A testimony from our “100 Camp Testimonies” Book
I was born on September 2, 1967 in Aksu, East Turkistan. I went to both elementary and secondary schools in Aksu, and later studied physics at Xinjiang University in 1984 in Ürümchi. My father was an agronomist and my mother was an employee in a shopping mall.
In 1987 while I was studying at Xinjiang University, I started and organized a student union called “The Students Cultural Science Union” (hereafter the SCSU) at the Xinjiang University. The reason for its establishment was my increasing concern about the widespread discrimination against Uyghurs, which, in my opinion, mostly resulted from illiteracy and the lack of education. With the help of my fellow students, we managed to mobilize university students to educate Uyghur people in rural areas of East Turkistan. I also noticed that the Chinese constitution had promised lots of rights to non-Han ethnic groups, including Uyghurs, but none of the promised rights actually materialized because ordinary Uyghur citizens did not have enough education to understand or defend their own rights.
The purpose of the SCSU was to teach Uyghurs who couldn’t read and write the Uyghur alphabet, as well as reading and writing of Uyghur texts. Hundreds of students volunteered their time and went to all parts of East Turkistan to increase Uyghur people’s literacy skills.
On June 15, 1988 we organized a large student demonstration at Xinjiang University, where more than 8,000 students showed up, protesting at the lack of equal rights for Uyghurs and other ethnic groups. One the same day before the demonstration, my friends and I were invited to talk with the deputy of the secretary general of the communist party, the head of the Education Department, the head of the Finance Department, and the head of the Planning Committee. This meeting lasted five hours, during which neither side managed to convince the other, and at 1 p.m. the meeting concluded without agreement. We then decided to take to the streets and by 2 p.m. a large crowd gathered in the streets of Ürümchi, and the demonstration continued into the evening. We also decided to continue with the demonstration the next day.
In the evening, the university president came to my dormitory and asked us to join him in a meeting with high level officials and members of the university administration. We discussed issues until midnight, and I was put under pressure to stop the demonstration the next day.
The next day, June 16, I was under house arrest in my dormitory, so I could not join the demonstration. Some other friends of mine were also ordered not to leave their dormitories; as a result, the demonstration did not take place. The university was closed down, and all lectures were canceled.
We were all commanded to write letters of self-criticism, admitting to our own mistakes. Every day, we were asked to write the same letters of self-criticism again and again, and if there were any discrepancies in our letters of self-criticism, we would be questioned and asked to provide reasons for the discrepancies.
After three and a half months, on September 27, the university held a big meeting, attended by both students and the faculty members, in which a decision was announced: Waris Ababekri[1] and I, who were the leaders of the SCSU, were expelled from the university. Different disciplinary punishments were given to the other 13 students, who were also regarded as the organizers of the SCSU. This expulsion, which occurred eight months before my graduation, prevented me from finishing my studies.
Waris and I went to Beijing to the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration (Petition Administration) to lodge a complaint against our unfair and illegal expulsion from the university. At the time we were still able to talk to the Chinese authorities. Following our complaint, we managed to meet high-ranking officials from the Petition Administration and the Ministry of Education. They did not do anything about our complaint, but at least they were willing to hear us out.
I returned to my hometown Aksu, where I later tried to start a language school that would teach foreign languages, such as English, Russian, Arabic and Turkish. I talked to some teachers and educators, as well as some businessmen asking for funding. In a matter of a few months, I managed to come up with an execution plan for the school and applied for a school license. However, my application was rejected, so I was not able to open up a language school in Aksu.
I decided to go to Beijing and started studying English and Turkish at Beijing University between 1990 and 1992. I also got married in Beijing. From 1992 to 1994 I ran a restaurant in Beijing, specializing in Uyghur cuisine. My restaurant was doing very well and had a lot of foreigners as customers, so I could also practice my English. However, I had no idea that I was being monitored by the Chinese Secret Service. I later learned that the Secret Service already had a case against me, which could lead to serious criminal accusations. This case was about my restaurant being a gathering place for spies to exchange information.
