erlolsyn) who is financially supporting the victim's children.

Victim's relation to testifier

N/A

About the victim

The victim is Serik Galymkazy, an ethnic Kazakh who disappeared after receiving a call from his former boss to return to China. After selling the family home and all other assets in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, Serik had gained residency for the family in Kazakhstan. His disappearance came before new rules were published requiring Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslims to hand in their passports to police stations.

Victim's location

N/A

When victim was detained

January 2015

Likely (or given) reason for detention

He received a phone call from his former boss asking him to return to China. The official reason is unknown.

Victim's status N/A

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

N/A

Additional information

According to the article, the victim was able to keep in touch with family members through WeChat, but communication stopped after some time. The last time the victim was in contact was April 2019, after a human rights lawyer (Aiman Umarova) released an advocacy video about the victim's children. The victim contacted his children requesting that the video be removed. Because the victim had sold all assets in China, the author of the article speculates that the victim has not been able to avoid detention camps.

Victims among relatives

Gulzat Rysbai (2769)

Entry created: 2020-01-02 Last updated: 2020-01-16 Latest status update: 2019-10-06 7240. Shirmemet Hudayar

Chinese ID: 65402319????????O? (Korghas)

Basic info

Age: --- Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1|7: Jewlan Shirmemet, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (son)

Testimony 2|5|6: Jewlan Shirmemet, originally from Qorghas County, but now living in Turkey. (son)

Testimony 3: Jewlan Shirmemet, as reported by Daily Express. (son)

Testimony 4: PRC consulate-embassy staff, a staff member at a People's Republic of China embassy or consulate.

About the victim

Shirmemet Hudayar was an employee of the Environmental Protection Office in Korgas County.

Family's address: West Central Street, Lengger Township, Shuiding Municipality, Korgas County, Xinjiang (新疆霍城县水定镇兰干乡中心西街).

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili.]

When victim was detained

He was detained at the beginning of 2018, with Jewlan only learning about it in late 2019.

Shirmemet was released towards the end of 2019 because of heavy illness.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Jewlan, because of his son (Jewlan) studying in Turkey.

Victim's status Presumably under some form of community surveillance. A staff member from the Chinese consulate in Istanbul told Jewlan in early 2020 that his father was not in detention and allegedly did not want to talk to Jewlan because he thought Jewlan had "problems".

On June 1, 2020, Shirmemet called Jewlan (the first time they had spoken in about three years) to "scold" him and tell him to stop campaigning for his mother's (Suriye Tursun's) release. Jewlan would later receive similar calls from his uncle and brother.

Shirmemet has not been in good health for some time, and suffers from rheumatism.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

It is not clear how Jewlan learned of the detention originally. The confirmation that Shirmemet was no longer detained came from a staff member at a Chinese consulate, however, who presumably got it directly from the Xinjiang authorities.

Jewlan and Shirmemet also talked on the phone later, though the conversations appear to have been monitored and unnatural.

Additional information

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/jewlan-shirmemet-01152020222320.html https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/coerced-06082020172854.html

Daily Express coverage: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1282764/China-news-Beijing-nazi-concentration-camps-muslim-U yghur-Xinjiang-coronavirus-latest

Official communication(s)

Source: Chinese Mission in Turkey

------

-- February 12, 2020 (first call with Istanbul consulate) --

Jewlan: …[provide some] proof, or maybe you can explain it to me clearly? I went to high school here. I’m a tour guide with a travel company here. I have never even participated in a single illegal activity. I promise this is - even the police knows, and you at the Chinese embassy all know, that this is completely made up. It is made up. You’ve sentenced my mom to five years, taken my family… my dad and younger brother… to a concentration camp. Now I don’t even know their whereabouts.

Consulate staff: This situation, I think, has already been checked and confirmed in the mainland. Your father and younger brother are not in an education and training center. They’re both outside.

J: I know, they’ve already been released…

CS: Now it’s just that they don’t want to, they aren’t willing to…

J: Then what is my mom’s crime? What is my mom’s crime? My mom’s crime is that she, as a mother, came to Turkey in 2013 on a vacation with her work unit, with a Chinese holiday tour group. That group had Han, and Uyghurs, and Hui, coming here together to travel. After returning, she continued working as she always had. I also frequently travelled back and forth without any issues, until 2013 [misspoken: 2016], when we stopped communicating all of a sudden. After that, I didn’t know… So as to not bring them any trouble - since I knew that contact with people abroad would bring trouble at that time - I didn’t contact them, because I didn’t want to bring them any trouble. Until later when I received the news that, at the beginning of 2018, my dad, my mom, and my younger brother were all taken by the police and brought to a concentration camp, the so-called “training center”. But they are all high-school graduates, and my parents are both civil servants. I also have never participated in a single illegal activity to this day.

After receiving this news, do you know whom I immediately went to look for? I immediately went to my contacts in the mainland, looking for people in the government, but they also wouldn’t reply to me. Then I went to contact you guys, the people at the consulate, but you’ve also been dragging it out. Now you come out and tell me that I “participated in illegal activities”. If that’s so, can you please find some piece of evidence that I participated in illegal activities? Also, another point. Where in the national law does it say that, when a child does something wrong, it is the rest of the family who should be punished? Never mind that I have not even done anything wrong. I have never even participated in any illegal activities.

CS: This thing with your mom… I can tell you that it was definitely not because of you. It was because she violated China’s laws. This…

J: Which laws? Since you’re saying that, can you give me the court verdict? I want to find a lawyer. I want to find an international lawyer. Can you provide me with the verdict?

CS: Look, there’s no need to get so agitated. The mainland has also already told us that your case may not be that severe. Or maybe it was a case where other people’s influences played a role, like being in contact with some wrong people - what I mean is, maybe you could write down whom you’ve been in contact with, starting from the last time that you left the country up until now, including when you were in Egypt before and in your current situation now.

J: Let me tell you…

CS: I feel like… I feel like you should think about doing this. Once you’ve got it, you could send it via the e-mail you used to e-mail us before. Because this situation of yours… Some of it we’ve already talked to the mainland about. The mainland might also think that your situation is not that serious. I feel like you should go ahead and clearly write down all this information. If there’s an error somewhere…

J: Let me just tell you here…

CS: …you can also tell us.

J: Alright, first…

CS: In that case, the mainland might reconsider your family’s situation.

J: I’ll tell you now. No need to write anything down. I’ll just tell you now.

CS: Hmm...

J: First, you asked me just now whom I had contacted in Egypt, and now in Turkey. You can look at the entry and exit information in my passport. All the records are there. I have never been to Egypt. I have only been to Turkey. In 2011, I came to Turkey to attend university here. I went to Istanbul Commerce University, the law department, and after graduating started working here. Originally, I was able to go back, and wanted to go back after graduation, but didn’t because I lost contact with my family. All this time, I’ve been working here, at a travel agency. You can look at the relevant travel agencies - I’ll give you the names of the mainland Chinese travel agencies and the names of the Turkish ones too, and you can go search. You can find all my travels, all the plans that the group made for me… Where would I have the time to go contact other people, seeing as how I’ve been receiving travel groups nonstop? And then I started working independently, started to create my own travel company. I have not contacted any anti-Chinese organizations. I never even wanted to. I have always stayed far away from politics. I have not even brushed shoulders with politics. While here, I have always stuck to doing my own work, even on social media. No matter if it was Instagram or Facebook or whatever, I have not posted even a single sentence of anti-Chinese speech.

I also know about the concentration camps over there. I see all those things on the news over here, but I have not even had a single crazy thought in that regard - I’ve always been like this, just living my own plain, normal life. I’ll have you know that, over here, I’m probably in contact with more Han than with Uyghurs or Turkish. I’m often with them over here, and when their families come, I take them out and show them around. I simply haven’t been involved in any other activities apart from the regular tour group leading ones. Up until when I contacted the Chinese embassy, calling the embassy over and over and over again but getting no reply. Finally, I contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but they didn’t reply either. So, at last, I realized that I needed to go to the media. I want to… In order to save my family, in order to save my mom, I will furiously battle to the end. Now, I…

CS: Actually, actually… I, let me say this… Actually, we are all certainly very willing to help you. After all, we’re all Chinese people, so we’re willing to help you. But going to the media won’t actually help you with your problem, right? Right now, the mainland doesn’t think that your situation is very serious either…

J: My… My “situation” isn’t very serious…

CS: These things that you’ve said… You can send us an e-mail…

J: This is not a “situation” - I simply do not have a “situation”. And my mom? My mom is a… Three months after the last time that she contacted me in 2018… She was planning to retire three months after that. A retired… Someone who, for thirty years… Both my mom and my dad were Party cadres for thirty years in the Industry and Commerce Bureau, in Qorgas County’s Industry and Commerce Bureau. They worked for thirty years. If this country actually has law and order, if it’s obliged to protect its citizens’ rights, then why go and arrest a Party cadre with thirty years of work history and then sentence her? Can you think about this for me: if you were in my shoes, what would you do? If your mom was sentenced just because you attended university overseas, and she had come to visit you, with her travel group, and then got sentenced? What would you think? I just want to ask your thoughts here, or ask if you could put yourself in my position. You think about it.

I really want to ask: those who sentenced my mom, or issued the order to have my mom arrested, issued the order to have my family taken to a concentration camp (although my dad and my younger brother were released I heard, but I still don’t know their situation) - I really want them to put themselves in my position and think about it, really, really, extremely carefully… I really want them to think about this with regard to their own humanity, all right? You said just now that these are Chinese people. Right? I… But I only realized this point now. Clearly, they are Chinese people, with the rights of Chinese citizens, so then why sentence my mom? Saying that I attended some “activities” in Egypt and in Turkey, when I have not even been to Egypt. I can even take a photo of every page in my passport for you - you look and see if there’s an Egyptian visa there. Or you can check the entry and exit records that are recorded in my passport. I can also send my passport to you now. You take a look. See if there’s Egypt. CS: All right… With this situation, I believe that the mainland also have their reasons. I feel like, now, if you have your passport information, or other kinds of proof that you did not attend those activities, then, I feel like, you can send it over to our e-mail, and we can help you report that to the mainland.

J: I can do that. I can take photos one by one and send them to you.

CS: Yes, and if there’s some other situation, or if you want directions for dealing with some problem, you can just write an e-mail and send it to us. I see that you wrote e-mails to us before, and even writing in Chinese wasn’t a problem. You send those things to us and the mainland might be able to help. They’ll certainly help.

J: Yes, I… I will send it over to your e-mail in a bit. There’s another thing that I want to ask: what’s my mother’s crime? I really want to understand. Can you send me my mother’s written verdict? Can you provide it to me? What is the crime?

CS: This… We don’t really have this on our side. It’s not something we handle.

J: Can you, from the Xinjiang government…?

CS: But your mom… I’m pretty sure the crime was “assisting in terrorist activities”.

J: “Assisting in terrorist activities”? When did she “assist in terrorist activities”? I…

CS: This… I believe that if the mainland gave the sentence, then they must have evidence. To tell you the truth, that’s to say, as a warning, this is… They… There’s no way to keep up with what they do over there. I suggest… I think the best thing that you can do now is to clarify your own situation, so we can let the mainland take a look, and then see if you can first make contact with your dad and your brother.

J: I… I do want to contact my dad and my brother, but I really, absolutely want to know my mother’s verdict. Send it to me. I want to look for an international lawyer. I want to look for an international lawyer to defend my mom. My mom… Just now you said that my mom was involved in some terrorist… My mom doesn’t even know what terrorism is - she is just a plain and ordinary, an extremely, how to put it, law-abiding… Always respecting the country’s laws. She’s never even broken the law, never even had the idea of breaking the law. She’s a Party cadre who spent thirty years always working for the country, contributing to the country. I…

Even while at the Industry and Commerce Bureau, when my mom wanted to retire early - because of her health, she wanted to retire early - she ended up realizing that her work unit couldn’t do all the things that someone in her position needed to do, and so she kept waiting until she could retire regularly and not because of poor health. That’s how giving of a person she is. All of a sudden, “terrorist” something… “Assisting in terrorist activities”? Let me tell you: when I went back… I came out here by myself, going to school while also leading tour groups, and I never even asked [my parents] for a single cent. I know that relatives sometimes send money overseas, to children studying overseas, the tuition fees, and that this can be the cause of their arrest. But my mom didn’t even do that. Not even this. There aren’t even any records of her sending me money. It’s all money that I earned myself. I work here with a Chinese travel agency, collaborating with them, leading tour groups, keeping myself alive with the money that I’ve earned myself.

CS: These, these… These feelings I can understand. But at the same time, I personally feel like right now what would be best for you would be to gather the materials, first explaining your own situation, and then see if we can help you get in touch with your family members in the mainland first. I feel like this is the more urgent thing right now, and also what would help solve your problem?

J: I… I want… I want to contact my family members, and right now I also want to have my mother’s written verdict. Her written verdict. Written verdict. Can you give that to me? You said, in the e-mail…

CS: We don’t have that either. This…

J: I’m asking you to request it from the Chinese government, from the court. This written verdict. Because I want to go look for a lawyer. I can look for one in Beijing, or look for one outside the country. I want to find a lawyer.

CS: I feel like the more urgent thing right now… I feel like the more urgent thing right now is to first explain your own problem to the mainland, and then to talk about other things. If your situation can be clearly explained, then it can help resolve your mom’s problem. But if the mainland thinks that you did some bad things here, they will not trust you, and there’ll be no one [there] who trusts you. So, you… I feel like you should clearly explain your own situation first. This is more important.

J: Yes, even my passport I can…

CS: …don’t you think so?

J: …every page…

CS: Mainly, whatever materials you have, you can directly… Or these things you’ve said. You can write all of it up as text and send it over to our e-mail.

J: Okay then. All the information from Turkey onwards. How I went to university, and then even every page of my passport. And you take a look to see if I’ve been to Egypt?

CS: Yes. Uh-huh.

J: But I still want… I still want… You need to provide me with the written verdict. Because each day my mom spends over there, being tormented… I know what the situation over there is like, and right now the COVID-19 situation is also extremely severe. My mom, she…

CS: This thing… Right now, it’s definitely not a problem. That we can confirm for you. But I feel like the more pressing thing now is to first resolve your own problem. Only then can you talk about other things. If the mainland decides that you’ve done a lot of things here that aren’t right, then the mainland will not help you. Your family also isn’t willing to contact you right now, right? Explain your own situation clearly first. Only by doing that will you be able to make progress in resolving this problem.

J: I really want to know - is it that my family doesn’t want to contact me, or is it the government not letting me contact them? I don’t even know right now.

CS: Right now, it is your dad and your younger brother who don’t want any contact with you.

J: Why? As a child… For a father to not want to contact his child is an extremely unnatural situation, don’t you think?

CS: That’s why I feel like you should clearly explain your own situation first. Only then can these other things be resolved.

J: I will take my passport, where I went to school here, what I did here, when I received which tour groups… I will write every single thing out for you.

CS: That’s right. That’s right.

J: Okay. I will send it over.

CS: You can tell us all of this, send us all of this.

J: Can you tell me your name? If I want to directly… If I want to learn about my family’s situation, I will look for you directly and call this number.

CS: Uh… You send us the e-mail first, and then we’ll contact you again.

J: Then, the e-mail address is the one I wrote to before?

CS: Yes, that’s right.

J: Right now, my request… My request is that you provide me with my mom’s written verdict. I really must see its contents. What my mom’s criminal charge was - I really want to understand that. This is my… I feel that, for a Chinese citizen, this is an extremely normal request, right? The consulate should be able to provide me with this, right? Because the consulate is there to protect the rights of citizens who are overseas in the countries the consulates are in, right? This is my right, right?

CS: That’s why right now the issue is your mom, who is currently in the mainland. I feel like what’s most important right now is to change the mainland’s opinion of you. If you yourself have any…

J: The mainland’s opinion of me is a separate matter. The sentence given to my mom…

CS: This is not a separate matter. Right now, they are the same thing.

J: …which of China’s laws says that the issues of the child must drag down their whole family? Even though I don’t have any, regarding which I can provide you all the relevant information. But still: if a child, or anyone who is abroad, does a bad thing, why should that implicate their family members? That’s why I say that these are two separate things. For a citizen, what I request is an extremely normal thing. It is my mom who is currently in jail, who was sentenced. I really want… Because I… Don’t China’s laws also have this? The right to appeal, right? We can go to the Supreme People’s Court to appeal, right? In any case, going to the Supreme People’s Court to appeal is an extremely normal thing, a normal legal process. That’s why I want the consulate, if it really wants to help me, to ask the court for the written verdict.

CS: To be honest, this… Right now, it’s not… Right now, it’s not us helping you. Right now, it is you needing to help yourself. First, explain your own situation clearly. Tell us about your situation first, and only then will it be possible to talk about other things.

J: I… This… Like I said, I’ll send you everything about my travels, my studies here… I’ll send it all to you, even including my university graduation diploma, when I graduated… I will send it all. Where I studied, where I work… -- February 12, 2020 (second call with Istanbul consulate) --

CS: …you need this to go look for people in Xinjiang…

J: When I try to contact people in Xinjiang, no one replies to me. I found someone from a police station the other day, someone who used to be in my WeChat contacts. After I found them, they deleted me.

CS: No… The reason why they aren’t replying to you now is because they think that, right now, you yourself have social problems. I think that, if you can clearly explain your issue, the mainland’s attitude towards you will also change. That’s what I can help you with right now.

J: I will provide you with all the information, but you also need to help me ask for the written verdict. Because I want to go find - I have already found - a lawyer. I have already found a lawyer. I have found a lawyer in Beijing and I have found a lawyer internationally: one in England. I want to appeal, so I need to see this written verdict. I think that this is an extremely normal process in Chinese law. To appeal, to refute, to go to the Supreme People’s Court and appeal, to find a lawyer - this is how the legal process works. I don’t think that this violates the law in any way. Right now, my request is also very simple.

CS: This… You might have the right to do this, but right now we over here don't have a way to help you appeal either…

J: No, no, no. I haven’t asked you to help me appeal. I just want the written verdict.

CS: What we can help you with now is… You should supply us with a description of your activities and your basic situation.

J: Okay. After I finish writing it up, I will send it over to you immediately.

CS: It will be best if there are other people who can serve as witnesses for you.

J: Other people serving as witnesses? Whom should I look for…? Should I write down the tour groups’ names? I’ve already led over 100 tour groups here.

