Years of imprisonment, just because you had a ‘religious book’ at home, ever studied the Koran or, for example, wore religious clothing: it is estimated that this concerns hundreds of thousands of Uyghur women, some even older than 80 years old. “I myself spent 15 months in prison,” said Abduweli Ayup, one of the researchers. He is Uighur and fled China in 2015. Now he lives in Norway.
“In prison everything is militarized. For example, you get 5 minutes to get up, make your bed, go to the toilet and eat your breakfast. When you are old that is not possible. When I look at the faces of I look at these women and try to imagine what it is like there for them, it makes me sad.”
A new study by the American organization Uyghur Human Rights Project brings out these new details from the leaked police files published in 2022 by the BBC, also known as the Xinjiang Police Files. This contains information about about 750,000 Uyghurs.
Watch the researchers talk about the hacked police files in these videos:
“We wanted to investigate the ‘büwi’. They are a kind of female imams,” says Ayup. When he had a daughter of his own in 2013, he realized how important these women are to the community. “They really have a leadership role. Our büwi taught us all kinds of things about hygiene and health for the baby.” The women pass on knowledge from the Koran, but also about cultural traditions, such as singing and dancing.
These women have been registered as büwi since 2011 and have since been the target of arrests, according to Ayup. “The Chinese government realized they had to keep these women under control.”
“We found one case where a woman was said to have studied religion in 1947, when she wasn’t even born yet! We didn’t even mention that in the report, because how do you explain something like that?” According to Ayup, this analysis shows how arbitrarily the Chinese government is imprisoning Uighurs.
Ayup also notices that they are mainly old women. “One woman in particular sticks out in my mind. I think she is 80 years old and in the photo you can see that her hair is shaved. In Uyghur culture, hair is very important, especially for the büwi. To shave off their hair is really very humiliating.”
Cultural genocide
“This is about cultural genocide, an attack on the religious identity of a group,” says Ugur Üngör, genocide professor at the University of Amsterdam. “China is not interested in physically exterminating Uyghurs, they cannot get away with that. The communist regime wants everyone to become communist.”
Üngör adds that this applies to all religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. A cultural genocide also destroys heritage, such as mosques. “The memories, the culture, the history of the region, everything is being erased. It even goes so far that they are trying to intervene in people’s minds. By forcibly making someone who is religious abandon their faith. They want Uyghurs be loyal to the People’s Republic of China, but this is of course not the way to achieve that.”
Human rights organization Amnesty International reported about Uyghur prisoners, who are punished with imprisonment, violence or deprivation of food if they do not want to participate in the lessons ‘laced with Chinese nationalism’. Several women also testified about sexual abuse, compulsory abortion and forced sterilization, the organization says.
Ahmedjan Kasim fled to the Netherlands in 2011 as a 15-year-old. “This investigation shows that the regime is looking for different ways to continue genocide. They are aimed at destroying the Uyghur identity.” Kasim emphasizes that this started decades ago, for example by abolishing Uighur education.
He is pleased that this research is now paying attention to the Uyghurs again. “I understand very well: there are a lot of things going on in the world. But there is still genocide going on there. We strongly suspect that this kind of research only shows the tip of the iceberg. It is also a signal to our politics. We have provided the information, now it’s your turn.”
Genocideverdrag
China, like more than 150 countries, has also signed the genocide treaty. There seems to be a consensus among scientists in the West that what is being done to the Uyghurs is probably genocide. “But it is impossible to do research,” says Üngör. And even if China were to be indicted at the International Criminal Court, China would probably not show up, Üngör thinks. “The Uyghurs are trapped like rats. Even countries that do stand up for them do not have the influence to bring about change in policy.”
The police files gradually provide more information about the situation in which Uyghurs find themselves. However, Kasim still doesn’t know why his father is in prison. “Since last year I have known that he has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. By the time he is released, in 2032, he will be close to 70 years old. I know his health, which was not very good when I left the country .I worry if there will ever be a day when I see him again.”
2024-02-02 11:11:41
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