In February 1994, I was summoned to the police station. During the interrogation I was posed many questions about my restaurant and why I served so many foreigners. I explained to them that the Uyghur food was good and different, which appealed to my guests; besides, the other Uyghur Restaurants close to mine also had many foreigners as guests. The policeman who interrogated me often came to my restaurant and ate for free. I said to him, “I wonder the reason why you would eat at my restaurant. Could it be the very reason for my other guests’ patronization”? After the interrogation I was released, but I knew it was just the beginning.
Realizing just how delicate the situation was, I decided to leave China. But my wife was pregnant with our first child, and I started having doubts about my leaving her behind, yet she insisted that I should leave as soon as possible. I managed to get a fake passport, and I left China for Turkey in May 1994, leaving my pregnant wife behind. My daughter was born in 1994 while I was in Turkey. I went to University and studied politics and Turkish until 1996. In February 1996, I reunited with my wife in Turkey.
When I came to Turkey, I established the East Turkistan Students Youth Association. However, I realized that China’s relationship with Turkey was warming up and its political clout was growing in Turkey. I had a fake passport and could not get a proper residency permit in Turkey. My activism was attracting attention, so at the suggestion of my friends I went to Germany and I applied for asylum there in June 1996. I was granted asylum in November 1996. My son was born in Germany in 1998, and the same year my daughter reunited with us in Germany where I saw her for the first time, after three and a half years.
In November 1996 we established the World Uyghur Youth Congress in Germany, and I was elected the chairman of the executive committee. In October 1999 we established the East Turkistan (Uyghurstan) National Congress. In April 2004 in Munich these two organizations merged to form the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and I was elected the secretary-general of the new organization.
The Chinese Regime’s Abusive Labeling
Before 9/11 (September 11, 2001), the Chinese regime did not refer to Uyghurs or any of the Uyghur organizations as terrorist(s). However, following the U.S.-led “war on terror,” in December 2003 China declared four Uyghur organizations terrorist organizations: East Turkistan Islamic Movement, East Turkistan Liberation Organization, World Uyghur Youth Congress, and East Turkistan Information Center. China also declared 11 people who were in charge of these organizations as terrorists. I was number three on the list.
In 2002, the United States was seeking China’s support for its war on terrorism and in particular for their imminent invasion of Iraq. To provide such support, the Chinese regime requested the United States to recognize all or some of the Uyghur organizations as terrorists. In 2002, the US Government listed East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist organization, which I had never heard of. In 2020, the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a brief October 20 directive that was published on November 5, removed the ETIM from the list of Terrorist Organizations.
The World Uyghur Congress has never incited or condoned violence. Our mission statement is very clear in that we promote democracy, human rights and freedom for the Uyghur people and use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine our political future. We fully respect international law and accepted norms. Furthermore, personally I have never been involved in any violent act, nor have I incited or condoned violence.
The Chinese Regime’s Constant Harassment
The WUC was given the 2019 Democracy Award, being one of the three groups that received this honor. The award ceremony was held at the U.S. Capitol, where the following speakers addressed the event: House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elizabeth Cheney, Rep. Joaquin Castro, Rep. Mike McCaul, as well as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese ambassador to the United States protested this event.
On March 30, 2016, I was given the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Human Rights Award. The Chinese regime representatives tried to interfere with this matter and also tried to stop the award ceremony, but they did not succeed.
I have a long history of being challenged by the Chinese regime, i.e., every step taken to bring the Uyghur issues to the international forums would be challenged. In 2013 I was going to attend a session of The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, but when we arrived at the venue, the security guards approached me and my colleagues and asked us to leave. When I asked why, I was told it was because of security reasons. Subsequently in 2016, I learned that this deliberate interference occurred at the request of the Chinese regime, which had asked for the names and details of the delegation from the WUC. Over the objection of Emma Reilly, a high-ranking official in the OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights), the High Commissioner decided to release our names and details to the Chinese regime, which caused internal disputes in OHCHR.
In 2017, my colleagues and I were invited to attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York, representing the WUC. During the coffee break, we were approached by the security personnel, and we were asked to leave the venue. I reported this incidence immediately to our colleagues. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other NGOs objected to this exclusion, and we later learned that it was the Chinese regime who stood behind this deliberate act of excluding us from the forum. Andrew Gilmour, the then United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, reported this incidence in a lengthy report to the General Assembly.
