The horrifying plight of the Uyghur Muslims in China isn’t one that’s unknown to the public, but the masses (including Malaysians) are dangerously uninformed about the issue.
One of the many reasons is that China keeps denying their affiliation to the re-education camps and they insisted that the allegations against the camps are fake. FYI, Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims from Xinjiang Uyghur which also known as East Turkistan.
Nevertheless, survivors have bravely come out and openly accused China of ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide. Yes, you read that right.
Thanks to social media, now the adversity faced by Uyghurs are being brought to light. But if you’re not informed about this serious case, don’t worry because we’ve got all the important information that you need to know about this matter.
1. Women are turned sterile in re-education camps
A fellow survivor revealed that not only do the authorities in the camps recognise these poor women as terrorists but they are also purposely put under a sterilisation program in order to disrupt their ability to give birth. Due to that, these women would have their periods stopped eventually.
These women are forced to stick their arm out and receive an injection which robs them from their opportunity of becoming a mother. Besides that, they are also instructed to perform inhumane exercises like doing push-ups whilst being completely naked. They are put into isolation should these women speak in their mother tongue, which is Turkic.
2. Uyghurs’ tombs are destroyed to make way for “urban development”
In an attempt of cultural genocide, dozens of Uyghurs’ tombs were wiped out in the span of two years. These tombs are mercilessly smashed and scattered in order to “make way for urban development”. Natheless, Uyghurs know that the destruction of their tombs – which is a symbol of heritage and culture – was to completely wipe out the slightest hint of Uyghurs’ existence. Salih Hudayar said,
“This is all part of China’s campaign to effectively eradicate any evidence of who we are, to effectively make us like the Han Chinese. That’s why they’re destroying all of these historical sites, these cemeteries, to disconnect us from our history, from our fathers and our ancestors.”
Even though there was resistance against the demolition of the Uyghurs’ graveyard, the place has been completely demolished.
3. Uyghur women who fight their rapist in re-education camps are killed
An Uyghur survivor, 54, said that young women who are captured as detainees in these re-education camps are raped and killed if they fought their rapist back. She said: “Young girls are taken out and raped all night long. If you keep resisting, they will inject you with something and kill you.”
She bitterly recalled watching two Uyghur women being killed by injection. Not only but another Uyghur survivor said that their torturing methods are “very inhumane and extremely unbearable”. These prisoners are brutally chained and they are often deprived of food and sleep. Bekli shared: “They make you fear and make you weak, physically and mentally so that they can make you obey them.”
4. Uyghurs’ are separated from their families and placed in re-education camps
China is reportedly building boarding schools, dormitories and detention camps to accommodate the growing number of Uyghur children. Dr Adrian Zenz, a German researcher who exposed China’s re-education camps, said that China’s logic for these expansions is to “maintain social stability and peace”. He said,
“Boarding schools provide the ideal context for a sustained cultural re-engineering of minority societies.”
In the meantime, adults are being pulled from their families and killed for peacefully practising their religion. Those who have managed to escape to nearing countries like Turkey said that they badly miss their family members who are still stuck in these camps.
5. Chinese men are assigned to keep an eye on Uyghur’s households
In 2017, China introduced a program named “Pair Up and Become Family” and they said that it’s an effort to “promote ethnic unity”. However, the actual agenda is to closely monitor the activities of Uyghur’s families after the men of the families are detained in the re-education camps. These officials will stay up to six days at an Uyghur’s household and they will “educate” these family with their ideology. An official told Radio Free Asia said,
“They help [the families] with their ideology, bringing new ideas. They talk to them about life, during which time they develop feelings for one another. Normally one or two people sleep in one bed, and if the weather is cold, three people sleep together. It is now considered normal for females to sleep on the same platform with their paired male ‘relatives’.”
Following that, RFA’s article was met with backlash as Rep. Jackie Speier of California said that the story was “absolutely repulsive” and urged the US government to speak out against “systemised enslavement”.
6. Uyghur prisoners’ organs are reportedly harvested after being killed in re-education camps
In addition to their brutal torturing methods, these Uyghur prisoners are also killed and harvested for their organs. What’s even more morbid is that their organs – like kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, cornea and skin – are harvested while these victims are still alive.
The tribunal findings were brought forward by lawyer Hamid Sabi to the UN on 24th September 2019 and he urged to UN to take action on the matter. He said that it’s pretty black and white that China has been harvesting organs from the Falun Gong, Uyghurs, Tibetians and Christians groups.
Apparently, China is set to earn more than RM4.2 billion a year through the organ transplant industry, but China still denies its hands in the barbaric organ harvesting practice.
7. Kazakh Muslim students were locked up in pig carcasses’ freezer for refusing to eat pork
Over 400 Kazakh Muslim students were detained and thrown into a freezer filled with pig carcasses after they staged a protest against government order to eat pork. After the news broke, the students’ location was still not revealed as the Chinese education ministry refused to put out a statement about the case. Apparently the refusal to eat pork is a serious crime in China because it violates one of their laws.
On the other hand, Xinjiang Muslims have no option at all but endure whatever pain that the Han Chinese put them through. They are all forced to perform obligations that are against the Islamic religion, like eating pork and drinking alcohol. Refusal to do so is considered “extremism” by the Han Chinese.
Their only options are fighting to the death or get tortured and brainwashed by these officials. Either way, they still lose because they will have to give up their ancestry, culture and religion.
This cultural genocide has been many times likened to the Holocaust – the infamous movement which was meant to completely wipe out the Jewish community in Germany – and it’s quite worrying that there are no initiatives taken to relive Uyghurs of their pain. These people are being denied basic human rights and we are doing nothing to help them.
So, share this article and educate your fellow friends and family about this ongoing barbaric modern genocide which is mind-blowingly happening right under our noses!
Also read: 17yo’s Tik Tok Account Gets Suspended After Trying To Raise Awareness About Uyghur Muslims