CS: That works…

J: Where should I look? Which group…?

CS: Your own groups, or your travel agency’s person in charge. All are fine.

J: I will write down all of the tour groups that I’ve led for you. One by one, and you can just contact them. There are groups from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan… All of them.

CS: Or they could write you a letter of attestation. That might be better.

J: I can get this. But can you record that I have this request: that Jewlan Shirmemet requests the Chinese government for his mother’s written verdict. I will also state this request in my e-mail.

CS: That works, that works. Just write it all in the e-mail. We’ll get it all.

J: Okay. CS: Okay. So, that’s it for today.

J: Okay. Bye.

-- April 21, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

Embassy staff: Hello.

J: Hello. My name is Jewlan Shirmemet. I live in Istanbul. I have been requesting that the consulate let me contact my family for 4 or 5 months already, but I still haven’t received a reply.

ES: Oh, I see. The consulate, right? You mean the consulate in Istanbul?

J: Yes, yes.

ES: Oh. We’re the embassy…

J: I know…

ES: You can write down your e-mail, name, passport number, family information, and send it over to me, after which we’ll report it to the mainland. Does that work?

J: Okay, all right. What’s your e-mail address?

ES: I’ll text it to you, okay?

J: Okay.

ES: I’m just afraid you might write it down incorrectly.

J: Okay.

ES: Don’t worry, don't worry. I just need to ask: your family… Is it that you can’t contact them, or - sorry for asking - but did your family members do that…?

J: No, my family members… I…

ES: Was it because of that sort of, that sort of… You know, that kind of stuff… I mean, were they arrested by the local Xinjiang government?

J: Yes, my mother was detained by the Xinjiang authorities.

ES: Aiya…

J: My dad and my younger brother were also detained, but later released. Since their release, I haven’t… I didn’t… I haven’t been able to contact them. I told the embassy…

ES: Have you not returned to China for a very long time?

J: I have not gone back to China since 2016. ES: Okay, got it. We’ll get in touch with the mainland, don’t worry. We’ll get in touch with the mainland. During this time, don’t get too agitated with your online activity, all right? It won’t be good for getting in touch with your family. Okay?

J: Look, I’ve never… I’ll send you the e-mail. It’ll be better if I e-mail you, right?

ES: Okay, I’ll send you the address now. All right.

-- May 5, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello?

J: Hello, this is Jewlan Shirmemet.

ES: Hello?

J: Two weeks ago, I sent you an e-mail, but still haven’t received a reply.

ES: Was it about getting a passport or looking for family members?

J: Looking for family…

ES: Has our colleague contacted you?

J: He wanted me to send an e-mail, so I did…

ES: Yes, yes, this is something that needs time. This needs time…

J: Sir, I just want to ask… From December… In December, I sent an e-mail to the Chinese consulate in Istanbul. I kept waiting, then in February I sent another email. I still have not received any news. The embassy has its phone number posted on Twitter, so I called the number and was told to send an e-mail. I sent one and now it’s been two weeks. How…

ES: Two weeks is not… Two weeks is not too… Two weeks is not a long time…

J: How can it not be a long time? Here, I’ve been…

ES: We have a colleague who specifically handles this. I will have them give you a call. Based on my understanding… I’ll give them your phone number soon and tell them that you called. Based on my understanding, my colleague sent a collective report with the relevant information to a number of agencies in mainland China two weeks ago, including the five to six, or four to five… We should have a total of five requests for help contacting family members who are out of contact. Five in total. We reported all these cases together. But we are still waiting for the mainland’s reply, as we cannot decide this.

J: Sure, but this is very… I am a Chinese citizen, I’ve been in Turkey for five years, working in the tourism sector. Working while studying. When a Chinese citizen loses their passport, they can get it in two days, and any problem that comes up can be resolved in a day. My request is simple: let me contact my family, and release my mom. My illegally imprisoned mom. It’s that simple. ES: It’s like this… It’s like this… Let me put it as…

J: I’m just requesting what I’m entitled to as a citizen. I don’t have any other requests.

ES: So… I know what you mean, but there are a lot of things I need to check. First, we are a country of law, and it’s not like the family members of anyone who says their family members have been arrested… have been arrested illegally…

J: Before, I requested the written court verdict. You didn’t give it.

ES: That’s…

J: I requested a lawyer…

ES: There are a lot of things that can be requested. We could also request a lot of things, but speaking within the legal framework… How to put it: I’m not in charge of this. I’m in charge of making ID-related documents. I will get my colleague to contact you, okay?

J: Okay, fine.

ES: Okay. Don’t be too worried about your situation. Also, I…

J: Put yourself in my position and ask yourself if you’d be worried. I haven’t talked to my family in over two years.

ES: I understand, I understand. If members of my family… If members of my family were arrested, I would be very angry too. I understand you… I understand you very well. But whether or not this situation is against the law is not something I can determine. Because this needs China’s…

J: We’re in the 21st century…

ES: This is up to China’s judicial system to determine…

J: China is a technologically advanced country. 21st century… It’s the 21st century and I have not been able to contact my family for over two years. Two and a half years. Surely, this is insane. I…

ES: I will have my colleague call you, okay?

J: Okay. Sure.

ES: Okay, then. Bye.

-- May 6, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello?

J: Hello?

ES: Hello, how are you? J: Hello. I’m Jewlan Shirmemet. I called you yesterday as well. I’m calling regarding my family.

ES: Yes…

J: Two weeks ago…

ES: You’re Jewlan, right?

J: Yes.

ES: Jewlan, it’s like this… We have already reported your situation to the mainland. Please wait a little. We are also waiting so as to be able to get back to you. Your situation, the letters you’ve written… The letters you wrote were quite long… Because we’ve also taken a look… From our perspective, we’re also quite sympathetic, you know? We’re all Chinese citizens, including the members of your family who are in this situation. First, we need to verify the situation. Additionally, see if there’s other ways. What I mean is: just wait some more. All right? Does that work?

J: But I’ve already waited for over five months, always contacting you guys…

ES: I know, I know. I know what you mean. I can only tell you that… We… It’s really an important matter. Once the pandemic is under control, you can come to the consulate general too… With everyone… You can also talk to everyone face to face. How about this: if we receive any news, we’ll call you? Does that work?

J: Can you be certain? Because I am extremely worried, this is… And you don’t…

ES: I understand, I understand. How about this… Because the pandemic in Turkey is really quite serious, you should take good care of yourself first. Which school are you at? I think you’re a student, is that right?

J: Yes, I’m in Istanbul. I’m in Istanbul…

ES: Right, right. Because in Istanbul, the pandemic is… There’s a lot of tourists…

J: This… Right now, I can take care of myself. It’s my family that I’m worried about. About my mother, because right now she is in jail…

ES: Because right now… It’s like this: I can tell you that right now in the mainland, when it comes to Xinjiang, there isn’t a single case right now. Before, there were 76 cases, right? 73 have recovered, which means that 3 people passed away, but 73 people have now left the hospital. And there hasn’t been a single infected case, you know?

J: Sir… Maybe there really isn't any illness there, but right now she is in prison. Think about it. Can you think of me for a second? Put yourself in my position…

ES: Yes, yes, yes. I know, I understand. I can understand your feelings. Really.

J: My mom is currently in prison, and right now, you see, the simplest… the simplest thing… I cannot even contact my family. It’s the 21st century. A Chinese citizen, in the world’s most scientifically advanced country… A citizen… ES: Yes, yes. Yes.

J: I am unable to contact my family. Isn’t that absolutely crazy? This is really damaging to the country’s reputation too, no?

ES: Hmm, it’s like this… I mean, we actually have to do our jobs as well. Also, if you have any friends in Xinjiang, then you will understand that it’s not actually all like this. These are individual cases.

J: Yes, individual cases.

ES: What I meant… I hope you’ll understand, but our country, because of some not-so-good things that happened in Xinjiang in the past… It has to…

J: Those not-so-good things…

ES: It has to… I mean… Wrong things have happened in Xinjiang. I mean, these past few years, things have returned to normal. Listen, we can talk about this properly and slowly… Getting documents done, contacting your family, going back there to visit them. I mean, [unintelligible]… There is a process.

J: This…

ES: I do understand your feelings, but if you could have turned to the Chinese mission from the very start, your problem would have been resolved that much faster.

J: Mister, let me just tell you. The first thing I did was to turn to the consulate. That was the first thing I did. I called them every day. Called them every day. Sent e-mails every day. I can send you those e-mails. I even contacted the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Didn't get a reply there either. Beijing, Shanghai… I contacted… Including the Xinjiang…

ES: Look, the other places you got in touch with I don’t really care about. Since you’ve now addressed the embassy, we - I’ve told you this already - we are working hard to get in touch with the mainland, to see what the best way to resolve this is. All right?

J: These words… Because I am extremely, extremely worried. This… in China…

ES: I understand your feelings. I understand your feelings.

J: …not being able to contact your family is extremely crazy.

ES: You should… Look, if we get any news then we’ll contact you. All right?

J: Try to be faster. I am extremely, extremely worried.

ES: Okay, okay. Also, masks, protective clothing, and such… You have all that?

J: No [likely misspoken]. I do, I do.

ES: Right. If you do need anything, the Chinese mission can help out. We can send the things over to you, okay?

J: I’m all set. This… ES: You have the embassy’s e-mail. Just like for our other overseas Chinese, if you need anything, you can just tell us what you need via e-mail: with your address, the quantity needed… It’s all doable.

J: This… Stuff like this… I have no problems when it comes to myself, it’s just… The only thing I’m worried about right now is my family…

ES: Look…

J: For me… Apart from…

ES: Listen, it’s not that I’m forcing you, but I hope that you’ll understand - we will certainly deal with this to our fullest ability.

J: Aren’t I extremely understanding…?

ES: Because we are all overseas Chinese in Turkey. You are also a Chinese citizen, right? I mean, we were always meant to… Overseas Chinese need to stick together. Second, the Chinese mission definitely wants to help overseas Chinese…

J: With the Chinese mission, I… I worry… Right now, I’m just thinking about how two months ago… with the Chinese mission… about how I have already sent all my documents to the one in Beijing…

ES: The Beijing one is… Beijing is not…

J: No, I mean the Ankara one. The embassy in Ankara. Two months ago, I sent them all of my information…

ES: In that case, look… You should…

J: I still haven’t received any news…

ES: If we get any news, we’ll contact you, all right?

J: I hope so… Can you also…

ES: Because, you know, two days ago the mainland was celebrating a holiday, right? Today’s the first day back at work. Right?

J: Sure. Then just please try to be a little faster.

ES: Can do. Okay. That’s it, then. Take care of yourself, all right?

J: Hmm.

ES: Okay, bye.

-- May 7, 2020 (call with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) --

Ministry staff: Hello, this is the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How may I help you? J: Hello, this is Jewlan Shirmemet. I’m now living in Istanbul, Turkey. I’m originally from Xinjiang, and my ID number puts me in Qorgas County of Xinjiang’s Ili Prefecture. I have not been able to contact my family for over two years - two and a half years - and I have learned that my mother was arrested by the Xinjiang government. My mother is a civil servant. A civil servant who had served the country for thirty years. The last time I contacted them was on January 11, 2018, on WeChat. After that, I lost all contact. At that time, my mother told me that she was going to retire in two months. A mother who was just about to retire… Why would she be arrested by the Xinjiang authorities and illegally imprisoned? I am now requesting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contact Xinjiang, and allow me to establish normal contact with my family, as well as release my mother. That’s why I’m calling you now. I have already been communicating with the consulate in Istanbul, Turkey for over five months, but they have never given me a proper reply. Why does the consulate treat its own citizens like this?

MS: Can you provide us with your name and your ID number?

J: All right. My name is Jewlan Shirmemet [Mandarin: Jiawulan Xi’ermaimaiti]. “jia” as in “jiafa”…

MS: How do you write that?

J: [Explains characters used to spell his first name.]

MS: Jiawulan, right?

J: Yes, yes. [Explains the spelling of his last name.] Xi’ermaimaiti.

MS: Okay.

J: My ID number is…

MS: Jiawulan Xi’ermaimaiti, is that right?

J: That’s right. My ID number is 654123…

MS: 654123…

J: …1991…

MS: …1991…

J: …0506…

MS: …0506…

J: …0014.

MS: …0014.

J: Yes. For my mother, her work unit is…

MS: Do you have an ID num…? Do you have a passport number? J: Yes, I do. One second… Let me get you my passport number.

MS: Hmm.

J: One moment… Passport number is… G… Please wait a moment. Passport number is: G… G…

MS: J? Is it that…

J: Not that one. G as in “Ge”. Yes.

MS: And then?

J: 5739…

MS: 5739…

J: …7606.

MS: …7606.

J: Correct.

MS: G57397606?

J: Correct. G57397606.

MS: This is your own passport number, right?

J: Yes.

MS: Please wait a moment. Umm, you just said that right now you’ve lost all contact with your family, is that right? That is…

J: Correct. My family…

MS: Apart from your mother, are there other members of your family that you can’t contact?

J: Correct. In my family, you have my dad and my mom, who are both civil servants, and my younger brother, who is also a college graduate. My dad and my mom both worked for the country for thirty years. My dad is a civil servant in the environmental protection bureau, the Xinjiang Ili Qorgas County Environmental Bureau. My mother was a bank teller at the Xinjiang Ili Qorgas County’s Bureau for Industry and Commerce - a national civil servant for thirty years. My younger brother is also a college graduate. In January 2018, I…

MS: And right now you can’t contact any of them, right?

J: Correct. My dad… The last time I contacted the embassy in Istanbul, they told me that my dad and my younger brother were taken to Xinjiang’s so-called “training centers”, but… I don’t understand… My dad and my mom were both civil servants for thirty years, and my younger brother is also a college graduate, so why take them to training centers? I don’t get this, sorry. It’s something I still cannot understand. MS: Sir, please start by getting a hold of yourself and answering my questions.

J: All right…

MS: When you say so much, I don’t really understand what you’re saying.

J: All right, all right.

MS: Trust me.

J: Right, I…

MS: Your situation… What exactly is the reason for why you can’t contact them right now? Is it all of them, or just one or two that you are unable to contact? From what time have you been unable to contact them? Please explain these things to me.

J: All right. January 11, 2018 was the last time I contacted my family, on WeChat. On January 13, I’d discover that they had all deleted me on WeChat.

MS: On which date, again?

J: On January 13, I discovered…

MS: January 11, 2018, you said?

J: Yes.

MS: You mean that you lost contact with them then, is that right?

J: Yes, they deleted me on WeChat at that time.

MS: Sir, it’s like this… Even though our purpose here is to provide overseas Chinese citizens with consular [unclear] services [unclear], what you’re asking is not within the scope of our work, so unfortunately we are not able to assist you. You can try such agencies as the local police department. If people have gone missing, you can report it to the police. These are the methods that you can try to find your relatives.

J: Right now, I… No, right now, there’s something I just want to ask: what is it that the Foreign Ministry is supposed to protect? What aspect of the citizens’ lives? Just now, I found your number online and called you. This is one of the rights of an overseas Chinese citizen, right?

MS: Yea…

J: Right now, my rights are being infringed on by the Xinjiang authorities…

MS: The Xinjiang authorities are in the mainland, Sir. This is not, this is not our [unclear]… I mean, for example, when you are in Turkey and you experience some other kind of emergency situation in Turkey, this is where we come in. But if something happened to your relatives in Xinjiang, then you need to contact the local… For example, the police department or other departments. Do you understand what I mean?

J: Yea, I understand. But then why did I just spend all that time giving you all my ID numbers…? Okay. Heh. All right. I get it.

MS: These conversations are all recorded, but if you like we can also not record this.

J: No, no problem. If you can, when you have the time… If the foreign ministry has any news regarding this, and if they want to understand the situation, to go look, then you can call…

MS: This situation is not within our purview. There’s really nothing we can do.

J: Okay. All right.

MS: You can contact departments… I mean, the local police departments or others. All are okay.

J: All right.

MS: Okay, then. I’ll end the call here.

J: Hmm.

-- May 13, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello, how are you?

J: Hello, how are you? This is Jewlan Shirmemet…

ES: I know, I know. I know you.

J: I… Has there been any news of my family?

ES: Uh… We’ve already… Our colleague has already sent all the information regarding looking for relatives to the mainland, and the mainland has not yet gotten back to us.

J: When will they get back to you? It’s already been over two weeks… three weeks…

ES: We’re also waiting… We’re also waiting… Waiting for the mainland… this is Xinjiang, right?

J: Yes.

ES: We’re also waiting for the Xinjiang government to get back to us.

J: You… This… I think about it over and over, and I just don’t get it. Three to four weeks. How is it that such a simple thing…? Contacting my family members, releasing my mother… It’s just such a simple thing.

ES: Aiya… I guess I’m not being clear. We’ve sent the information over. I mean, in the cases where Chinese citizens can’t contact their family, sometimes the mainland gets back to us and sometimes they don’t. Yours they haven’t gotten back to us about. Some they’ve gotten back to us on.

J: Some they got back to you about, some they still haven’t. In my case, they haven’t.

ES: Yes, that’s right. Sometimes they’ve gotten back to us. Some… There are one or two cases where the family members are in prison that they’ve got back to us on. For others, they haven’t. They still haven’t replied. I don’t know where your family members are, I promise. Aiya… I don’t know either. I’m waiting.

J: Oh…

ES: If we learn anything, we’ll contact you. We have a colleague who specifically takes care of this stuff.

J: All right. I’ll wait some more… Otherwise, I’ll find other ways.

ES: Okay, okay. That’s it, then.

Victims among relatives

Suriye Tursun (7239), Irfan Shirmemet (7241)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubarwHnKvhw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/CevlanJevlan/status/1304388245409718277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/KampMagdurlar/status/1346737759474614277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (top right): https://shahit.biz/supp/7240_2.jpg official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_7240.png

Entry created: 2020-01-20 Last updated: 2021-08-28 Latest status update: 2020-09-11 7241. Irfan Shirmemet

Chinese ID: 65402319920825??O? (Korghas)

Basic info

Age: 28 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: house/town arrest When problems started: Jan. 2018 - Mar. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|7: Jewlan Shirmemet, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (brother)

Testimony 2|5|6: Jewlan Shirmemet, originally from Qorghas County, but now living in Turkey. (brother)

Testimony 3: Jewlan Shirmemet, as reported by Daily Express. (brother)

Testimony 4: PRC consulate-embassy staff, a staff member at a People's Republic of China embassy or consulate.

