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Uyghur Concentration Camp Survivor Testimonies 7- 13 June 2021 Weekly Journal of Press New Horrors: Uyghur Concentration Camp Survivor Testimonies CJ Werleman, June 10 Two dozen Uyghur concentration camp survivors, relatives of detainees and former Chinese guards gave testimony to the Uyghur Tribunal over four days, from June 4 to 7. Herewith a summary of the more sho- cking testimonies: Abduweli Ayup I was born in Kashgar city, China, in 1973. I am currently residing in Tur- key. I was detained by the local Chinese State Security Police from August 19th, 2013 until November 20th, 2014. The reason was because I was promoting, online, the linguistic rights of Uyghur people and in the process of opening They asked me to take off my whole clothes and two kindergartens in the Uyghur mot- they asked me to bow. Just like a dog, dog style. her tongue in Urumqi and Kashgar. Then the sexual abuse happened. At first, they threatened me to life imp- Read more of his testimony here: https:// risonment. And then they used an ele- uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploa- ctric stick. They shocked my right arm ds/2021/06/04-1710-JUN-21-UTFW-013-Abduwe- and once in the armpit. This is in the li-Ayup-English-1.pdf interrogation room. And then they ac- cused me of being a spy for the CIA and Sayragul Sauytbay for instigating separatism and inciting I was told that I would be teaching detainees at the people to break Chinese language po- education centre. My first impression of the centre licy. was that it was a scary fascist camp. 1 Weekly Journal of Press 7- 13 June 2021 They forced me to sign a confidentiality ag- carry heavy stones and break these stones reement, repeatedly stating that if I break into pieces, and when he could not lift stones any of the rules I would face death. That anymore, he would be clubbed by the guards. is how I started my work at the detention In the evening, he had to face interrogations camp in East Turkestan. for reasons like “not working hard” or “not My memories of the camp are that it was admitting guilt.” chilling, worse than a prison. Detainees were During interrogation, they would take off subjected to extreme mental torture under his nails with pliers and use the pliers to pin- various malevolent schemes of pressure and ch his leg tendons. They would also hit him horror. All the detainees were handcuffed on the head, so much that he was bleeding and shackled, both men and women’s heads from his head several times, and these inju- were shaved, there were cameras installed ries ultimately caused memory loss. everywhere, their movements were surveyed Read more of her testimony here: https:// for 24 hours. Detainees were from all ages. uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploa- The youngest was a 13-year-old boy and the ds/2021/06/04-1225-JUN-21-UTFW-047-Pa- oldest an 84-year-old man. The majority were tigul-Talip-English.pdf men and women aged 60 to 70 years old. Omir Bekali Read more of her testimony here: htt- I was handcuffed and a black hood was placed ps://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/ on my head. They said this was the rule and uploads/2021/06/04-1400-JUN-21-UT- they did this to everyone. Three policemen FW-001-Sayragul-Sawutbay-English.pdf took me to a place like a hospital where a full Patigul Talip body examination took place while my hood Today my husband cannot really speak on was still on. Blood andurine samples were ta- this because of the trauma he endured, it af- ken.Then I was placed on a bed. They applied fected his memory too. a cold gel on different parts of my body, so I During his imprisonment, Muhemmetimin thought they were doing ultrasound. I could was taken to forced labour and had to spend hear them speaking about my examination, sixteen hours a day doing hard physical work. but I could not see anything, I was terrified He has frequently faced hunger and was be- that they might cut me open and remove my aten by the police for no reason. He had to organs. They interrogated me for four days and ni- ghts with extreme torture methods. They 2 7- 13 June 2021 Weekly Journal of Press made me sit on the “tiger” chair. They hung FW-005-Qelbinur-Sidik-English-1.pdf me from the ceiling. They chained me to the Shemsinur Abdighafur wall and beat me with plastic, wooden, ele- In my time working in hospitals in China I ctric batons and metal wire whip. They pier- witnessed and heard about a lot of forced ced needles under my nails. I could take nap sterilizations and forced abortions of Uyghur of ten or fifteen minutes only when I was women. seated on “tiger” chair. They forced me to We could sometimes hear that some babies accept three crimes: instigating terrorism, were born, and they started crying and from organising terror activities, and covering up this we knew they were alive. But we knew for terrorists. I denied everything. all babies would be given the injection so we Read more of his testimony here: https:// knew they would die before they got home. uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploa- When they put the needle in, they see if a ds/2021/06/04-1020-JUN-21-UTFW-018-O- liquid comes out, if it does it confirms it is in mir-Bekali-English.pdf the right place. I witnessed the injection be- Qelbinur Sidik ing done. It was done daily. When I looked at them as they came out, I Read more of her testimony here: https://uy- noticed that they are older adults with cha- ghurtribunal.com/wp-content/meryem-Ro- ins on their hands and feet. (I burst into te- ars every time when I gave a testimony about them. People have been trying to comfort me and I’ve also promised myself not to cry every time when I speak about them but I can’t help it when I think of them and their condition at that moment.) The sound of these torture was all over the building. So wild. Those who have suffered so much cannot go to class. After months in the cells, their limbs were severely injured, and those with disabilities were taken to hospitals, and those who could not be trea- ted were amputated. Bumeryem Rozi Read more of his testimony here: htt- I was subjected to a forced abortion. My son ps://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/ and other family members have been detai- uploads/2021/06/04-0930-JUN-21-UT- ned by Chinese authorities. When we arrived in the hospital there were many other Uyghur women from different vil- lages. All of the patients I saw were Uyghur. They put the four women I had travelled with and me into four different rooms, at almost the same time. In all rooms, there was one bed inside. It was there the abortion was car- ried out. They gave me a tablet. Then 2 hours later they injected my stomach. A further 2 3 Weekly Journal of Press 7- 13 June 2021 hours later the dead baby came out. I was not allowed to leave the room until the baby came out. I passed out from the pain and I stayed there another half an hour after the abortion. Read more of her testimony here: https:// uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploa- ds/2021/06/05-1650-JUN-21-UTFW-039-Bu- meryem-Rozi-English.pdf Tursunay Ziyawudun Before we ate our breakfast, which was water When we arrived at that day, there was a with very little rice, we had to sing songs hai- man who came to teach us about the law, ling the Chinese Communist Party and repeat and then an Imam came to us and told us these lines in Chinese: “Long live Xi Jinping,” not to pray, that it was wrong, not to wear and “Leniency for those who repent and pu- a headscarf, not to wear a skirt, not to be- nishment for those who resist.” We had seven lieve in God, and we have to believe in the days to memorise the rules of the camp and Communist Party. fourteen days to memorise all the lines in a I was in a state of mental breakdown, so I fell book on Communist ideology. down, and the guard kept kicking me in the Read more of her testimony here: htt- stomach and head, and I felt that my stoma- ps://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/ ch was split open. He cursed me and kicked uploads/2021/06/06-1650-JUN-21-UT- me, he said all these Uyghur are like this, FW-014-Mihrigul-Tursun-English.pdf they should be treated like this, and then he kept kicking me, and then I passed out. I would rather kill myself than suffer what I had to endure again. Read more of her testimony here: htt- ps://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/ uploads/2021/06/05-1400-JUN-21-UT- FW-019-Tursunay-Ziyawudun-English.pdf Mihrigul Tursun There were around forty people kept in a Gulbahar Haitiwaji forty square metre cell so, at night, ten to fif- Because I had lost a lot of weight at that time, teen women would stand up while the rest more than 15 kilos, and I weighed less than would sleep on our side so that we could fit. 50 kilos at that time.
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