Photo: Anadolu Agency A two-time survivor of China’s detention camps in Xinjiang described suffering physical and sexual violence at the hands of camp guards, in her July 14 testimony at an international religious freedom gathering in Washington, DC.
Tursunay Ziyawudun, 42, of China’s northwest province of Xinjiang, spoke at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, DC on the morning of Wednesday, July 14. She described how she was imprisoned in camps in the province on two separate occasions.
“My experiences in these Chinese camps have left indelible scars on my heart,” she said.
“I have come to see it as my duty to be the voice for those people who are in the camps, those who died in front of my own eyes, and those who are being held unjustly in prison,” she said, her voice quivering with emotion. Her testimony was translated with subtitles.
According to the US State Department, since April 2017 China has set up a network of internment and detention camps in Xinjiang, imprisoning more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Hui, and members of other Muslim groups, and some Christians. Detainees have been subjected to political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, forced sterilisation, and forced labor.
“Millions of Uyhgurs are suffering, and they are alive only because they have the hope and belief that there is justice in this world,” Ms Ziyawudun said. “My people, who have been experiencing a genocide for the past five years, are waiting for help from you and from all of humanity.”