About the victim

Irfan Shirmemet was born on the 25th of August 1992. He was graduated from Northwestern University for Nationality in 2015 and then he started his job at Qorghas Border.

Family address (Testimony 6): West Central Street, Lengger Township, Shuiding Municipality, Korgas County, Xinjiang (新疆霍城县水定镇兰干乡中心西街).

Victim's location

[Presumably in Ili.]

When victim was detained

At the beginning of 2018. (Testimony 7: Jewlan only learned about this in late 2019.)

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 3: for having a brother who studies in Turkey.

Victim's status

He was released at the end of 2019. However, the testifier heard that he is now under supervision. Testimony 4: staff from the PRC consulate in Istanbul told Jewlan that the victim was not in detention and did not want to talk to Jewlan because he thought Jewlan had "problems".

Testimony 5: Jewlan still has not been able to contact him, despite his being released.

Testimony 7: Irfan Shirmemet called Jewlan Shirmemet at some point after 1 June 2020 to tell him to stop campaigning for the release of their mother (Suriye Tursun). [Additional notes in Entry 7240.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-3: Not Stated.

Testimony 4: this is a government source.

Additional information

The testifier doesn't know how his health condition is now.

RFA coverage: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/jewlan-shirmemet-01152020222320.html (Testimony 1) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/coerced-06082020172854.html (Testimony 7)

Daily Express coverage (Testimony 3): https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1282764/China-news-Beijing-nazi-concentration-camps-muslim-U yghur-Xinjiang-coronavirus-latest

Official communication(s)

Source: Chinese Mission in Turkey

------

-- February 12, 2020 (first call with Istanbul consulate) --

Jewlan: …[provide some] proof, or maybe you can explain it to me clearly? I went to high school here. I’m a tour guide with a travel company here. I have never even participated in a single illegal activity. I promise this is - even the police knows, and you at the Chinese embassy all know, that this is completely made up. It is made up. You’ve sentenced my mom to five years, taken my family… my dad and younger brother… to a concentration camp. Now I don’t even know their whereabouts.

Consulate staff: This situation, I think, has already been checked and confirmed in the mainland. Your father and younger brother are not in an education and training center. They’re both outside.

J: I know, they’ve already been released…

CS: Now it’s just that they don’t want to, they aren’t willing to…

J: Then what is my mom’s crime? What is my mom’s crime? My mom’s crime is that she, as a mother, came to Turkey in 2013 on a vacation with her work unit, with a Chinese holiday tour group. That group had Han, and Uyghurs, and Hui, coming here together to travel. After returning, she continued working as she always had. I also frequently travelled back and forth without any issues, until 2013 [misspoken: 2016], when we stopped communicating all of a sudden. After that, I didn’t know… So as to not bring them any trouble - since I knew that contact with people abroad would bring trouble at that time - I didn’t contact them, because I didn’t want to bring them any trouble. Until later when I received the news that, at the beginning of 2018, my dad, my mom, and my younger brother were all taken by the police and brought to a concentration camp, the so-called “training center”. But they are all high-school graduates, and my parents are both civil servants. I also have never participated in a single illegal activity to this day.

After receiving this news, do you know whom I immediately went to look for? I immediately went to my contacts in the mainland, looking for people in the government, but they also wouldn’t reply to me. Then I went to contact you guys, the people at the consulate, but you’ve also been dragging it out. Now you come out and tell me that I “participated in illegal activities”. If that’s so, can you please find some piece of evidence that I participated in illegal activities? Also, another point. Where in the national law does it say that, when a child does something wrong, it is the rest of the family who should be punished? Never mind that I have not even done anything wrong. I have never even participated in any illegal activities.

CS: This thing with your mom… I can tell you that it was definitely not because of you. It was because she violated China’s laws. This…

J: Which laws? Since you’re saying that, can you give me the court verdict? I want to find a lawyer. I want to find an international lawyer. Can you provide me with the verdict?

CS: Look, there’s no need to get so agitated. The mainland has also already told us that your case may not be that severe. Or maybe it was a case where other people’s influences played a role, like being in contact with some wrong people - what I mean is, maybe you could write down whom you’ve been in contact with, starting from the last time that you left the country up until now, including when you were in Egypt before and in your current situation now.

J: Let me tell you…

CS: I feel like… I feel like you should think about doing this. Once you’ve got it, you could send it via the e-mail you used to e-mail us before. Because this situation of yours… Some of it we’ve already talked to the mainland about. The mainland might also think that your situation is not that serious. I feel like you should go ahead and clearly write down all this information. If there’s an error somewhere…

J: Let me just tell you here…

CS: …you can also tell us.

J: Alright, first…

CS: In that case, the mainland might reconsider your family’s situation.

J: I’ll tell you now. No need to write anything down. I’ll just tell you now.

CS: Hmm...

J: First, you asked me just now whom I had contacted in Egypt, and now in Turkey. You can look at the entry and exit information in my passport. All the records are there. I have never been to Egypt. I have only been to Turkey. In 2011, I came to Turkey to attend university here. I went to Istanbul Commerce University, the law department, and after graduating started working here. Originally, I was able to go back, and wanted to go back after graduation, but didn’t because I lost contact with my family. All this time, I’ve been working here, at a travel agency. You can look at the relevant travel agencies - I’ll give you the names of the mainland Chinese travel agencies and the names of the Turkish ones too, and you can go search. You can find all my travels, all the plans that the group made for me… Where would I have the time to go contact other people, seeing as how I’ve been receiving travel groups nonstop? And then I started working independently, started to create my own travel company. I have not contacted any anti-Chinese organizations. I never even wanted to. I have always stayed far away from politics. I have not even brushed shoulders with politics. While here, I have always stuck to doing my own work, even on social media. No matter if it was Instagram or Facebook or whatever, I have not posted even a single sentence of anti-Chinese speech.

I also know about the concentration camps over there. I see all those things on the news over here, but I have not even had a single crazy thought in that regard - I’ve always been like this, just living my own plain, normal life. I’ll have you know that, over here, I’m probably in contact with more Han than with Uyghurs or Turkish. I’m often with them over here, and when their families come, I take them out and show them around. I simply haven’t been involved in any other activities apart from the regular tour group leading ones. Up until when I contacted the Chinese embassy, calling the embassy over and over and over again but getting no reply. Finally, I contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but they didn’t reply either. So, at last, I realized that I needed to go to the media. I want to… In order to save my family, in order to save my mom, I will furiously battle to the end. Now, I…

CS: Actually, actually… I, let me say this… Actually, we are all certainly very willing to help you. After all, we’re all Chinese people, so we’re willing to help you. But going to the media won’t actually help you with your problem, right? Right now, the mainland doesn’t think that your situation is very serious either…

J: My… My “situation” isn’t very serious…

CS: These things that you’ve said… You can send us an e-mail…

J: This is not a “situation” - I simply do not have a “situation”. And my mom? My mom is a… Three months after the last time that she contacted me in 2018… She was planning to retire three months after that. A retired… Someone who, for thirty years… Both my mom and my dad were Party cadres for thirty years in the Industry and Commerce Bureau, in Qorgas County’s Industry and Commerce Bureau. They worked for thirty years. If this country actually has law and order, if it’s obliged to protect its citizens’ rights, then why go and arrest a Party cadre with thirty years of work history and then sentence her? Can you think about this for me: if you were in my shoes, what would you do? If your mom was sentenced just because you attended university overseas, and she had come to visit you, with her travel group, and then got sentenced? What would you think? I just want to ask your thoughts here, or ask if you could put yourself in my position. You think about it.

I really want to ask: those who sentenced my mom, or issued the order to have my mom arrested, issued the order to have my family taken to a concentration camp (although my dad and my younger brother were released I heard, but I still don’t know their situation) - I really want them to put themselves in my position and think about it, really, really, extremely carefully… I really want them to think about this with regard to their own humanity, all right? You said just now that these are Chinese people. Right? I… But I only realized this point now. Clearly, they are Chinese people, with the rights of Chinese citizens, so then why sentence my mom? Saying that I attended some “activities” in Egypt and in Turkey, when I have not even been to Egypt. I can even take a photo of every page in my passport for you - you look and see if there’s an Egyptian visa there. Or you can check the entry and exit records that are recorded in my passport. I can also send my passport to you now. You take a look. See if there’s Egypt.

CS: All right… With this situation, I believe that the mainland also have their reasons. I feel like, now, if you have your passport information, or other kinds of proof that you did not attend those activities, then, I feel like, you can send it over to our e-mail, and we can help you report that to the mainland.

J: I can do that. I can take photos one by one and send them to you.

CS: Yes, and if there’s some other situation, or if you want directions for dealing with some problem, you can just write an e-mail and send it to us. I see that you wrote e-mails to us before, and even writing in Chinese wasn’t a problem. You send those things to us and the mainland might be able to help. They’ll certainly help.

J: Yes, I… I will send it over to your e-mail in a bit. There’s another thing that I want to ask: what’s my mother’s crime? I really want to understand. Can you send me my mother’s written verdict? Can you provide it to me? What is the crime?

CS: This… We don’t really have this on our side. It’s not something we handle.

J: Can you, from the Xinjiang government…?

CS: But your mom… I’m pretty sure the crime was “assisting in terrorist activities”.

J: “Assisting in terrorist activities”? When did she “assist in terrorist activities”? I…

CS: This… I believe that if the mainland gave the sentence, then they must have evidence. To tell you the truth, that’s to say, as a warning, this is… They… There’s no way to keep up with what they do over there. I suggest… I think the best thing that you can do now is to clarify your own situation, so we can let the mainland take a look, and then see if you can first make contact with your dad and your brother.

J: I… I do want to contact my dad and my brother, but I really, absolutely want to know my mother’s verdict. Send it to me. I want to look for an international lawyer. I want to look for an international lawyer to defend my mom. My mom… Just now you said that my mom was involved in some terrorist… My mom doesn’t even know what terrorism is - she is just a plain and ordinary, an extremely, how to put it, law-abiding… Always respecting the country’s laws. She’s never even broken the law, never even had the idea of breaking the law. She’s a Party cadre who spent thirty years always working for the country, contributing to the country. I…

Even while at the Industry and Commerce Bureau, when my mom wanted to retire early - because of her health, she wanted to retire early - she ended up realizing that her work unit couldn’t do all the things that someone in her position needed to do, and so she kept waiting until she could retire regularly and not because of poor health. That’s how giving of a person she is. All of a sudden, “terrorist” something… “Assisting in terrorist activities”? Let me tell you: when I went back… I came out here by myself, going to school while also leading tour groups, and I never even asked [my parents] for a single cent. I know that relatives sometimes send money overseas, to children studying overseas, the tuition fees, and that this can be the cause of their arrest. But my mom didn’t even do that. Not even this. There aren’t even any records of her sending me money. It’s all money that I earned myself. I work here with a Chinese travel agency, collaborating with them, leading tour groups, keeping myself alive with the money that I’ve earned myself.

CS: These, these… These feelings I can understand. But at the same time, I personally feel like right now what would be best for you would be to gather the materials, first explaining your own situation, and then see if we can help you get in touch with your family members in the mainland first. I feel like this is the more urgent thing right now, and also what would help solve your problem? J: I… I want… I want to contact my family members, and right now I also want to have my mother’s written verdict. Her written verdict. Written verdict. Can you give that to me? You said, in the e-mail…

CS: We don’t have that either. This…

J: I’m asking you to request it from the Chinese government, from the court. This written verdict. Because I want to go look for a lawyer. I can look for one in Beijing, or look for one outside the country. I want to find a lawyer.

CS: I feel like the more urgent thing right now… I feel like the more urgent thing right now is to first explain your own problem to the mainland, and then to talk about other things. If your situation can be clearly explained, then it can help resolve your mom’s problem. But if the mainland thinks that you did some bad things here, they will not trust you, and there’ll be no one [there] who trusts you. So, you… I feel like you should clearly explain your own situation first. This is more important.

J: Yes, even my passport I can…

CS: …don’t you think so?

J: …every page…

CS: Mainly, whatever materials you have, you can directly… Or these things you’ve said. You can write all of it up as text and send it over to our e-mail.

J: Okay then. All the information from Turkey onwards. How I went to university, and then even every page of my passport. And you take a look to see if I’ve been to Egypt?

CS: Yes. Uh-huh.

J: But I still want… I still want… You need to provide me with the written verdict. Because each day my mom spends over there, being tormented… I know what the situation over there is like, and right now the COVID-19 situation is also extremely severe. My mom, she…

CS: This thing… Right now, it’s definitely not a problem. That we can confirm for you. But I feel like the more pressing thing now is to first resolve your own problem. Only then can you talk about other things. If the mainland decides that you’ve done a lot of things here that aren’t right, then the mainland will not help you. Your family also isn’t willing to contact you right now, right? Explain your own situation clearly first. Only by doing that will you be able to make progress in resolving this problem.

J: I really want to know - is it that my family doesn’t want to contact me, or is it the government not letting me contact them? I don’t even know right now.

CS: Right now, it is your dad and your younger brother who don’t want any contact with you.

J: Why? As a child… For a father to not want to contact his child is an extremely unnatural situation, don’t you think?

CS: That’s why I feel like you should clearly explain your own situation first. Only then can these other things be resolved. J: I will take my passport, where I went to school here, what I did here, when I received which tour groups… I will write every single thing out for you.

CS: That’s right. That’s right.

J: Okay. I will send it over.

CS: You can tell us all of this, send us all of this.

J: Can you tell me your name? If I want to directly… If I want to learn about my family’s situation, I will look for you directly and call this number.

CS: Uh… You send us the e-mail first, and then we’ll contact you again.

J: Then, the e-mail address is the one I wrote to before?

CS: Yes, that’s right.

J: Right now, my request… My request is that you provide me with my mom’s written verdict. I really must see its contents. What my mom’s criminal charge was - I really want to understand that. This is my… I feel that, for a Chinese citizen, this is an extremely normal request, right? The consulate should be able to provide me with this, right? Because the consulate is there to protect the rights of citizens who are overseas in the countries the consulates are in, right? This is my right, right?

CS: That’s why right now the issue is your mom, who is currently in the mainland. I feel like what’s most important right now is to change the mainland’s opinion of you. If you yourself have any…

J: The mainland’s opinion of me is a separate matter. The sentence given to my mom…

CS: This is not a separate matter. Right now, they are the same thing.

J: …which of China’s laws says that the issues of the child must drag down their whole family? Even though I don’t have any, regarding which I can provide you all the relevant information. But still: if a child, or anyone who is abroad, does a bad thing, why should that implicate their family members? That’s why I say that these are two separate things. For a citizen, what I request is an extremely normal thing. It is my mom who is currently in jail, who was sentenced. I really want… Because I… Don’t China’s laws also have this? The right to appeal, right? We can go to the Supreme People’s Court to appeal, right? In any case, going to the Supreme People’s Court to appeal is an extremely normal thing, a normal legal process. That’s why I want the consulate, if it really wants to help me, to ask the court for the written verdict.

CS: To be honest, this… Right now, it’s not… Right now, it’s not us helping you. Right now, it is you needing to help yourself. First, explain your own situation clearly. Tell us about your situation first, and only then will it be possible to talk about other things.

J: I… This… Like I said, I’ll send you everything about my travels, my studies here… I’ll send it all to you, even including my university graduation diploma, when I graduated… I will send it all. Where I studied, where I work…

-- February 12, 2020 (second call with Istanbul consulate) -- CS: …you need this to go look for people in Xinjiang…

J: When I try to contact people in Xinjiang, no one replies to me. I found someone from a police station the other day, someone who used to be in my WeChat contacts. After I found them, they deleted me.

CS: No… The reason why they aren’t replying to you now is because they think that, right now, you yourself have social problems. I think that, if you can clearly explain your issue, the mainland’s attitude towards you will also change. That’s what I can help you with right now.

J: I will provide you with all the information, but you also need to help me ask for the written verdict. Because I want to go find - I have already found - a lawyer. I have already found a lawyer. I have found a lawyer in Beijing and I have found a lawyer internationally: one in England. I want to appeal, so I need to see this written verdict. I think that this is an extremely normal process in Chinese law. To appeal, to refute, to go to the Supreme People’s Court and appeal, to find a lawyer - this is how the legal process works. I don’t think that this violates the law in any way. Right now, my request is also very simple.

CS: This… You might have the right to do this, but right now we over here don't have a way to help you appeal either…

J: No, no, no. I haven’t asked you to help me appeal. I just want the written verdict.

CS: What we can help you with now is… You should supply us with a description of your activities and your basic situation.

J: Okay. After I finish writing it up, I will send it over to you immediately.

CS: It will be best if there are other people who can serve as witnesses for you.

J: Other people serving as witnesses? Whom should I look for…? Should I write down the tour groups’ names? I’ve already led over 100 tour groups here.

CS: That works…

J: Where should I look? Which group…?

CS: Your own groups, or your travel agency’s person in charge. All are fine.

J: I will write down all of the tour groups that I’ve led for you. One by one, and you can just contact them. There are groups from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan… All of them.

CS: Or they could write you a letter of attestation. That might be better.

J: I can get this. But can you record that I have this request: that Jewlan Shirmemet requests the Chinese government for his mother’s written verdict. I will also state this request in my e-mail.

CS: That works, that works. Just write it all in the e-mail. We’ll get it all.

J: Okay.

CS: Okay. So, that’s it for today. J: Okay. Bye.

-- April 21, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

Embassy staff: Hello.

J: Hello. My name is Jewlan Shirmemet. I live in Istanbul. I have been requesting that the consulate let me contact my family for 4 or 5 months already, but I still haven’t received a reply.

ES: Oh, I see. The consulate, right? You mean the consulate in Istanbul?

J: Yes, yes.

ES: Oh. We’re the embassy…

J: I know…

ES: You can write down your e-mail, name, passport number, family information, and send it over to me, after which we’ll report it to the mainland. Does that work?

J: Okay, all right. What’s your e-mail address?

ES: I’ll text it to you, okay?

J: Okay.

ES: I’m just afraid you might write it down incorrectly.

J: Okay.

ES: Don’t worry, don't worry. I just need to ask: your family… Is it that you can’t contact them, or - sorry for asking - but did your family members do that…?

