A testimony from our “100 Camp Testimonies” Book
I am ethnically Uyghur and I’m a Muslim. I was born in Kashgar, East Turkistan in 1967. I left for Turkey in May 2016 and have been living in Turkey ever since. Back in 2008, I was subjected to a forced abortion. My son and other family members have been persecuted by the Chinese regime.
I have four biological children: two girls and two boys. Unfortunately, my fifth child didn’t make it to this world on account of my forced abortion. My ex-husband has children from another marriage. In August 2008, I was pregnant with my fifth child, which was not allowed by the Chinese regime. We were prepared to pay a fine of CN¥10,000 for having our fifth child, to which the Chinese authorities refused to agree, emphasizing that, “If you give birth to this baby, we will seal off your house and you will be taken to a holding center[1], and we will send your husband to a different holding center.” I was planning to run away to somewhere else to give birth to my baby, but my husband said, “If you run away, they will come for me and what will happen then?” My husband agreed to the abortion in order to avoid this retaliation from the Chinese regime. I had no choice but to follow the regime’s command, i.e., to abort my unborn baby.
The authorities sent four people, two from the local birth control authority and the other two from the local police station, to my house three days before the abortion, giving me a heads-up on the imminent abortion. They took me from my house and put me in a car along with three other Uyghur women. They took us to Kashgar city, where we changed to another car that took us to the hospital. The police followed us in a separate car. My husband and the husbands of the other women also followed us in another car. Finally, we arrived at the Women & Infants Hospital of Kashgar (i.e. 喀什地区妇幼保健医院), where I saw many other Uyghur women from different villages.
They put me and the other three Uyghur women who I shared a car with in four different rooms, in which abortions were performed. I was given a pill first, and two hours later they gave me an injection right in the stomach region. Another two hours later the dead fetus came out. I was not allowed to leave the room until the dead fetus came out. I passed out from the pain, so I stayed there for another half an hour after the abortion.
I was five months pregnant. In other rooms, I saw aborted babies that were just a few days before their due date, i.e., late-term abortions were performed there.
It was getting dark outside and that hospital was overcrowded, so I decided to leave. I paid the hospital CN¥500 (roughly US$78) for the procedure. They arranged a car to take me and my husband home.
My husband and I divorced following this tragic abortion, and he took custody of my son. He sent my son to live with me when he turned 19. Shortly after that, on May 20, 2015, my son was detained by the local authorities, and he was sent to the Sanji (i.e. Changji 昌吉) city prison, which is close to Ürümchi.
My son was taking a boxing class prior to his detention, and the authorities found out that he was underage and that he expressed his desire to travel to Turkey to someone there at the fitness center. When the Chinese authorities detain anybody, including my son, they would only give one reason, which is that the person in question has “run counter to the government policies” (违反政策).
At that time, we knew that people had been able to get their sons out of detention with CN¥50,000 (roughly US$7850). When my son was detained, I tried to get him a passport, thinking to send him abroad once he was out. A policeman was dealing with my passport request for my son, who then passed on the information to a Uyghur and a Chinese police officer. They put me in a car and offered to release my son for CN¥200,000 (roughly US$31400), emphasizing that my son could be arrested again. I tried all possible ways, and even considered to sell my house to get my son out of detention. But my house was only valued at CN¥50,000 (roughly US$7850).
In 2015, my son was sentenced to 13 years in prison. I suffered terrible anguish and left East Turkistan. On May 20, 2016, I arrived in Turkey. I had no choice but to leave all my children. My youngest had been sentenced to 13 years. My daughter was sent to an internment camp because I came to Turkey. I have no news about my other children. My brother, who was caring for my children, was also sent to an internment camp.
[1] A holding center (in Uyghur: yighiwilish orni) is a term, different from a detention center, used primarily in the southern parts of East Turkistan in the past to refer to some kind of “reeducation” center. Those who disobeyed the local authorities would be sent there and subjected to ideological reeducation as well as forced labor. It preceded the regime’s mass internment drive that started in 2016.