I sent another application to attend the UNPFII in 2018, which was approved. However, three days before my trip to New York I received an email from the registration office, stating that my application was pending (i.e., not yet approved). I then informed Mr. Andrew Gilmour’s office and Ms. Sophie Richardson at Human Rights Watch, where the latter asked me to come to New York. When I arrived at the registration office, they refused to issue me the accreditation badge. I sent an email to the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations, and Sophie contacted Ms. Kelley E. Currie, the then Alternative Representative to the UN General Assembly, both of whom intervened in the matter, but the registration office refused to issue the accreditation badge to me on account of the Chinese regime’s intervention. As I could not attend the first week of the event, I returned to Germany.
When I arrived in Germany, I was informed that my application had now been approved, so I made a second trip to New York. I was accompanied by a staff from the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN to the registration office, and finally I got accredited. I made a speech at the UN, but the Chinese delegation interrupted the session by claiming that the WUC was a terrorist group and I was a terrorist. The US Ambassador to the UN responded by stating that if the US has given him a visa, he cannot be a terrorist because he had been checked. The German Ambassador to the UN also said that if I were a terrorist, I would not have been given the German citizenship. There were debates among the UN members, where Russia, Pakistan and Cuba supported China’s claims, while the UK, Israel, and many other representatives were in support of me, so I was able to continue with my speech.
Following the uprising in Ürümchi that took place on July 5, 2009, Ms. Heidi Hautala, the chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, organized a joint press conference with the former president of the WUC Ms. Rebiya Kadeer in September 2009. The Chinese Ambassador to the EU reached out to Ms. Hautala, asking her to stop the press conference, but she refused to do so, and the press conference went ahead as scheduled. I pointed out that the demonstration in Ürümchi was a peaceful event attended by ordinary and unarmed civilians, but the Chinese police suppressed it brutally by using excessive force. On July 5, 2009, in response to the peaceful demonstration, the Chinese regime cut the electricity supply of Ürümchi and also cut off all communication channels (e.g. internet). Later the Chinese official news agency reported that 197 were killed following the demonstration, while according to our sources, the death toll was higher than 1,000.
In 1997 the Chinese regime issued an international arrest warrant against me, initially accusing me of criminal conduct and murder. But after 9/11, they added the “terrorist” label on the warrant. At the request of China, the Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) issued a “red notice” against me. I had endured such threat for 21 years. I was detained many times by the police in Switzerland, South Korea, Italy and the US, but I never lost hope. On February 21, 2018 the Interpol revoked the red notice against me.
The Persecution of My Family
Since 1994 I have not seen my parents. I invited them several times to visit me in Germany, but Chinese authorities did not issue travel documents for my parents. I could not make video calls with them, though I could call them using a normal phone (not via internet) until 2017. As all my calls were monitored by the Chinese regime, our conversation would normally be very brief. My parents were not allowed to have internet access, and therefore other means of communication (including WeChat) could not be used.
My last call to my mother was in mid-April 2017, and she sounded like she was caught by surprise. My wife tried to call her a few days later, and she told my wife that we should not call them anymore. I was informed that the Chinese authorities put my parents under police surveillance and constantly harassed them by saying, “Your son is a terrorist.”
In 2018, I received a call from a friend in Australia telling me that my mother had passed away. I could not verify this news since I could not contact any family members back in East Turkistan, but Radio Free Asia found out that my mother was held in an internment camp from mid-2017 and she passed away on May 17, 2018 during her internment. However, this piece of news reached me three weeks later.As I heard, my father passed away in 2020. My elder sister was forced to appear on Chinese state-owned broadcaster and denounced me.[2] In the same video, my sister-in-law (my elder brothers’ wife) spoke against me, but I did not hear anything from my elder brother himself. He was a Professor of Mathematics at Aksu Education Institute and I heard that he was sentenced to 17 years in prison. My younger brother disappeared and I do not know his whereabouts. I reported my brothers’ disappearances to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, whose job it is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reportedly disappeared. But so far I haven’t received any updates.
[1] I learned that he was sent to an internment camp in 2018 and released in November 2019, but unfortunately, he died two weeks after his release.
[2] Here is the link to the video in which my family were forced to denounce me by the Chinese regime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=cJW3za4taSM