J: No, my family members… I…

ES: Was it because of that sort of, that sort of… You know, that kind of stuff… I mean, were they arrested by the local Xinjiang government?

J: Yes, my mother was detained by the Xinjiang authorities.

ES: Aiya…

J: My dad and my younger brother were also detained, but later released. Since their release, I haven’t… I didn’t… I haven’t been able to contact them. I told the embassy…

ES: Have you not returned to China for a very long time?

J: I have not gone back to China since 2016.

ES: Okay, got it. We’ll get in touch with the mainland, don’t worry. We’ll get in touch with the mainland. During this time, don’t get too agitated with your online activity, all right? It won’t be good for getting in touch with your family. Okay?

J: Look, I’ve never… I’ll send you the e-mail. It’ll be better if I e-mail you, right?

ES: Okay, I’ll send you the address now. All right.

-- May 5, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello?

J: Hello, this is Jewlan Shirmemet.

ES: Hello?

J: Two weeks ago, I sent you an e-mail, but still haven’t received a reply.

ES: Was it about getting a passport or looking for family members?

J: Looking for family…

ES: Has our colleague contacted you?

J: He wanted me to send an e-mail, so I did…

ES: Yes, yes, this is something that needs time. This needs time…

J: Sir, I just want to ask… From December… In December, I sent an e-mail to the Chinese consulate in Istanbul. I kept waiting, then in February I sent another email. I still have not received any news. The embassy has its phone number posted on Twitter, so I called the number and was told to send an e-mail. I sent one and now it’s been two weeks. How…

ES: Two weeks is not… Two weeks is not too… Two weeks is not a long time…

J: How can it not be a long time? Here, I’ve been…

ES: We have a colleague who specifically handles this. I will have them give you a call. Based on my understanding… I’ll give them your phone number soon and tell them that you called. Based on my understanding, my colleague sent a collective report with the relevant information to a number of agencies in mainland China two weeks ago, including the five to six, or four to five… We should have a total of five requests for help contacting family members who are out of contact. Five in total. We reported all these cases together. But we are still waiting for the mainland’s reply, as we cannot decide this.

J: Sure, but this is very… I am a Chinese citizen, I’ve been in Turkey for five years, working in the tourism sector. Working while studying. When a Chinese citizen loses their passport, they can get it in two days, and any problem that comes up can be resolved in a day. My request is simple: let me contact my family, and release my mom. My illegally imprisoned mom. It’s that simple.

ES: It’s like this… It’s like this… Let me put it as… J: I’m just requesting what I’m entitled to as a citizen. I don’t have any other requests.

ES: So… I know what you mean, but there are a lot of things I need to check. First, we are a country of law, and it’s not like the family members of anyone who says their family members have been arrested… have been arrested illegally…

J: Before, I requested the written court verdict. You didn’t give it.

ES: That’s…

J: I requested a lawyer…

ES: There are a lot of things that can be requested. We could also request a lot of things, but speaking within the legal framework… How to put it: I’m not in charge of this. I’m in charge of making ID-related documents. I will get my colleague to contact you, okay?

J: Okay, fine.

ES: Okay. Don’t be too worried about your situation. Also, I…

J: Put yourself in my position and ask yourself if you’d be worried. I haven’t talked to my family in over two years.

ES: I understand, I understand. If members of my family… If members of my family were arrested, I would be very angry too. I understand you… I understand you very well. But whether or not this situation is against the law is not something I can determine. Because this needs China’s…

J: We’re in the 21st century…

ES: This is up to China’s judicial system to determine…

J: China is a technologically advanced country. 21st century… It’s the 21st century and I have not been able to contact my family for over two years. Two and a half years. Surely, this is insane. I…

ES: I will have my colleague call you, okay?

J: Okay. Sure.

ES: Okay, then. Bye.

-- May 6, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello?

J: Hello?

ES: Hello, how are you?

J: Hello. I’m Jewlan Shirmemet. I called you yesterday as well. I’m calling regarding my family. ES: Yes…

J: Two weeks ago…

ES: You’re Jewlan, right?

J: Yes.

ES: Jewlan, it’s like this… We have already reported your situation to the mainland. Please wait a little. We are also waiting so as to be able to get back to you. Your situation, the letters you’ve written… The letters you wrote were quite long… Because we’ve also taken a look… From our perspective, we’re also quite sympathetic, you know? We’re all Chinese citizens, including the members of your family who are in this situation. First, we need to verify the situation. Additionally, see if there’s other ways. What I mean is: just wait some more. All right? Does that work?

J: But I’ve already waited for over five months, always contacting you guys…

ES: I know, I know. I know what you mean. I can only tell you that… We… It’s really an important matter. Once the pandemic is under control, you can come to the consulate general too… With everyone… You can also talk to everyone face to face. How about this: if we receive any news, we’ll call you? Does that work?

J: Can you be certain? Because I am extremely worried, this is… And you don’t…

ES: I understand, I understand. How about this… Because the pandemic in Turkey is really quite serious, you should take good care of yourself first. Which school are you at? I think you’re a student, is that right?

J: Yes, I’m in Istanbul. I’m in Istanbul…

ES: Right, right. Because in Istanbul, the pandemic is… There’s a lot of tourists…

J: This… Right now, I can take care of myself. It’s my family that I’m worried about. About my mother, because right now she is in jail…

ES: Because right now… It’s like this: I can tell you that right now in the mainland, when it comes to Xinjiang, there isn’t a single case right now. Before, there were 76 cases, right? 73 have recovered, which means that 3 people passed away, but 73 people have now left the hospital. And there hasn’t been a single infected case, you know?

J: Sir… Maybe there really isn't any illness there, but right now she is in prison. Think about it. Can you think of me for a second? Put yourself in my position…

ES: Yes, yes, yes. I know, I understand. I can understand your feelings. Really.

J: My mom is currently in prison, and right now, you see, the simplest… the simplest thing… I cannot even contact my family. It’s the 21st century. A Chinese citizen, in the world’s most scientifically advanced country… A citizen…

ES: Yes, yes. Yes. J: I am unable to contact my family. Isn’t that absolutely crazy? This is really damaging to the country’s reputation too, no?

ES: Hmm, it’s like this… I mean, we actually have to do our jobs as well. Also, if you have any friends in Xinjiang, then you will understand that it’s not actually all like this. These are individual cases.

J: Yes, individual cases.

ES: What I meant… I hope you’ll understand, but our country, because of some not-so-good things that happened in Xinjiang in the past… It has to…

J: Those not-so-good things…

ES: It has to… I mean… Wrong things have happened in Xinjiang. I mean, these past few years, things have returned to normal. Listen, we can talk about this properly and slowly… Getting documents done, contacting your family, going back there to visit them. I mean, [unintelligible]… There is a process.

J: This…

ES: I do understand your feelings, but if you could have turned to the Chinese mission from the very start, your problem would have been resolved that much faster.

J: Mister, let me just tell you. The first thing I did was to turn to the consulate. That was the first thing I did. I called them every day. Called them every day. Sent e-mails every day. I can send you those e-mails. I even contacted the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Didn't get a reply there either. Beijing, Shanghai… I contacted… Including the Xinjiang…

ES: Look, the other places you got in touch with I don’t really care about. Since you’ve now addressed the embassy, we - I’ve told you this already - we are working hard to get in touch with the mainland, to see what the best way to resolve this is. All right?

J: These words… Because I am extremely, extremely worried. This… in China…

ES: I understand your feelings. I understand your feelings.

J: …not being able to contact your family is extremely crazy.

ES: You should… Look, if we get any news then we’ll contact you. All right?

J: Try to be faster. I am extremely, extremely worried.

ES: Okay, okay. Also, masks, protective clothing, and such… You have all that?

J: No [likely misspoken]. I do, I do.

ES: Right. If you do need anything, the Chinese mission can help out. We can send the things over to you, okay?

J: I’m all set. This…

ES: You have the embassy’s e-mail. Just like for our other overseas Chinese, if you need anything, you can just tell us what you need via e-mail: with your address, the quantity needed… It’s all doable.

J: This… Stuff like this… I have no problems when it comes to myself, it’s just… The only thing I’m worried about right now is my family…

ES: Look…

J: For me… Apart from…

ES: Listen, it’s not that I’m forcing you, but I hope that you’ll understand - we will certainly deal with this to our fullest ability.

J: Aren’t I extremely understanding…?

ES: Because we are all overseas Chinese in Turkey. You are also a Chinese citizen, right? I mean, we were always meant to… Overseas Chinese need to stick together. Second, the Chinese mission definitely wants to help overseas Chinese…

J: With the Chinese mission, I… I worry… Right now, I’m just thinking about how two months ago… with the Chinese mission… about how I have already sent all my documents to the one in Beijing…

ES: The Beijing one is… Beijing is not…

J: No, I mean the Ankara one. The embassy in Ankara. Two months ago, I sent them all of my information…

ES: In that case, look… You should…

J: I still haven’t received any news…

ES: If we get any news, we’ll contact you, all right?

J: I hope so… Can you also…

ES: Because, you know, two days ago the mainland was celebrating a holiday, right? Today’s the first day back at work. Right?

J: Sure. Then just please try to be a little faster.

ES: Can do. Okay. That’s it, then. Take care of yourself, all right?

J: Hmm.

ES: Okay, bye.

-- May 7, 2020 (call with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) --

Ministry staff: Hello, this is the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How may I help you?

J: Hello, this is Jewlan Shirmemet. I’m now living in Istanbul, Turkey. I’m originally from Xinjiang, and my ID number puts me in Qorgas County of Xinjiang’s Ili Prefecture. I have not been able to contact my family for over two years - two and a half years - and I have learned that my mother was arrested by the Xinjiang government. My mother is a civil servant. A civil servant who had served the country for thirty years. The last time I contacted them was on January 11, 2018, on WeChat. After that, I lost all contact. At that time, my mother told me that she was going to retire in two months. A mother who was just about to retire… Why would she be arrested by the Xinjiang authorities and illegally imprisoned? I am now requesting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contact Xinjiang, and allow me to establish normal contact with my family, as well as release my mother. That’s why I’m calling you now. I have already been communicating with the consulate in Istanbul, Turkey for over five months, but they have never given me a proper reply. Why does the consulate treat its own citizens like this?

MS: Can you provide us with your name and your ID number?

J: All right. My name is Jewlan Shirmemet [Mandarin: Jiawulan Xi’ermaimaiti]. “jia” as in “jiafa”…

MS: How do you write that?

J: [Explains characters used to spell his first name.]

MS: Jiawulan, right?

J: Yes, yes. [Explains the spelling of his last name.] Xi’ermaimaiti.

MS: Okay.

J: My ID number is…

MS: Jiawulan Xi’ermaimaiti, is that right?

J: That’s right. My ID number is 654123…

MS: 654123…

J: …1991…

MS: …1991…

J: …0506…

MS: …0506…

J: …0014.

MS: …0014.

J: Yes. For my mother, her work unit is…

MS: Do you have an ID num…? Do you have a passport number?

J: Yes, I do. One second… Let me get you my passport number. MS: Hmm.

J: One moment… Passport number is… G… Please wait a moment. Passport number is: G… G…

MS: J? Is it that…

J: Not that one. G as in “Ge”. Yes.

MS: And then?

J: 5739…

MS: 5739…

J: …7606.

MS: …7606.

J: Correct.

MS: G57397606?

J: Correct. G57397606.

MS: This is your own passport number, right?

J: Yes.

MS: Please wait a moment. Umm, you just said that right now you’ve lost all contact with your family, is that right? That is…

J: Correct. My family…

MS: Apart from your mother, are there other members of your family that you can’t contact?

J: Correct. In my family, you have my dad and my mom, who are both civil servants, and my younger brother, who is also a college graduate. My dad and my mom both worked for the country for thirty years. My dad is a civil servant in the environmental protection bureau, the Xinjiang Ili Qorgas County Environmental Bureau. My mother was a bank teller at the Xinjiang Ili Qorgas County’s Bureau for Industry and Commerce - a national civil servant for thirty years. My younger brother is also a college graduate. In January 2018, I…

MS: And right now you can’t contact any of them, right?

J: Correct. My dad… The last time I contacted the embassy in Istanbul, they told me that my dad and my younger brother were taken to Xinjiang’s so-called “training centers”, but… I don’t understand… My dad and my mom were both civil servants for thirty years, and my younger brother is also a college graduate, so why take them to training centers? I don’t get this, sorry. It’s something I still cannot understand.

MS: Sir, please start by getting a hold of yourself and answering my questions. J: All right…

MS: When you say so much, I don’t really understand what you’re saying.

J: All right, all right.

MS: Trust me.

J: Right, I…

MS: Your situation… What exactly is the reason for why you can’t contact them right now? Is it all of them, or just one or two that you are unable to contact? From what time have you been unable to contact them? Please explain these things to me.

J: All right. January 11, 2018 was the last time I contacted my family, on WeChat. On January 13, I’d discover that they had all deleted me on WeChat.

MS: On which date, again?

J: On January 13, I discovered…

MS: January 11, 2018, you said?

J: Yes.

MS: You mean that you lost contact with them then, is that right?

J: Yes, they deleted me on WeChat at that time.

MS: Sir, it’s like this… Even though our purpose here is to provide overseas Chinese citizens with consular [unclear] services [unclear], what you’re asking is not within the scope of our work, so unfortunately we are not able to assist you. You can try such agencies as the local police department. If people have gone missing, you can report it to the police. These are the methods that you can try to find your relatives.

J: Right now, I… No, right now, there’s something I just want to ask: what is it that the Foreign Ministry is supposed to protect? What aspect of the citizens’ lives? Just now, I found your number online and called you. This is one of the rights of an overseas Chinese citizen, right?

MS: Yea…

J: Right now, my rights are being infringed on by the Xinjiang authorities…

MS: The Xinjiang authorities are in the mainland, Sir. This is not, this is not our [unclear]… I mean, for example, when you are in Turkey and you experience some other kind of emergency situation in Turkey, this is where we come in. But if something happened to your relatives in Xinjiang, then you need to contact the local… For example, the police department or other departments. Do you understand what I mean?

J: Yea, I understand. But then why did I just spend all that time giving you all my ID numbers…? Okay. Heh. All right. I get it. MS: These conversations are all recorded, but if you like we can also not record this.

J: No, no problem. If you can, when you have the time… If the foreign ministry has any news regarding this, and if they want to understand the situation, to go look, then you can call…

MS: This situation is not within our purview. There’s really nothing we can do.

J: Okay. All right.

MS: You can contact departments… I mean, the local police departments or others. All are okay.

J: All right.

MS: Okay, then. I’ll end the call here.

J: Hmm.

-- May 13, 2020 (call with Ankara embassy) --

ES: Hello, how are you?

J: Hello, how are you? This is Jewlan Shirmemet…

ES: I know, I know. I know you.

J: I… Has there been any news of my family?

ES: Uh… We’ve already… Our colleague has already sent all the information regarding looking for relatives to the mainland, and the mainland has not yet gotten back to us.

J: When will they get back to you? It’s already been over two weeks… three weeks…

ES: We’re also waiting… We’re also waiting… Waiting for the mainland… this is Xinjiang, right?

J: Yes.

ES: We’re also waiting for the Xinjiang government to get back to us.

J: You… This… I think about it over and over, and I just don’t get it. Three to four weeks. How is it that such a simple thing…? Contacting my family members, releasing my mother… It’s just such a simple thing.

ES: Aiya… I guess I’m not being clear. We’ve sent the information over. I mean, in the cases where Chinese citizens can’t contact their family, sometimes the mainland gets back to us and sometimes they don’t. Yours they haven’t gotten back to us about. Some they’ve gotten back to us on.

J: Some they got back to you about, some they still haven’t. In my case, they haven’t.

ES: Yes, that’s right. Sometimes they’ve gotten back to us. Some… There are one or two cases where the family members are in prison that they’ve got back to us on. For others, they haven’t. They still haven’t replied. I don’t know where your family members are, I promise. Aiya… I don’t know either. I’m waiting. J: Oh…

ES: If we learn anything, we’ll contact you. We have a colleague who specifically takes care of this stuff.

J: All right. I’ll wait some more… Otherwise, I’ll find other ways.

ES: Okay, okay. That’s it, then.

Victims among relatives

Shirmemet Hudayar (7240), Suriye Tursun (7239)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubarwHnKvhw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/CevlanJevlan/status/1304388245409718277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/KampMagdurlar/status/1346737759474614277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (bottom right): https://shahit.biz/supp/7241_2.jpg official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_7241.png

Entry created: 2020-01-20 Last updated: 2021-02-02 Latest status update: 2020-09-11 7738. Halinur Haliq

Chinese ID: 65210119????????E? (Turpan)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Turpan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Abdulla Rusul, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (cousin-in-law)

Testimony 2: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

Testimony 3: Abdulla Rusul, now living in Istanbul, Turkey. (cousin-in-law)

About the victim

Halinur Haliq has a high-school education and speaks excellent Chinese.

Address: Chimenzarliq Neighborhood, Buyluq Township, Turpan City.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Turpan.]

When victim was detained

Unclear - Abdulla says that he lost contact with Halinur in 2017.

According to the state-media interview, Halinur went to the "training center" in 2018, and "graduated" in May 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

In her interview to state media, Halinur said she was "influenced by religious extremism" in high school, causing her to drop out of school (Abdulla says that this is false and that she graduated). This "religious extremism", she claims, is why she attended the "training center".

In her video interview with CGTN, she says that she wore a burqa (Abdulla says that it was a common headscarf). Victim's status

According to state media, she is now working at a restaurant in Turpan.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Abdulla presumably reported her disappearance because he couldn't contact her.

The news about her time in the "training center" and thereafter came from state media, who have direct access to the people and the region [it is not clear how much of what is reported is true].

Additional information

According to Abdulla, Halinur's husband Abduqadir was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 5-10 years in prison.

Radio Free Asia report: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/CGTN-12312019173534.html

State-media report(s)

Source: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/27/WS5e04ee2da310cf3e35580e37.html

UYGUR MOM MYSTIFIED TO BE REPORTED AS 'MISSING'

By Cui Jia in Beijing and Mao Weihua in Turpan, Xinjiang

Source: China Daily

Updated: 2019-12-27 01:30

Halnur Halik said she was furious after learning her personal information was used in an online campaign to "find missing Uygurs in China" while she had been busy working toward a better life in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Some individuals, overseas organizations and media have been posting photos and names of allegedly missing Uygurs on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook, to smear China's policy in Xinjiang.

