Tasnim Nazeer investigates the plight of family members of missing Uyghur Muslims persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang
An estimated 1.5 million Uyghur Muslims are being forcibly detained in internment camps in Xinjiang, north-west China. The Chinese government has stripped Uyghurs of their right to practise their religion, forcing them to denounce their faith and embrace the Communist Party. Uyghur Muslims that are detained in these camps, are reported to be closely monitored and surrounded by razor wire and strict surveillance, limiting any contact with the outside world including access to their families.
Yalkun Mehmet, a PhD student who came to Istanbul in 2013 lost contact with his family who he fears have been taken by Chinese authorities. In 2017 his uncle disappeared and has not been heard from since. Following his uncle’s disappearance, Mehmet then found out that his father was also detained by the Chinese government without reason.
“I have not even heard my father’s voice and do not know whether he is alive. He was on regular police checks and talking to me once a week or so. In June 2018, I was about to graduate from my university, he asked about my legal documents. After a few days, he stopped talking to me. I understood that he was taken away for questioning. I confirmed he indeed was captured by police after 3 weeks. But could not obtain any information on the detention reason, the place he was held and the condition of his health.
I demand the Chinese government to release my father immediately and give him the right to talk to me, freedom to travel and freedom to leave the country”.
According to previous accounts published recently in Byline Times, the Uyghur population used to amount to 92,000 people but now there are only 20,000. In addition, 80% of Uyghur Muslims have disappeared in the last four years.
‘Incitement to Ethnic hatred’
“The establishment and existence of the internment camps in Xinjiang are not compatible with the laws of the People’s Republic of China, nor with international law. This is illegal.”
These are the words of Tahir Mutällip Qahiri, an Uyghur Muslim who is calling for justice after his father Mutallip Sidiq Qahari was kidnapped by the Chinese government and arrested in the Uyghur city of Kashgar.
Qahiri has been living in Germany for over 14 years and works in the University of Gottingen as a lecturer for Uyghur language and literature. His father, a well-known Uyghur scholar at Kashgar University, editor-in-chief and author of over 20 books promoting Uyghur and Arabic culture was arrested at the university by the Chinese government.
“At the beginning of November 2018, the radio programme “Radio Free Asia” reported that 30% of the employees of “Uyghur Publishing House of Kashgar” had been arrested. These people are Uyghurs. Since half of my father’s books were published by this publishing house, my suspicion was greatly strengthened that my father had also been kidnapped by the Chinese government.”
Qahiri then contacted the reporter at Radio Free Asia to ask him to find out what had happened to his father.
“The reporter Hoshur told me that my father Mutällip Sidiq Qahiri was arrested about two months ago (between summer and autumn 2018). After that, the financial department of Kashgar University asked about my father’s state pension. A Chinese lady on the phone told me that my father’s pension has been stopped since October 2018. This is also proof that my father was arrested around October 2018.”
The following year Qahiri received an unexpected video call from his family, having not heard from them for almost 17 months. It was then that he found out that his father, mother and siblings were all still alive. His father appeared on the video call but could be heard tell