Uighurs Demand China Provide Video Of Detained Relatives To Ensure Their Safety
16 June 2019Various Agencies
Uighurs across the globe on Wednesday urged Beijing to release videos of their
relatives in China's Xinjiang province to ensure the safety of their loved
ones.
Under the #MeTooUyghur campaign, which started on Twitter, Uighurs worldwide
asked Beijing to release videos of relatives that they have not heard any news
from.
Muhammad Atawulla, an Uighur, is one of those seeking information from China
about his relatives in northwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region of the
country.
"As you did with our famous singer Abdurehim Heyit, show my Father, Mother and
brother's videos, too! Show me if they are still alive!" Atawulla posted on
Twitter.
Chinese state media on Monday released a video showing Uighur poet and
musician Heyit apparently alive after reports surfaced of his death in prison,
where he was sentenced to eight years in 2017.
Emin Kasım, an Uighur living in Istanbul, also asked China to post a video of
his father-in-law.
"Having no limits in cruelty, Chinese government! What profession do you teach
my 73-year-old father in law in training camps?" Kasım wrote on Twitter on
Tuesday, referring to the "re-education camps" in which some 1 million Uighurs
are being incarcerated.
Meryem Sultan tweeted a photo asking Beijing to put her in contact with her
friends and family.
Sultan said she wants a video of her mother, who she said got 15 years in
prison despite being innocent.
Turkey on Sunday slammed Chinese authorities' systematic assimilation policy
for Uighurs, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy calling it "a great
embarrassment for humanity."
"It is no longer a secret that more than one million Uighurs— who are exposed
to arbitrary arrests — are subjected to torture and political brainwashing in
concentration centers and prisons," Aksoy said.
Turkey urges Chinese authorities to respect the Uighurs' fundamental human
rights and shut down concentration camps, Aksoy said.
"We also call on the international community and UN secretary-general to take
effective steps to end the human tragedy in Xinjiang," he added.
China's Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic
Muslim group, which makes up around 45 percent of Xinjiang's population, has
long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic
discrimination.
Up to 1 million people, or about 7 percent of the Muslim population in
Xinjiang, have been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political
re-education" camps, according to U.S. officials and U.N. experts.
In a report last September, Human Rights Watch accused the Chinese government
of a "systematic campaign of human rights violations" against Uighur Muslims
in Xinjiang.
According to a 117-page report, the Chinese government conducted "mass
arbitrary detention, torture and mistreatment" of Uighurs in the region.
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