Many of the posts have been shown to have "distorted the truth or be fabricated stories", Xu Guixiang, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee, said on Wednesday.

On Dec 12, Twitter user Abdulla Rasul wrote in a post tagged "StillNoinfo" that Halnur, 24, a mother of two, was among those still missing, even though Halnur has been working as a waitress at a restaurant in Turpan since May.

Abdulla Rasul is her cousin's husband and the couple moved abroad many years ago, Halnur said. Abdulla's Twitter account says he is based in Istanbul, Turkey. "I only met Abdulla once, when he and my cousin got married, and seldom have had contact with them since. I don't understand why he said I was missing," she said on Wednesday. Halnur attended a vocational education and training center in 2018 after having been influenced by thoughts of religious extremism since high school. "I dropped out of my school, although I was a very good student, because the religious extremists told me that going to school was useless. Later, I also refused to go to work and focused only on taking part in religious extremist activities," she said.

The establishment of the centers in Xinjiang has been an effective preventive measure to help eradicate extremism in the region, which is believed to have led in the past to frequent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, officials said. The centers provided courses on standard Chinese language, laws, vocational skills and deradicalization programs.

People who took part in the courses have all graduated. The centers will be open to all local residents and officials who wish to improve their standard Chinese language and vocational skills and legal knowledge, Shohrat Zakir, regional government chairman, said this month.

"I was worried about whether people would be willing to give me a second chance after I graduated, but a restaurant owner immediately recruited me after I graduated from the center in May," said Halnur.

Victims among relatives

Rusul Eziz (1943), Reshide Hashim (1944), Halidigul Rusul (1946), Reyhan Ablimit (1948), Ruqiye Ablimit (1949), Perizat Abdugul (1947), Perhat Rusul (1945), Shahadet Semi (1967), Jalalidin Eziz (1973), Ghopur Eziz (1974), Juret Ehmet (1956), Ayshemgul Ghopur (1959), Ehmet Ablimit (1958), Sumeyye Memtimin (257), Muhemmed Memtimin (10989), Abdurahman Jamaldin (10990), Yusup Jamaldin (10991), Mihrigul Abdugul (1951), Sheringul Ehmet (1957), Risalet Shemshi (1977), Shemshi Qeyyum (1976), Nusret Shemshi (1963), Zulpiye Shemshi (1953), Qurban Hashim (1952), Zilajigul Hashim (1969), Rizwangul Hashim (1970), Mahire Hashim (1962), Hekimehan Ghopur (1960), Mahire Ghopur (1955), Saniyegul Ghopur (1954), Jamal Bawdun (1950), Helimehan Reshit (1971), Alim Hashim (1964), Adiljan Abit (1966), Abil Abit (1965), Abit Hashim (1968), Patigul Yasin (1972), Guljennet Shemshi (1975), Rehmet Allakirip (2551), Hekimjan Shemshi (2548), Adile Mehmut (2549), Abla Shemshi (2550), Zilaiha Rehmet (2552), Ibrahim Rehmet (2553), Ilyas Rehmet (2554)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qouozJTvGuI CGTN propaganda video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Twsqsr5M8 proof of life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIdUKsE2d9I still from CGTN: https://shahit.biz/supp/7738_1.jpeg

Entry created: 2020-02-16 Last updated: 2020-08-09 Latest status update: 2019-12-31 7739. Henimhan Turdi

Chinese ID: 65310119????????E? (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Eli Yusup, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (grandson)

Testimony 2: @BOX00550793, an unverified Twitter account. (grandchild)

About the victim

Her name is Henimhan Turdi. She is over 70 years old. She is from No.15 Village, Doletbagh Township, Kashgar City. She was interviewed by CGTN after the testifier testified for her.

Victim's location

In Kashgar [presumably, if CGTN report is true].

When victim was detained

Unknown.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

At home [presumably, if CGTN report is true].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

From CGTN report.

Additional information The testifier says that he has testified for 66 of his relatives and so far he has seen two of them. After Eli saw the CGTN's video, he doubts that his father and two uncles and daughters-in-law of his family, and even over 10-year-old children of the family are in the camp because they should be around when some guests come to the house, but they weren't.

The testifier thinks that the victim-her grandmother- was forced to talk in the interview after she was released from the camp and the victim was thinner than before.

RFA report (Testimony 1): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/CGTN-01012020185617.html

Victims among relatives

Yusup Urayim (2490), Miradil Urayim (2491), Memeteli Urayim (2492), Ibrahim Memet (7943), Tursungul Urayim (8382), Hawagul Urayim (8383), Aynisagul Urayim (8384), Roshengul Yusup (8403)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/BOX00550793/status/1235879865620017152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo from CGTN: https://shahit.biz/supp/7739_1.jpeg

Entry created: 2020-02-16 Last updated: 2020-04-12 Latest status update: 2020-03-06 8199. Memet Abdulla (买买提·阿不都拉)

Chinese ID: 65280119????????O? (Korla)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Urumqi Status: sentenced (life) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): "problematic" association|"two-faced", "separatism", "taking bribes" Health status: has problems Profession: government

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Iskender Memet, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (son)

Testimony 2: Subhi Memet, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (daughter)

Testimony 3|4|5|6: Subhi Memet, a resident of the United States. (daughter)

Testimony 7|8|9: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 10: Subhi Memet, as reported by France 24. (daughter)

Testimony 11: Xinjiang People's Procuratorate, the official prosecuting government body for Xinjiang.

Testimony 12: Subhi Memet, as reported by William Yang. (daughter)

Testimony 13: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Memet Abdulla was previously the mayor of Korla City, and had also served as the head of the Xinjiang State Forestry and Grassland Administration from 1992 until his retirement in 2008. He is a father of three.

Victim's location

Xinjiang No. 3 Prison (Cell No. 11).

When victim was detained

In 2017, while living in Urumqi, Memet received permission from the Chinese government to travel to the US in April of 2017 because his son had had a child. He had previously traveled to the US several times before to visit his son and youngest daughter, Iskender and Subhi Memet. He had an airline ticket booked for April 30.

On April 29, Memet and his wife had been at home packing for their flight when Memet told his wife that he was stepping out to buy last-minute gifts for their grandchildren in the US. When he did not return home, his wife phoned him but he did not answer.

Later that day, two Chinese officials came to their house and confirmed to his wife that he had been detained. They then confiscated their passports.

That same day, Memet's son Iskender in the US received a call from his older sister in Urumqi, who instructed him to cancel the flight tickets, without providing much detail. He reportedly noticed from his older sister's voice over the phone that something was wrong, but that she was not able to speak about the situation freely. He then went to his sister Subhi's house and told her that they needed to cancel their father's flight, and that their father was not going to come.

A few hours later, Subhi was able to contact her mother, who told her that two Chinese police officers had arrested Memet.

He was charged in May 2017. However, his family in Urumqi were not given access to him or told of his whereabouts following his arrest. They wouldn't see him until two years later, at his first court hearing in September 2019, during which he was convicted in court proceedings that were closed to all family members except his eldest daughter, who was let in after "kicking up a fuss". His wife reportedly sat outside on a bench and witnessed him being escorted into court in chains along with other detainees - it was apparent to her that her husband had lost weight and could not properly balance himself.

An appeal in December 2019 was rejected, with only his lawyer present to alert the family of the verdict, with Memet handed a life sentence and forced to hand over all assets to the state. His family was fined 4 million RMB.

As of February 2020, his son Iskender had not been able to secure official documentation confirming his father’s life sentence.

In October 2020, prison officials hinted that they might release Memet, prompting his daughter Subhi to stop her campaign to secure his release. However, she now believes that this was a trick and worries for her father's health.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

He was accused of "bribery", being “two-faced”, and "separatism". Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office, confirmed that the Xinjiang Discipline Inspection Commission opened a case against Memet for "bribery" (allegedly taking advantage of his position).

(According to his youngest daughter Subhi, the separatism charge was a result of the fact that she and her brother both live in Virginia, where there is a large Uyghur community with protests relatively concentrated in their area.)

Victim's status

Serving a life sentence in prison. [There is a high likelihood of the victim being subjected to forced labor, as the Xinjiang No. 3 Lathe Factory is based inside the prison and is reported to employ the majority of inmates.]

He has health issues: he suffers from high blood sugar and high blood pressure, and previously had kidney cancer. In October 2020, he contacted his oldest daughter and told her that he was "well". Two days later his wife and daughter attempted to visit him in prison but were denied.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Memet's oldest daughter attended his trial in September 2019, with most of the information obtained by relatives abroad coming from her.

The worker at the Korla Forestry Department where Memet Abdulla had previously been employed presumably had relatively direct knowledge of the case.

The local officials whom Radio Free Asia spoke to were informed of the arrest at a meeting.

The XUAR People's Procuratorate is the public prosecuting body responsible for the prosecution of the victim.

In October 2020, Memet allegedly called his wife and daughter in Urumqi.

Additional information

His case is mentioned in the XUAR People's Procuratorate 2018 work report as one of the examples of cracking down on "two-faced people": https://archive.ph/U3qAm

Radio Free Asia coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/life-03102020141909.html https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/siyaset/ikki-yuzlimichi-12062018144919.html

France 24 coverage: https://www.france24.com/en/20200701-breaking-the-silence-on-china-s-two-faced-campaign-against-uig hurs

Change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/donald-j-trump-help-me-rescue-my-71-year-old-father-mamat-abdullah-from-c hina-s-prison

Story by William Yang: https://williamyang-35700.medium.com/former-uyghur-official-called-his-family-after-being-sentenced-to -life-imprisonment-1d5fec7b6074

Memet's wife and oldest daughter were both subjected to months of questioning by the Chinese authorities, with the focus appearing to have been on their family in the US. For the first two months, they were "taken for questioning almost every single day for eight straight hours".

The victim reportedly wrote a letter from an unknown detention camp, a photograph of which was sent to Subhi Memet. Subhi Memet's uncle has also been arrested and detained.

An interview with Memet Abdulla: https://archive.is/wduzS

Book written by him: https://archive.is/twIpM

Articles and reports about his work: https://archive.is/oKCei https://archive.is/SolpH

Original transcript of the press conference where Elijan Anayit commented on his case: https://archive.is/rVMEI

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

[This is an excerpt from an official press conference held on June 1, 2020 by the XUAR People's Government Information Office.]

China Global Television Network: It is reported that some foreign media claim that “Xinjiang government framed former director general of Xinjiang Forestry Department Memet Abdula as a two-faced man and sentenced him to a prison term.” It is true? And could you brief us about it?

Xu Guixiang: This question goes to Elijan Anayit.

Elijan Anayit: Recently, former director general of Xinjiang Forestry Department Memet Abdula’s daughter complained to the Voice of America that her father was mischarged as a “two-faced person” and put in prison. Her accusation was completely fabricated, which was to mislead international opinion, solicit support for her criminal father and attack China’s policies on Xinjiang by misleading public opinion.

In April 2017, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (Communist Party of China) Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee filed a case against Memet Abdula on suspicion of taking bribes. The investigation found that, during his tenure as chief of the department, he violated organizational discipline to trade power for money in personnel selection and appointment; broke the Party’s rules on clean governance for illegal acceptance of money and gifts and engaging in profitable activities; was suspected of crimes involving bribery and abuse of power to seek profits for others. According to the CPC Regulation on Disciplinary Punishment and the Regulation on the Disciplinary Actions against Civil Servants of Administrative Organs and other relevant regulations, his case was transferred to the judicial authorities for further investigation.

The court's investigation, through the first and second trials, found that Memet Abudla used his position to seek benefits for others and by raising logging quotas, and solicited and accepted money and properties many times from others that are of enormous value. His behaviors had constituted crime of bribery. The people's court imposed a criminal sentence on him based on clear facts and solid evidence in accordance with the provisions of Chinese laws and regulations. His daughter's so-called "he was framed" allegation was just confusing truth and falsehood. (Please take a look at the video for your reference)

Corruption is a tumor to social development and is detested by people. Anyonewho violates, regardless of his or her ethnicity, the law and discipline will surely be brought to justice. Xu Guixiang: Today's press conference concludes now. Thanks all the invitees and reporters.

Supplementary materials instrument video: https://twitter.com/SubiMamat/status/1299365362627219456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/SubiMamat/status/1318185542710972417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/SubiMamat/status/1318974522326962178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/SubiMamat/status/1341388862707421185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/Irfan_Tursun1/status/1258631236303622146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo with son: https://shahit.biz/supp/8199_1.jpeg photo with wife: https://shahit.biz/supp/8199_2.jpg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/8199_3.jpg propaganda video about victim: https://shahit.biz/supp/8199_9.mp4 courtroom still: https://shahit.biz/supp/8199_10.png photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_8199.png official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_8199.png

Entry created: 2020-03-26 Last updated: 2021-05-01 Latest status update: 2021-06-11 8487. Abdusemet Abdurahman

Chinese ID: 653222199010240299 (Karakash)

Basic info

Age: 29 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|past "transgressions" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

Testimony 2: The "Qaraqash List", a local government document from Qaraqash County, leaked abroad in the middle of 2019. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Abudsaimaiti Abdureheman is a 30 years old Uyghur from Moyu County. According to state-run media, he currently works as an auto repair technician at a driving school.

Multiple Mandarin spellings of his name are given: 阿卜杜赛麦提·阿卜杜热合曼 (Testimony 2), 阿卜杜赛麦提·阿卜都热合曼 (Testimony 1), 阿卜杜赛买提·阿卜杜热合曼 (Testimony 1)

His ID number as reported in the Qaraqash list: 653222199010240299 (in his alleged work contract as shown in the China Daily report, this number is written incorrectly as 653222199010240240299).

Testimony 2:

Address: House No. 220, Second Area, Shatliq Community (夏特勒克社区二片区220号).

Household registration address: House No. 55, Group No. 1, Towen Qapaqla Village, Qaraqash Municipality (喀拉喀什镇托万喀帕克拉村1组55号).

Victim's location

[Presumably at home in Qaraqash.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: Unclear, spent time in camps/vocational program and was released. Testimony 2: Taken to the Qaraqash No. 2 camp (unclear when), then approved to be transferred for work in the industrial area.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 2: Having served a full "medium-level" sentence.

Victim's status

Testimony 1: "Free"

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: The China Daily report has the victim himself talk in front of the camera. [However, the fact that he addresses Adrian Zenz and recent Western media reports - blocked in China - and generally appears to be reading his lines do not make this a genuine "eyewitness" testimony.]

Testimony 2: this is an official government document.

Additional information

Abudsaimaiti Abdureheman appears in a video posted by the state-run media outlet China Daily. In it, he says that he learned job skills in the "vocational education and training center" and hopes to open his own driving school. He is filmed alongside his wife, child, and an older relative. https://twitter.com/ChinaDaily/status/1231511516102291456

The original Qaraqash list document (with minor redactions): shahit.biz/supp/list_008.pdf

Testimony 2:

Excerpts from local government reports about the victim:

"Has spent the required time in the training center. His relatives actively cooperate with the neighorhood administration. Recommended to graduate to work in the industrial area."

Supplementary materials

China Daily tweet: https://twitter.com/ChinaDaily/status/1231511516102291456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw China Daily report: https://shahit.biz/supp/8487_2.mp4

Entry created: 2020-04-18 Last updated: 2020-08-13 Latest status update: 2020-02-23 8975. Memet Mollayusup (麦麦提·毛拉玉苏普)

Chinese ID: 652927196904282717 (Uchturpan)

Basic info

Age: 51 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|3: Zeytune Memet, originally from Aksu's Uchturpan County, is now residing in Turkey. (daughter)

About the victim

His name is Memet Mollayusup(麦麦提·毛拉玉苏普). He was born on the 28th of April 1969. His address is No.2 Group, Bazar Village, Aqyar Township, Uchturpan Country, Aksu Prefecture.

Victim's location

[Probably in Aksu.]

When victim was detained

Unknown.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Unknown. But, the testifier mentions that she hasn't been able to hear from the victim for three years.

Testimony 2: On May 22, 2020, the testifier posted to say that her father had called her, basically telling her not to interfere with their situation (i.e., to not speak up about their family's situation).

Testimony 3: the testifier hasn't been able to reach her father since (she calls but no one picks up).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Not Stated.

Additional information

The testifier writes on her Twitter account that the Chinese government has silenced the testifier for three years; they always didn't let her meet her family giving excuses when she wanted to see her family, or always asked her something, or said that these days would pass soon; it has been three years, there is no sound, no image from her family yet.

Victims among relatives

Ayturem Huresh (8561), Muntiza Memet (8562), Mehmutjan Memet (8563)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/ZeytuneD/status/1226511419207802880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/ZeytuneD/status/1263775850035589121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/ZeytuneD/status/1264994252725129217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/8975_2.jpg

Entry created: 2020-04-29 Last updated: 2020-06-17 Latest status update: 2020-05-26 8990. Nurimangul Dawut (努日曼古丽·达伍提)

Chinese ID: 65322319????????E? (Guma)

Basic info

Age: 35-55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: has problems Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Muhemmed Abdulla Dawut, as reported by "Erkin Berdas". (brother)

Testimony 2: China News Service, the second largest state-owned news agency in China.

Testimony 3: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Her name is Nurimangul Dawut. She is 50 years old. She is from Sazam Group, Bashlenger Village, Guma County, Hoten Prefecture.

Testimony 2: She lives in Guma, Hotan. After she retired [no info about since when], she has been taking care of her father (no. 8994) at home. Before retirement, she used to work as a maths teacher in Hotan, Guma; Bashlengger Township (巴什兰干乡).

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hoten Prefecture.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: testifier says that she was tortured by police, and had one of her hands and legs broken, making her disabled [this is neither apparent nor completely disproved in the CNS video that shows her - she can be seen standing, but is not shown walking in any scenes either].

Likely (or given) reason for detention

---

Victim's status Testimony 1: Unknown. According to the testifier, the victim was tortured by the police and one of her hands and legs were broken as to she became a disabled woman.

Testimony 2: she is shown with family at home [as this was made for propaganda purposes, it is not clear what her actual status is, but it is more likely than not - given other such videos - that is surveilled rather than detained.]

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Not Stated.

Testimony 2: the victim was put on camera by CNS, who had direct access to him.

Additional information

Testimony 2: The family members express their surprise regarding their younger brother's claims that they have disappeared. In late 2012, her brother Muhemmed Abdulla suddenly disappeared. The family heard that he had gone abroad, but they have not seen him since he left. He also did not contact his family members since he left. [It might be interesting to note that Muhemmed Abdulle testified for 11 siblings in total (and his father), however, only two of them and his father are featured in the video. It is unclear what happened to the other 9 siblings.]

Victims among relatives

Enwerjan Dawut (8991), Gulenber Dawut (8992), Abduqeyyum Dawut (8993), Dawut Memtiz (8994), Gulbahar Dawut (8995), Nurjamal Dawut (8996), Ayjamal Dawut (8997), Ayguzel Dawut (8998), Abdulmutellip Dawut (8999), Abduleziz Dawut (9000), Obulqasim Dawut (9001), Rabigul Muhemmed (9002)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpPo5nhWKfw Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXWQ1wl9d-s Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/ErkinBERDAS/posts/10219 048532596518&width=350

Entry created: 2020-05-03 Last updated: 2020-12-21 Latest status update: 2020-02-11 8993. Abduqeyyum Dawut (阿卜杜凯尤木·达伍提)

Chinese ID: 65322319????????O? (Guma)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): contact with outside world|--- Health status: --- Profession: manual work

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Muhemmed Abdulla Dawut, as reported by "Erkin Berdas". (brother)

Testimony 2: China News Service, the second largest state-owned news agency in China.

Testimony 3|4: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

His name is Abduqeyyum Dawut. He is 28 years old. He is from Sazam Group, Bashlenger Village, Guma County, Hoten Prefecture.

Testimony 2: He works in Hotan City in construction work. Recently, the work has been stopped and he is staying at Nurimangul's (8990) place to help her with their father (8994). Between 2014-2018, he worked as a bao'an (security guard) for a company. Later, he helped a construction company to find workers. (Testimony 4: in the most recent proof-of-life video from February 2021, he is shown in a police uniform and says that he works as a security guard in his village.)

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hoten.]

When victim was detained

Testimony 1: detained in May 2017.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 1: According to the testifier, because of the testifier's phone call to the victim.

Victim's status Testimony 1: Unclear. However, the the testifier writes that the victim was put in the jail.

Testimony 2: according to the CNS [propaganda] report, he is not detained and going on with his life [it is probably safe to assume that he's not in hard detention].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1: Not Stated.

Testimony 2: the victim was put on camera by CNS, who had direct access to him.

Additional information

Testimony 2: The family members express their surprise regarding their younger brother's claims that they have disappeared. In late 2012, her brother Muhemmed Abdulla suddenly disappeared. The family heard that he had gone abroad, but they have not seen him since he left. He also did not contact his family members since he left. [It might be interesting to note that Muhemmed Abdulle testified for 11 siblings in total (and his father), however, only two of them and his father are featured in the video. It is unclear what happened to the other 9 siblings.]

A person with the victim's name owns a shop in a nearby township: https://archive.is/rpwnL

Victims among relatives

Nurimangul Dawut (8990), Enwerjan Dawut (8991), Gulenber Dawut (8992), Dawut Memtiz (8994), Gulbahar Dawut (8995), Nurjamal Dawut (8996), Ayjamal Dawut (8997), Ayguzel Dawut (8998), Abdulmutellip Dawut (8999), Abduleziz Dawut (9000), Obulqasim Dawut (9001), Rabigul Muhemmed (9002)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpPo5nhWKfw Testimony 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BXNng7v5J0 Testimony 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2a9kgQLJ1s Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/ErkinBERDAS/posts/10219 048532596518&width=350

Entry created: 2020-05-03 Last updated: 2021-05-18 Latest status update: 2021-02-13 8994. Dawut Memtiz

Chinese ID: 65322319????????O? (Guma)

Basic info

Age: 55+ Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Muhemmed Abdulla Dawut, as reported by "Erkin Berdas". (son)

Testimony 2: China News Service, the second largest state-owned news agency in China.

About the victim

His name is Dawut Memtiz. He is from Guma County, Hoten Prefecture.

Testimony 2: 92 years old, taken care of by his daughter Nurimangul (no. 8990).

Victim's location

[Presumably in Hotan.]

When victim was detained

Unknown.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown.

Victim's status

Testimony 1: Unknown as the testifier hasn't been able to contact the victim since May 2017.

Testimony 2: shown to be living at home [though the details and authenticity are unclear, as the source is a propaganda outlet].

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Testimony 1: [Presumably by virtue of being unable to contact him.]

Testimony 2: the victim was put on camera by CNS, who had direct access to him.

Additional information

Testimony 2: The family members express their surprise regarding their younger brother's claims that they have disappeared. In late 2012, her brother Muhemmed Abdulla suddenly disappeared. The family heard that he had gone abroad, but they have not seen him since he left. He also did not contact his family members since he left. [It might be interesting to note that Muhemmed Abdulle testified for 11 siblings in total (and his father), however, only two of them and his father are featured in the video. It is unclear what happened to the other 9 siblings.]

Victims among relatives

Nurimangul Dawut (8990), Enwerjan Dawut (8991), Gulenber Dawut (8992), Abduqeyyum Dawut (8993), Gulbahar Dawut (8995), Nurjamal Dawut (8996), Ayjamal Dawut (8997), Ayguzel Dawut (8998), Abdulmutellip Dawut (8999), Abduleziz Dawut (9000), Obulqasim Dawut (9001), Rabigul Muhemmed (9002)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpPo5nhWKfw Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/ErkinBERDAS/posts/10219 048532596518&width=350

Entry created: 2020-05-03 Last updated: 2020-12-21 Latest status update: 2020-02-11 9050. Aygul Sultan (阿依古丽·苏力堂)

Chinese ID: 652922196505030561 (Onsu)

Basic info

Age: 55 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|--- Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Meryem Sultan, an Uyghur now living in Turkey. (daughter)

Testimony 3: Meryem Sultan, as reported by The Times. (daughter)

Testimony 4: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Her name is Aygul Sultan. She is 55 years old and she was a teacher at Onsu middle school in Aksu Prefecture.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu.]

When victim was detained

Detained in September 2017.

Testimony 3: Held in a camp for 2 years, then appears to have been released to a softer form of detention. (The victim was reportedly sent to a Mandarin language school in 2017 first. She spent approximately six months at the language school before being sent to a concentration camp.)

Testimony 3: The victim started "growing increasingly frantic in her phone calls in 2016", telling the testifier that "terrible things" would happen if she did not return to China. All phone calls between the testifier and her family (including the victim) stopped in 2017. The testifier's family also blocked the testifier on social media and "communication channels".

Likely (or given) reason for detention

--- Victim's status

She was allegedly taken to a concentration camp. The testifier has been out of any ways of contact with the victim.

Testimony 3: the victim contacted Meryem in July 2019, asking her to come back to China. [Presumably she has been released to a softer form of detention.]

Testimony 4: at the beginning of April 2021, a proof-of-life video was uploaded online, with the victim telling her daughter that it was Meryem who had refused contact with her and that everything Meryem was saying was a lie.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 3: After contact ceased, the testifier learnt through unspecified contacts that the victim had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

Testimony 3: The video call between the victim and the testifier that took place in 2019 was the first time the victim and the testifier had conversed since the victim was detained, and the call took place on WeChat. The victim was using a different account that the testifier did not recognise.

Additional information

According to the testifier, the Chinese authorities have reached to her via Wechat and asked her to stop all her activities; and told her that she has to come back and if she comes back, they will offer her job positions in the government.

Covered by the Sunday Times (Testimony 3): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/china-arrests-uighur-families-to-lure-exiles-back-for-re-educati on-0dxt8ljwt

Testimony 3: The testifier left for Turkey on a student visa in 2010. The Chinese government attempted to block her application for a passport before she left. In 2013, the Chinese government offered the testifier a scholarship of 3000 yuan. The testifier refused, believing it would come with conditions.

Testimony 3: The grandmother of Meryem Sultan (the testifier) is not named in this article, but she reportedly passed away in a concentration camp in January 2019.

Victims among relatives

Kenjihan Hapiz (14644)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtapoOzPZ8 Testimony 1: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/SintashMedia/videos/184 981215724197/&show_text=1&width=300 Testimony 3: https://shahit.biz/supp/9050_3.pdf Testimony 4: https://shahit.biz/supp/9050_4.mp4 judgment-enforcement record: https://shahit.biz/supp/9050_5.png photos before and after detention: https://shahit.biz/supp/beforeafter_9050.png

Entry created: 2020-05-09 Last updated: 2021-04-04 Latest status update: 2020-07-30 9509. Nesrulla Yusup

Chinese ID: 653224201???????O? (Lop)

Basic info

Age: under 18 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: --- When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: deceased Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 3: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

His name is Nesrulla Yusup. He is from Qarqiy Village, Sampul Township, Lop County, Hoten Prefecture. He is about 5 years old. He was pulled dead out of the ice in a stream in the village. According to the news report, his father was taken to a concentration camp, and his mother was sentenced for ten years. His grandparents were very old and very ill that they couldn't look after him. He fell into a stream while playing with friends and later was pulled out of the ice by local people.

Victim's location

He died in his village in Hoten.

When victim was detained

His parents were detained, but unclear when.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Possibly left in a compromised position because of his parents detention.

Victim's status

He was frozen to death in the ice-covered stream.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? Testimony 1-2: presumably from hearing about it and being in the locality.

Testimony 3: this is a local government worker (presumably with more direct knowledge of the case).

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 1-3): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/5-yashliq-12182019153216.html

CGTN has issued a counter-report to the RFA report, in which they accused RFA of lying and put the victim's alleged parents on camera, saying that they were never detained. However, neither the child's nor the parents' names match those in the RFA report, making this difficult to interpret. (A press conference in January 2020 has echoed these claims: https://archive.vn/GeG3E)

Victims among relatives

Yusup Tohti (9510), Bupatem Tursunrozi (9511)

Supplementary materials

CGTN reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjy_4xP5lpU photo of victim being pulled out: https://shahit.biz/supp/9509_1.jpeg

Entry created: 2020-05-31 Last updated: 2021-05-19 Latest status update: 2019-12-18 9510. Yusup Tohti

Chinese ID: 65322419????????O? (Lop)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: concentration camp When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: tradesperson

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 3: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

His name is Yusutp Tohti. He is about 28 years old. He has a garage in Hoten City.

Victim's location

In a concentration camp in Lop County, in Hoten.

When victim was detained

Unknown.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Allegedly because of his wife's "crime".

Victim's status

In the concentration camp.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: presumably from hearing about it and being in the locality.

Testimony 3: this is a local government worker (presumably with more direct knowledge of the case). Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 1-3): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/5-yashliq-12182019153216.html

CGTN has issued a counter-report to the RFA report, in which they accused RFA of lying and put the alleged parents of Nesrulla Yusup on camera, saying that they were never detained. However, neither the child's nor the parents' names match those in the RFA report, making this difficult to interpret.

Victims among relatives

Bupatem Tursunrozi (9511), Nesrulla Yusup (9509)

Supplementary materials

CGTN reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjy_4xP5lpU

Entry created: 2020-05-31 Last updated: 2021-05-09 Latest status update: 2019-12-18 9511. Bupatem Tursunrozi

Chinese ID: 65322419????????E? (Lop)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Ili Status: sentenced (10 years) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): related to religion|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2: Anonymous, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

Testimony 3: Local government employee, as reported by Radio Free Asia Uyghur. (from same town/region)

About the victim

Her name is Bvpatem Tursunrozi. She is about 27 years old. She is from Qarqiy Village, Sampul Township, Lop County, Hoten Prefecture.

Victim's location

A prison in Ili.

When victim was detained

Unclear.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the news report and a local cadre, the victim might have been detained and sentenced as she had participated in illegal religious activiies.

Victim's status

She is in a prison in Ili Prefecture as she was sentenced for 10 years in prison.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: presumably from hearing about it and being in the locality. Testimony 3: this is a local government worker (presumably with more direct knowledge of the case).

Additional information

RFA coverage (Testimony 1-3): https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/5-yashliq-12182019153216.html

CGTN has issued a counter-report to the RFA report, in which they accused RFA of lying and put the alleged parents of Nesrulla Yusup on camera, saying that they were never detained. However, neither the child's nor the parents' names match those in the RFA report, making this difficult to interpret.

Victims among relatives

Yusup Tohti (9510), Nesrulla Yusup (9509)

Supplementary materials

CGTN reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjy_4xP5lpU

Entry created: 2020-05-31 Last updated: 2021-05-09 Latest status update: 2019-12-18 9594. Miradil Ablet (米尔阿迪力·阿布来提)

Chinese ID: 650102198101214530 (Urumqi)

Basic info

Age: 40 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced When problems started: July 2017 - Sep. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1|2|5: Mir'ehmet Ablet, a Dutch citizen of Uyghur descent. (brother)

Testimony 3: Mir'ehmet Ablet, as reported by Yahoo News. (brother)

Testimony 4: Mirkamil Ablet, originally from Kashgar but now a resident of Canada. (brother)

Testimony 6: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands' ministry responsible for foreign relations, foreign policy, international development, and international trade, among other matters.

About the victim

Miradil Ablet is an IT graduate from Xinjiang University in Urumqi, and a father of two.

Address: Apt. 221, Entrance No. 2, Building 14, Yard No. 1, Saghlamliq Road, Kashgar City, Xinjiang (新疆喀什市萨格拉木路1号院14号楼2单元221号).

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained

Miradil was taken away by Chinese police in Kashgar in August 2017. At some point later, he was put on trial and sentenced, allegedly pleading guilty.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Mir'ehmet, his older brother left China to study in Canada, where he then settled [dates unknown], refusing requests by the Chinese government to return to China. The victim's family believes that this is the reason for Miradil's arrest and subsequent detention. Victim's status

Sentenced.

Approximately two years ago [as of July 2020], the parents of the victim reportedly communicated with Miradil through unknown means while he was "in prison". The victim was reportedly unwell, both physically and psychologically.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The victim's brothers learned about his detention from friends.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs obtained the news that Miradil was sentenced directly from the Chinese embassy.

Additional information

Mir'ehmet says that he believes his father passed away in January 2020.

Mir'ehmet mentions hearing from his "contact" that his mother has been begging that he stop his activism (despite them not having any direct contact).

Yahoo! News coverage: https://au.news.yahoo.com/mans-desperate-search-for-brother-disappeared-chinese-uyghur-camps-1041 13702.html

Official communication(s)

Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

------

Dear Mirehmet Ablet,

We share your concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and your feeling of helplessness over the lack of news about your brother.

Recently we have made several inquiries about your brother's situation. I have been informed by the Chinese Embassy that your brother has been convicted of criminal offenses, pleaded guilty, and that his trial was fair. Unfortunately, we have not received more details from the embassy.

The Netherlands continues to stand up for the human rights of Uyghurs in China both bilaterally and in an EU and UN context. We also draw attention to the impact this has on the Uyghur diaspora. I would therefore like to hear from you if you would like us to make another attempt to find out more information about your brother's case.

I wish you and your family the best of luck.

Yours sincerely,

[redacted] Deputy Director, Asia and Oceania

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rijnstraat 8 | 2515 XP | Den Haag Postbus 20061 | 2500 EB | Den Haag

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/mirehmet/status/1273334916068118528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/mirehmet/status/1284126365168672771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/Mirkamill/status/1295848975099191299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/mirehmet/status/1341487922269343744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Chinese ID: https://shahit.biz/supp/9594_2.jpg WGEID mandate: https://shahit.biz/supp/9594_5.jpg official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_9594.png

Entry created: 2020-07-18 Last updated: 2021-05-12 Latest status update: 2021-05-12 9929. Abduehet Yusup

Chinese ID: 653222197309220015 (Karakash)

Basic info

Age: 46 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: Oct. 2017 - Dec. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"violating birth policies", "extremism" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: The "Qaraqash List", a local government document from Qaraqash County, leaked abroad in the middle of 2019. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

About the victim

Abduehet Yusup (potential Mandarin spellings: 阿卜杜艾海提·玉苏普, 阿不都艾海提·玉素普).

Address: 109 Yangguang Alley, Yipbazar West Road (依甫巴扎西路阳光巷109号).

Victim's location

In Qaraqash County.

When victim was detained

Sent to the Qaraqash No. 1 camp on December 10, 2017.

According to the China Daily, he was released on March 18, 2019.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to the government document, for having 1 child more than allowed by the family planning policy.

The China Daily video of him says that he was "infected with religious extremism" and "committed minor offenses", however.

Victim's status Presumably released from camp, but exact circumstances unclear (in the China Daily video report, he claims to run a small company).

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The base data come directly from a local government document.

China Daily had the victim go on camera directly for their report [but it's not clear how genuine this is].

Additional information

The original Qaraqash list document (with minor redactions): shahit.biz/supp/list_008.pdf

Radio Free Asia's coverage of China Daily's report: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qaraqash-hejjetliri-02242020222336.html

The Qaraqash list document also notes that his wife is a civil worker.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/9929_1.mp4

Entry created: 2020-08-14 Last updated: 2020-09-06 Latest status update: 2020-02-23 9931. Bultaji Barat (布丽提吉·巴拉提)

Chinese ID: 653222197401134822 (Karakash)

Basic info

Age: 46 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: unclear (soft) When problems started: --- Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|past "transgressions", "violating birth policies" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: The "Qaraqash List", a local government document from Qaraqash County, leaked abroad in the middle of 2019. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and published in the People's Republic of China.

About the victim

Bultaji Barat is married and is a mother of seven.

Address: Hope Community (希望社区).

Victim's location

In Qaraqash County.

When victim was detained

1) Sent to the Qaraqash No. 2 camp (time unclear). 2) Approved for release from camp.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

A number of reasons are reported:

1) Having served a full "medium-level" sentence. 2) Having 4 children more than allowed by the family planning policy.

Victim's status

Presumably no longer in camp. How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

The base data comes directly from a local government document.

For their report, China Daily put the victim directly on camera [though it's not clear how genuine this was].

Additional information

The original Qaraqash list document (with minor redactions): shahit.biz/supp/list_008.pdf

Radio Free Asia's coverage of China Daily's report: https://www.rfa.org/uyghur/xewerler/qaraqash-hejjetliri-02242020222336.html

Supplementary materials

Testimony 2: https://shahit.biz/supp/9931_1.mp4

Entry created: 2020-08-14 Last updated: 2020-09-06 Latest status update: 2020-02-23 9945. Memet Yunus (麦麦提·尤努斯)

Chinese ID: 65322219760702029X (Karakash)

Basic info

Age: 43 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Hotan Status: concentration camp When problems started: Apr. 2017 - June 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"violating birth policies" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: The "Qaraqash List", a local government document from Qaraqash County, leaked abroad in the middle of 2019. (from same town/region)

Testimony 2: Memet Yunus, a former camp detainee from Qaraqash County. (the victim)

About the victim

Memet Yunus.

Address: 20 Communications Company Alley, West Yipbazar Road (依甫巴扎西路联通公司巷20号).

Victim's location

In Qaraqash County.

When victim was detained

He was sent to the Qaraqash No. 2 camp on May 21, 2017. In early 2019, he was approved for release, and would appear at a state-organized press conference on February 22, 2020.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Having 1 child more than allowed by the family planning policy.

Victim's status

Released from camp. At the press conference he spoke at, he claimed to now earn over 5000RMB per month from the building-materials store he had allegedly opened.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status? The data regarding his detention come directly from a local government document.

Memet appears in a February 22, 2020 press conference organized by the XUAR People's Government Information Office (https://archive.vn/gBmEi, https://archive.ph/wip/PzD7K), the goal of which was to counter the claims made a week earlier during the media blitz around the Qaraqash List. During the (controlled) conference, he confirms his detention and says that he was previously influenced by "religious extremist thoughts".

Additional information

The original Qaraqash list document (with minor redactions): shahit.biz/supp/list_008.pdf

Entry created: 2020-08-14 Last updated: 2021-05-22 Latest status update: 2020-02-22 10669. Muherrem Ablet (木艾热木·阿不来提)

Chinese ID: 653101198902191224 (Kashgar)

Basic info

Age: 32 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (5 years) When problems started: Jan. 2017 - Mar. 2017 Detention reason (suspected|official): related to going abroad|"inciting ethnic hatred" Health status: --- Profession: housemaker

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1*|4|7: Mamutjan Abdurehim, a resident of Australia who previously studied in Malaysia, but fled because of fear of deportation. (husband)

Testimony 2: Muyesser Abdul'ehed, a writer now living abroad. (acquaintance)

Testimony 3: Mamutjan Abdurehim, as reported by Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (husband)

Testimony 5: Mamutjan Abdurehim, as reported by CNN. (husband)

Testimony 6: CGTN, an international English-language news channel based in Beijing and owned by China Central Television.

About the victim

Muherrem Ablet, a housewife from Kashgar and a mother of two. She had previously spent 3 years in Malaysia, from early 2013 to late 2015, while her husband was doing his PhD studies there.

Victim's location

[Unclear, as she has been sentenced.]

When victim was detained

The victim's passport was stolen while in Malaysia, after which the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur issued her a one-off travel document and told her to travel back to Xinjiang to get a new passport. The victim then traveled back to Kashgar with her two children in December 2015 and received her new passport in April 2016. Because of the family's financial situation, the victim was unable to immediately rejoin her husband, who was still in Malaysia. Her passport was confiscated soon after Chen Quanguo came to power, sometime in early 2017.

At some point after returning to Xinjiang and before April 2017, the victim was questioned by local authorities in regard to her wearing a hijab. The testifier reports that the victim began to use facial expressions instead of words when they communicated [presumably over video chat].

In mid-April 2017, the parents of the testifier notified the testifier that the victim had been "taken away". Weekly family visits were originally promised, but were allegedly discontinued after the first week. (This was in addition to the testifier's father also having been detained for some time.)

In May-June 2017 (about two months after her detention), the victim contacted the testifier briefly, stating that she was "home for a day, but would be detained again" - having been allowed to come home for a day as someone had acted as a guarantor for her. She also messaged the testifier, saying "I will be gone, and so if I cannot message you again, just wait until I can contact you". (As of July 2020, this was the last message that the testifier received from the victim before the victim deleted her husband from her contacts and social media accounts.)

In a video posted by the son of the victim to a relative's WeChat account in early May 2019, the son reportedly says "my mom has graduated!" The testifier was reportedly able to hear the victim's voice in the background of the video, which indicated that she may have been released from detention.

An acquaintance of the testifier later confirmed to the testifier that the victim had indeed been released.

As of July 2020, the testifier suspects, based on coded words used in messages that he has seen (e.g., "not at home", "in the hospital"), that the victim was re-arrested in 2019. The testifier asked a close local contact "how old" the victim was, to which he received the response "5 years". Based on this coded message, he believes that his wife may have been sentenced to 5 years. In an August 2021 post, however, Mamutjan said that she had been sentenced to 9 years.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Unknown, but her husband suspects that it is because of her being religious and having gone abroad.

In a "counter-report" put out by CGTN within days of CNN's visit to the victim's house, the reporter stated that Muherrem had been arrested in 2019 for "inciting ethnic hatred".

Victim's status

Sentenced.

When CNN visited the victim's home in the spring of 2021, her daughter, Muhlise, told the CNN reporters that her mother was "at her other grandmother's house but that she [Muhlise] could not see her very often", saying that she had last seen her a month or two earlier.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Much of the information was obtained through coded messages on WeChat.

At one point, the victim was able to contact the testifier directly on a "day off" from camp. After she was released, there was a video on a relative's WeChat where their son exclaimed "my mom has graduated!", with the victim's voice in the background.

Additional information ABC (Australia) coverage: https://amp.abc.net.au/article/12456432

CNN coverage: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/18/china/xinjiang-uyghur-families-china-amnesty-report-exclusive-dst-in tl-hnk/index.html

Business Insider coverage: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/uighur-china-father-mamutjan-abdurehim-wife-detained-ordeal-202 0-7

State-media report(s)

Source: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-03-23/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDUzMDQy/index.html

Xinjiang Human Rights: Uygur family disturbed by CNN reporters asks son to come home

A Uygur family's cosy and simple life has been disturbed after three foreigners turned up on their doorstep, claiming to be classmates of their son, who currently works overseas. Family members are now calling on the man, who is currently living in Australia, to return home, as they haven't been in contact for five years. Huang Yue reports.

Muhlisa is a top student in her class in Kashgar No.1 Elementary School. The ten-year-old has received many awards for achieving high exam scores. Muhlisa's younger brother, who is six years old, will also start elementary school this September.

HUANG YUE (Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region): "The two children have been living a simple and happy life with their grandparents in an ancient city of Kashgar until several days ago, when some uninvited guests knocked at their door."

Muhlisa recalls that three "uncles" stopped by with photos of her father.

MUHLISA MAMUT (Resident of Kashgar): "They said they were my father's classmates. They told me my father is now in Australia and asked if I want to go there to reunite with him. I said I don't want to go abroad. I want to stay in Kashgar."

The three "uncles" turned out to be reporters from CNN. And later, a photo of the girl crying made headlines. CNN reported that the child is prohibited from leaving the country to reunite with her father.

Muhlisa's father, Mamutjan Abdurehim, got married in Xinjiang in 2009 after completing his master's degree. He then stayed in Kashgar for 45 days, before going to Malaysia with his new wife.

According to Muhlisa's grandfather, from 2009 to 2013, Mamutjan would come back home once a year. And in 2015, his wife brought the two children back to Kashgar. Mamutjan's wife, named Muharram Ablat, was arrested on suspicion of provoking ethnic hatred in 2019. And since then, the two children have been left to stay between their paternal and maternal grandparents.

MUHLISA MAMUT (Resident of Kashgar): "I can video call my mother. Yesterday, we had a video call. I told her I miss her. My brother also said so. My mother said she is doing great and told us not to worry about her. I want to show her the awards I got from school when she comes back. I believe she will be very happy." The last time the family had a phone conversation with Mamutjan was in April 2017.

ABLAT ABDUREYIM (Muhlisa's grandfather): "My wife picked up the phone. I was not at home. My wife asked why he hadn't called home for a long time. He said he went to Australia to apply for a doctoral degree, and would stay there until he received an offer. My wife said she was not feeling well and would go to the hospital the next day. And my son just said 'OK.'"

Ablat said with his monthly retirement pension of 1,900 yuan, he can support the family. He added that he and his wife have medical insurance to cover their hospital bills. And he doesn't need to pay for the children's tuition because they receive fifteen years of compulsory education for free in Xinjiang. So now, his only wish is to see his son back home.

ABLAT ABDUREYIM (Muhlisa's grandfather): "Come back home if you've finished your studies. Your mother and I are getting old. This is your home. And your two children are also here. We don't have any problem with our life, but you should raise your own children."

(Huang Yue, CGTN, Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.)

Victims among relatives

Hikmet Mamut (14005), Muhlise Mamut (14006)

Supplementary materials

Al Aan TV report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ojk8XY9Njg Testimony 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpF3tF1hokk Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/Hendan_Hiyal/status/1294678957648949254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 7: https://twitter.com/MamutjanAB/status/1422134376943349763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw last WeChat post: https://shahit.biz/supp/10669_2.jpg photo: https://shahit.biz/supp/10669_5.jpeg

Entry created: 2020-07-20 Last updated: 2021-08-08 Latest status update: 2021-09-20 10993. Renagul Gheni (热纳古丽·艾尼)

Chinese ID: 652825198103200022 (Cherchen)

Basic info

Age: 40 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: --- Status: sentenced (17 years) When problems started: July 2018 - Sep. 2018 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|related to religion Health status: --- Profession: education

Testifying party (* direct submission)

Testimony 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8*|9: Qelbinur Gheni, an Uyghur residing abroad. (sister)

Testimony 10: Qelbinur Gheni, as reported by Voice of America. (sister)

About the victim

Renagul Gheni is an Uyghur woman who worked as a professional painter and then an art teacher at a Chinese government school for 15 years (Testimony 8: primary school in Cherchen County). Her Chinese ID number is 652825198103200022. She has a Bachelor's degree in Art and Literature, is the mother of two sons, has two younger sisters, and can speak Chinese well. Her two younger sisters are Kalbinur Gheni, who is a PhD student at the University of Malaya, and Mahire Gheni, who was a medical university student until she was taken to a concentration camp in August 2016. Mahire Gheni is the youngest of the victim's two younger sisters.

Victim's location

[Unclear, as sentenced.]

When victim was detained earlier: The testifier last heard from the victim in April 2018, but discovered later on that the victim was arrested and taken to a concentration camp in April 2019.

Testimony 6: taken in 2018 [contradiction].

Testimony 8-9: detained at home in August 2018. Later sentenced to 17 years (Testimony 9: testifier learned this news in around late November 2020).

Likely (or given) reason for detention

Testimony 8: praying at her father's funeral and reading a religious book. Testimony 9: 10 years of the sentence were for keeping a Quran on her desk, 7 years were for praying for her father when he passed away.

Victim's status

The victim was taken to a concentration camp in April 2019 but her sister, Kalbinur Gheni, does not know where she is or when she will be released.

Testimony 5: still not released.

Testimony 6: no news since her arrest.

Testimony 8: sentenced. (testifier also reports that she's in a Cherchen concentration camp in Aral village [presumably https://medium.com/@shawnwzhang/satellite-imagery-of-xinjiang-re-education-camp-65-%E6%96%B0%E 7%96%86%E5%86%8D%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E9%9B%86%E4%B8%AD%E8%90%A5%E5%8D%AB%E6 %98%9F%E5%9B%BE-65-8777020022af])

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 8: through a friend.

Testimony 9: not stated, but Qelbinur does say that the authorities informed her mother of Renagul's sentence, asking her to sign a consent form. There was allegedly no trial.

Additional information

Washington Post feature: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-uyghur-genocide/2021/03/19/8406dc90-7 e01-11eb-a976-c028a4215c78_story.html

Mention in metro.co.uk: https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/06/coronavirus-used-cover-muslim-concentration-camp-deaths-families-fear -12185333/

Mentioned by Voice of America (Testimony 10): https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/voa-news-china/china-retaliates-against-uighur-activists-impri soning-relatives-us

Testimony 7: Chinese police have been threatening Qelbinur and telling her to stop talking about her sister's detention. At one point, they also coerced Qelbinur's mother into trying to convince Qelbinur into making videos praising the Chinese Communist Party.

Testifier on "Secure Freedom Radio" (Testimony 9): https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2020/12/02/kalbinur-gheni-sister-sentenced-17-years-imprisonm ent-for-practicing-islam-in-xinjiang/

Testimony 10: Chinese police have added Qelbinur Gheni (the testifier) on WeChat and sent her threats; one of those threats reportedly said "If you keep speaking out against China and don't remove testimonies from Twitter, your mother and brother won't be safe, and you'll never see your sister live again. But if you behave well, we'll let you see your sister."

Victims among relatives

Mahire Gheni (10994), Zuleyhan Hashim (13756), Jappar Tomur (13757), Memetjan Yusup (13758)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1203755312651677697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 2: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1206625384831291392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 3: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1209983080481591312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 4: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1214058448310210560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1300957228032196610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 6: https://twitter.com/Qelbinur10/status/1313948867570917381?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 7: https://shahit.biz/supp/10993_7.jpg Testimony 8: https://shahit.biz/supp/10993_8.png

Entry created: 2020-07-28 Last updated: 2021-05-09 Latest status update: 2021-08-05 12952. Merdan Ghappar (麦尔丹·阿巴)

Chinese ID: 65292319890701??O? (Kucha)

Basic info

Age: 31 Gender: M Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Aksu Status: in custody When problems started: Jan. 2020 - Mar. 2020 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|other Health status: --- Profession: art & literature

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Merdan Ghappar, a Taobao model who lived in Guangdong, prior to being arrested and taken back to his home county of Kucha. (the victim)

Testimony 2: Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the XUAR People's Government Information Office.

About the victim

Merdan Ghappar (麦尔丹•阿巴), born July 1, 1989 in Kucha.

Registered address: Kucha city, Restan District (热斯坦街道).

He studied dancing at Xinjiang Arts Institute before relocating to Foshan, Guangdong in 2009 to work for the retail giant Taobao as a model. His employers told him to present his background as 'half-European' instead of Uyghur to appeal to the audience better. He could reportedly make around $1,440 per day working at Taobao, though he was not allowed to register a flat he had bought on his name due to his ethnicity. Instead, he asked a Han Chinese friend to do so in his place.

Victim's location

[Presumably in Aksu.]

When victim was detained

In 2018, he was arrested in Foshan and charged with the crime of selling five grams of marijuana and sentenced to 16 months in prison. He was released in late 2019. In January 2020, officials from Kucha city arrived at Merdan's residence in Foshan, pretending to be neighbors. They escorted him on a plane back to Kucha, with the officials telling Merdan he had to register with the local authorities. However, in Kucha he was taken to a detention facility and put in a basement cell with 50 to 60 other detainees. In the text messages sent to his family, Merdan tells of the detainees being separated by sexes, covered with black hoods, handcuffs and shackles. The space was cramped, and oftentimes he couldn't find enough space to lie down during the night. Young police 'assistants' (协警) worked as guards at the facility, and some of them had a bad temper. After Wuhan and most of China went into lockdown at the end of January, all the inmates were ordered to put on a mask. However, the sanitary conditions were poor, with many of the detainees suffering from lice. Officers tightly controlled toilet breaks, prompting the inmates to avoid drinking. The inmates also had to share plastic spoons while eating, and many (including) Merdan started having lice due to poor sanitation. One time during a check-up, the thermometer showed Merdan's temperature to be over 37 degrees. He was then taken to a smaller room and kept there with two guards standing nearby. He could hear the sound of inmates screaming coming from the interrogation rooms, sometimes throughout the entire day. Eighteen days since his detention in Kucha, Merdan and other inmates were called out and put in minibuses to be taken away. However, he was called back by an official and put in a room with an elderly man who had been physically abused by the guards after asking to use the toilet. Later the same day, several young people (including a 16-year-old) were brought into the facility as punishment for breaking quarantine rules. They were severely beaten until their 'skin opened' and they couldn't sit down. Merdan was then taken for a lung examination, with the doctors finding no abnormalities. He was then taken to a room from where he retrieved his phone and shot a video that he later sent to his aunt Ayshemgul. He proceeded to communicate with Abdulhakim in the Netherlands through Ayshemgul over the course of the next month.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

He had a previous arrest for drug trafficking in 2018.

Regarding the detention at Kucha, Chinese embassy to the UK and the consulate at Toronto have reposted quotes from an official at the People's Government 12h News Conference on Xinjiang Affairs (新闻办公室举行第十二场涉疆问题新闻发布会) that took place on August 27, 2020. The official said Iljan Anayit said that Merdan 'deliberately inflicted self-injury' during his escort to Kucha and was put in containment to 'calm his sentiment'. Later, during the national lockdown, he supposedly 'resisted temperature checks, abused and physically assaulted medical personnel' (拒绝、阻碍防疫人员为其测量体温，辱骂防疫人员，并殴打防疫人员) and is now being investigated on those charges.

Victim's status

Abdulhakim received the last WeChat message from Ayshemgul on March 9th or 10th. Since then, there has been no news of Merdan or Ayshemgul. Abdulhakim said that a Han Chinese friend of Merdan's had travelled to Kucha to find him, but the local police refused to cooperate once they understood who she had come to see.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

See above

Additional information

Original record of drug charge: https://archive.ph/8wKrJ

Official press conference where Xinjiang officials commented on his case (Testimony 2): https://archive.ph/JeRbm https://archive.ph/pyLLO

Media reporting: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-inside-a-uyghurs-quarantine-room-video-shows-shackles -filthy/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53809345 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53650246 https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/model-08062020165433.html

Original WeChat messages and translation (Testimony 1): https://jimmillward.medium.com/wear-your-mask-under-your-hood-an-account-of-prisoner-abuse-in-xinj iang-during-the-2020-3007a1f7437d

Eyewitness account

[The following is an account from Merdan Ghappar, a former Taobao model who lived in Guangdong but was forced to return to Xinjiang in January 2020, where he was kept in a detention center for several weeks. The account, taken from Merdan’s online messages to relatives, was forwarded to relatives outside of China, who then went public with the story. The translation was done by Professor James Millward and originally published on his Medium.]

The people here really have some problem in their head. When I was taken away, I was wearing a Uniqlo down jacket, really good quality, very warm. When I got to this police station, I saw 50–60 people were locked in a small room not 50 meters square in area — I was shocked. A third of the room was taken up by chairs for the duty cops. The rest was men on the right, women on the left, divided up and locked in cages. And from head to toe, they were all wearing four-piece suits. This so-called four-piece suit was a black cloth bag over the head; handcuffs; shackles; and a steel chain between the handcuffs and the shackles. No one was allowed to open the hood to look at each other or at the police. Otherwise they’d get shouted at really viciously.

The first day I was taken there I was screamed at. I was taken there at night. At night when it was time to sleep, because there were too many people and the space so small, not every person could sleep lying down. Some had to sit with their legs curled up. That night I was one of the ones who had to sleep sitting up. Others slept on their sides squeezed together really tightly. At night before sleeping they [the guards] would arrange us in sleeping positions. That night my handcuffs were locked too tightly — it was really painful for my wrists. Because that was the first night I was taken there I didn’t know the rules. I raised my hood to ask the cop who was arranging our sleeping positions, I said my cuffs were too tight, my wrists were aching, could you please loosen them a little bit for me? Then he just shouted fiercely at me: “if you lift that hood again I beat you to death!” I saw he was carrying a rifle on his back so I didn’t dare say anything else. I don’t want to die.

Here the cloth hood on its own is very thick — it’s very stuffy underneath. On top of that, given how many people there were, with few windows, no air circulating, there was little oxygen. Moreover, there was just one fan in a small window. Originally there’d been two, but the other fan was sealed up and wouldn’t run.

Every two police officers and one police assistant (that is, the guards who weren’t wearing police uniforms but a just a camouflage jacket), would do a shift of about 3–6 hours together. While working a shift, smoking or whatever, their personalities were different. Some loved to scream at people, some were okay. The person wearing my hood before me had poked several holes in it. I could see everything in the room. I saw that a lot of police in uniform had a badge on their right arm that said “police assistant” (协警). Although those police were wearing uniforms, nearly all of them were assistants. If you didn’t see that badge, it was really hard to tell them apart. I saw that a lot of the assistants were kids — from their dewy youthful faces they looked about 17, 18, 20? Maybe. Anyway, they looked like kids dressed in a cop’s uniform. Some had no education — listening to how they talked I got the sense that their cultural level is pretty low.

After I’d been there for a while, I could often hear other interrogation rooms in that underground area? The sounds of horrible screams came through, from men and women. It was awful whatever it was, just terrifying. It scared the hell out of the people in the cages.

Some of the duty cops when they arrived in the morning or the evening would open the window to let some air in. Some wouldn’t. Although there was a fan in the window, if it was turned on it got really cold. It was winter, after all. And maybe it was because we were always sitting and couldn’t move around, so it was easy to get cold. If the window wasn’t open, it was really stuffy.

Some people had different kinds of infectious diseases. There was nothing we could do — we could only all breathe the same air together. For eating, there were only 7–8 plastic bowls and spoons — the spoons were one-time use, disposable ones. But everybody everyday would have to take turns using these 7 or 8 one-time-use spoons. Both the men and the women prisoners shared these bowls and spoons. The police washed the bowls and spoons, but they never washed them clean. Before meals, they would have anyone with an infectious disease raise their hand, and [the police] would say, “those with a disease eat last” or something like that. If you wanted to eat sooner, you could just keep your mouth shut. You understand what I’m saying? But this was a moral problem.

Our food was the leftovers after the cops had eaten, made into rice-soup. I mean that the cooked dishes and rice in the dining hall were clean. The leftovers were then thrown together with rice or noodles, with a bit of water dumped in and mixed up into a soup. In any case every meal always was mixed up with water. Because we normally couldn’t drink water — we were afraid if we drank water we’d need to go to the bathroom, and have to trouble someone to take us to the toilet, and we were afraid of getting yelled at. Of course, there were some who would ask to drink some water. That would depend on whether the duty cop agreed or not.

And the carpet was incredibly dirty, with lots of garbage and lice. On the 22nd [of January, 2020] when the news of the epidemic broke, the cops told us to wear masks underneath our cloth hoods. A hood + a mask. There was even less air. And that day they hadn’t opened the window. The room was really hot because there was a radiator in the room. Later a cop used an epidemic infrared forehead thermometer to check all of our temperatures. But I don’t think that thing is as accurate as an underarm thermometer. Body temperature is not the same when wearing clothes. Because of the various factors I mentioned above, my temperature and those of several people reached more than 37 or 38 degrees. Then they probably thought I was running a temperature, and I was also from eastern China.

After a few days they took me to another room upstairs, pretty big, like a questioning room. There were lots of small cubicles inside, the kind with stainless steel bars. They had me stay alone in one of those rooms, with two people to guard me. I was still wearing the four-piece suit and a facemask. In this room the radiator wasn’t very effective, maybe was because the room was larger. The temperature varied greatly from morning to night. At night it was incredibly cold, there was no way to sleep, all I could do was curl up in a ball. Some of the duty cops, so as not to get sleepy, would open the window. That was like adding frost on top of the snow. And they wouldn’t let me sleep during the day, but made me sit up. This room was on the first floor — I could hear the screams more clearly. There was also an interrogation room on the first floor. One time I heard a man screaming from morning until evening. This was psychological torture to me — I was afraid, would the next one be me? Two or three days after coming into this room I couldn’t handle the cold and really came down with something, but wasn’t feverish, just a runny nose. They took my temperature every day. Later they decided that that infrared thermometer thing wasn’t accurate and used an under-arm thermometer to take my temperature. Then I got clever. When they were going to take my temperature, I opened the zipper on my clothes. That way, my body temperature went down. This was because I was afraid they would misdiagnose me as having coronavirus and take me to a hospital and put me together with other people who really had coronavirus to observe or treat, and so on… that way the infection rate would be much higher…

By the 4th or 5th day — I forget — when they saw that my temperature always held at 35–36 they took me back down to that 50-meter square cage in the underground room. A few more days passed. Maybe it was the beginning of February, everyone in the cage was packed onto some kind of minibus and taken away. At the time I was also pressed onto the bus, but before it drove off, some official, I guess, told the bus to stop. Then I was taken back underground to the cage. I was the only one left.

Within a few hours, an old man whom they’d tortured before came back from the hospital or clinic. There were gauze bandages on his hands and feet, because in the place where the cuffs were on both his hands, his wrists, had been dragged, the skin was broken, oozing blood and pus. Besides torturing him in the interrogation room, this old man always wanted to go to the bathroom at midday. Only the police who were guarding us could take us to go to the bathroom upstairs. Every prisoner was assigned to the supervision of a different officer, so another prisoner’s cop wouldn’t be willing to take a prisoner who wasn’t his personal charge to go to the toilet. Moreover, these police usually weren’t in the underground room waiting around. They were probably working in an office, or interrogating someone else? For someone like this old man who wanted to go to the bathroom in the middle of the day, he’d have to request the duty cop to call his supervising cop on the intercom and ask him to come down and take him to the toilet. It would take them a long time to come down, and they probably found it a lot of trouble to come to the underground room. They’d be ticked off, so they’d yell at whoever wanted to go to the bathroom. The old man seemed to have high blood pressure, gout and such diseases. Both his feet swelled up.

In the evening, another four people came in, the youngest 16 and the oldest 20. The facts of their case were that during the epidemic period, they were outside playing a kind of game like baseball. In the evening they were brought to the police station and beaten until they screamed like babies. The skin on their buttocks split open, they couldn’t sit down.

That same evening an ambulance came with a male and a female nurse to take me to the hospital to examine my lungs. The examination revealed that my lungs had no abnormalities, and then they took me here [i.e., to the quarantine room in the neighborhood compound from which Merdan shot a video]. When I got here, they handcuffed me to the bed. My whole body is covered with lice — I catch a lot of them every day. It itches terribly. Here, too, I get to go to the bathroom just two times a day, morning and evening. Of course, the environment is a bit better than the police station with all those people. Here I live alone. But there are two people guarding me.

Source: https://jimmillward.medium.com/wear-your-mask-under-your-hood-an-account-of-prisoner-abuse-in-xinj iang-during-the-2020-3007a1f7437d

Victims among relatives

Ayshemgul Ghappar (12953), Dilyar Ghappar (12954) Supplementary materials video compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu1nZPOCB64 Chinese ID (redacted): https://shahit.biz/supp/12952_1.jpg Chinese passport: https://shahit.biz/supp/12952_2.jpg

Entry created: 2020-11-13 Last updated: 2021-02-25 Latest status update: 2020-09-05 14381. Zumeryem Ablikim (祖买热亚木·阿布力克木)

Chinese ID: 653129200???????E? (Peyziwat)

Basic info

Age: under 18 Gender: F Ethnicity: Uyghur Likely current location: Kashgar Status: orphanage When problems started: Apr. 2020 - June 2020 Detention reason (suspected|official): relative(s)|--- Health status: --- Profession: minor

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Mehriban Qadir, as reported by CNN. (mother)

Testimony 2: Ablikim Memtimin, as reported by CNN. (father)

Testimony 3: Arafat Ablimit, as reported by CNN. (cousin)

Testimony 4: Mehriban Qadir, as reported by Amnesty International. (mother)

Testimony 5: Proof-of-life video, released by an unspecified Chinese media outlet and intended to show that a given individual is "alive and well".

About the victim

Zumeryem Ablikim is one of the daughters of Mihriban Kader and Ablikim Mamtimin.

She has many siblings, three of whom are with her in Xinjiang (Yehya Ablikim, Muhemmed Ablikim and Shehide Ablikim), and three of whom reside with their parents in Priverno, Italy.

Zumeryem is originally from Kashgar Prefecture. As of 18 March 2021, she was 16 years old.

Testimony 5: Zumeryem says she is a "Senior 2 student in Class 9 of the No. 1 Middle School in Jiashi County, Xinjiang."

Victim's location

The victim is currently being held at a state-run orphanage in Payzawat County, Kashgar Prefecture.

When victim was detained

After their parents were forced to flee China, Zumeryem, Yehya, Muhemmed and Shehide had to stay in the care of their grandparents in Xinjiang. In 2017, all contact between the four children and their parents was lost.

In 2019, the parents obtained Italian visa clearances for all four children. (Testimony 4: The class of Italian visa for which the four children were all approved in November 2019 were "family reunification visas". The four children were told that "family reunification visas could only be issued in the Italian embassy in Beijing.")

In early 2020, the parents reconnected with the four children. The children's passports were soon to expire, and authorities had threatened to send them to an orphanage.

In June 2020, the four children attempted to escape China under the direction of their parents and Erafat Ablimit. They traveled via aeroplane from Kashgar to Shanghai via Urumqi.

In Shanghai, they were denied entry to the Italian consulate by a security guard.

On 24 June 2020, two of the children then went to an Italian visa office in Shanghai, but their applications were rejected on the grounds that officials could not recognise the clearance documents and that minors "needed to be accompanied by adults". Shortly after the two children left the visa office, Chinese authorities arrested all four children. The children were sent to a COVID-19 quarantine centre and then to a state-sponsored orphanage in Payzawat County.

(Testimony 4: On Wednesday, 24 June 2020, the oldest daughter [unclear if Zumeryem or Shehide] and the youngest son (Muhemmed) went to the Italian visa office in Shanghai (after being denied entry to the consulate). The second oldest daughter [identity unclear] and the oldest son (Yehya) presumably remained at the hotel. After their visa application was rejected at the visa office, the oldest daughter and youngest son (Muhemmed) took a bus back to their hotel. Mihriban asked the oldest daughter and youngest son to text her "as soon as they got back to their room." After one hour, Mihriban thought that "maybe they forgot to send [her] a message," so she "sent them a voice message, but there was no reply." Mihriban heard from an unspecified acquaintance in Shanghai that all four children were arrested at the hotel.)

In late February 2021, the children sent a photograph to their parents and were consequently interrogated for a number of hours.

CNN journalists were able to make contact with one of the children (Yehya) via WeChat video call, but his responses were apparently prompted by someone off-camera.

The parents are able to contact the four children occasionally via telephone.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

[Unclear, but presumably related to the fact that her parents reside in Italy.]

Victim's status

The victim is currently being held at a state-run orphanage in Payzawat County, Kashgar Prefecture.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Testimony 1-2: the parents are occasionally able to communicate with the victim directly. Testimony 3: Arafat Ablimit made several phone calls to unspecified parties after the victim was arrested in Shanghai in late June 2020.

Additional information

CNN coverage (Testimony 1-3): https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/18/china/xinjiang-uyghur-families-china-amnesty-report-exclusive-dst-in tl-hnk/index.html

Amnesty International article (Testimony 4): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/03/the-nightmare-of-uyghur-families-separated-by-rep ression/

Testimony 4: Shortly after the parents left China, local police began to harass Mihriban's parents. Ultimately, Mihriban's mother was sent to a concentration camp. In addition, Mihriban's father was "interrogated for several days and later spent months in hospital," leaving the four children without a caretaker. According to Mihriban, her "other relatives didn't dare to look after [her] children after what had happened to [her] parents" as "they were afraid that they would be sent to camps, too."

Testimony 5: In a propaganda video released very soon after the CNN report, Zumeryem says that it was her mother, Mehriban, who asked the children to take the group photo on 9 February 2021 (in which Muhemmed Ablikim is holding the hand-written note). Mehriban allegedly asked them to write the note, and Zumeryem sent the photo to Mihriban via WeChat.

Victims among relatives

Yehya Ablikim (14382), Muhemmed Ablikim (14383), Shehide Ablikim (14384)

Supplementary materials

Testimony 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-msXbf6ZhE photo (second from right): https://shahit.biz/supp/14381_1.jpg

Entry created: 2021-05-07 Last updated: 2021-05-09 Latest status update: 2021-03-25 15887. Chen Haoyu (陈皓宇)

Chinese ID: 6502????????????O? (Karamay)

Basic info

Age: 18-35 Gender: M Ethnicity: other Likely current location: Karamay Status: sentenced When problems started: Oct. 2019 - Dec. 2019 Detention reason (suspected|official): ---|"spreading lies", "separatism", "picking quarrels" Health status: --- Profession: ---

Testifying party

Testimony 1: Dake Kang, a China-based reporter for the Associated Press. (acquaintance)

Testimony 2: XUAR People's Government Information Office, the formal body in charge of making official public statements to the outside world regarding events in Xinjiang.

Testimony 3: Vincent Gao, as reported by Associated Press. (friend)

Testimony 4: Wang Tonghe, as reported by Associated Press. (friend)

Testimony 5: @TGtadie, an unverified Twitter account. (relation unclear)

About the victim

Chen Haoyu (more commonly known as "Firdavs Drinov") is a linguist who represented China at the International Linguistics Olympiad in 2015. He is fluent in Mandarin, English, Uzbek, Uyghur, Russian, and French.

Victim's location

Karamay City Detention Center (克拉玛依市看守所).

When victim was detained

He was previously held at a detention center for 15 days in December 2019.

In January 2021, a text message was sent to government offices in Karamay telling each office to find one Uyghur to film a propaganda clip. Chen obtained a screenshot of the message from a friend (who had family working for the Karamay government). That same month, the victim sent the screenshot to Dake Kang of the Associated Press, and was promptly detained three days later.

In April 2021, the Xinjiang authorities confirmed that Chen was arrested, specifying that he was being held at the Karamay City Detention Center, under suspicion of "inciting separatism". In late June 2021, Twitter user @TGtadie wrote that Chen's sentence had allegedly been announced already.

Likely (or given) reason for detention

According to Wang Tonghe, the official reason for the December 2019 detention was "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", with police interrogating the victim in relation to his posts on Chinese social media (specifically, Xinjiang government documents from a New York Times story).

According to the XUAR information office, he had "fabricated and published false information, inciting people who did not have knowledge of the true facts to carry out separatist activities that harm the unity of the nation", with the recent arrest made on suspicion of the crime of "inciting separatism". According to friends of the victim, his January 2021 arrest was related to the screenshot he sent to Dake Kang three days prior.

Victim's status

Allegedly sentenced.

How did the testifier learn about the victim's status?

Dake Kang was in direct contact with the victim prior to his arrest. He was also in contact with Vincent Gao, Wang Tonghe, and the Xinjiang authorities.

The confirmation of Chen's arrest comes directly from the Xinjiang authorities (the information office).

It is not clear how @TGtadie heard of the sentencing.

Additional information

Associated Press coverage: https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-technology-f6ffda9288b1671da741c07d8f4f8afc

Official communication(s)

Source: XUAR People's Government Information Office

------

Beijing Bureau of the Associated Press,

In a recent letter, your agency inquired 1) if government employees of Uyghur ethnicity were forced to record selfie videos to condemn the "anti-China" rhetoric by the United States; 2) if the man who had provided a screenshot of that video was imprisoned; and about other issues. Having gathered the facts, we hereby respond as follows:

1) Regarding the circumstances of the screenshot that your agency provided: Xu Guixiang, spokesperson of the People's Government Information Office of the Autonomous Region, has explained the matter in the interview with your agency on April 23. It is necessary to stress here that the anti-China rhetoric by the former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, infuriated people of all ethnicities in Xinjiang. They expressed their anger by posting videos and text, completely out of spontaneity.

2) Regarding the circumstances of Chen Haoyu. Chen Haoyu, of Han ethnicity, is a resident of Karamay City, Xinjiang, China. The police has established through investigation that Chen Haoyu repeatedly fabricated and published false information, inciting people who did not have knowledge of the true facts to carry out separatist activities that harm the unity of the nation. For his actions, he is under suspicion of the crime of inciting separatism. The Karamay City People's Procuratorate has reviewed the case and approved his arrest in accordance with the law. Subsequently, the Procuratorate will file an indictment with the Karamay City Intermediate People's Court. Chen Haoyu is currently held in custody at the Karamay City Detention Center. His various legal rights are guaranteed throughout the period of his detention.

Supplementary materials

Testimony 1: https://twitter.com/dakekang/status/1395267183622635521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Testimony 5: https://twitter.com/TGtadie/status/1408517270687604736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw photo (1): https://shahit.biz/supp/15887_4.jpeg photo (2): https://shahit.biz/supp/15887_6.png official communication(s): https://shahit.biz/supp/comm_15887.png

Entry created: 2021-07-07 Last updated: 2021-07-07 Latest status update: 2021-06-25