A testimony from our “100 Camp Testimonies” Book
I was born on June 16, 1982 in Ürümchi, East Turkistan. I married a Pakistani man in 2005, and we have three children. In 2016, we applied for U.S. visas. Subsequently the Chinese authorities requested me to return our passports. In August 2017, I went to our local police station in Ürümchi to surrender our passports (excluding my husband’s) as requested. At the police station, I saw many other Uyghurs, including elderly men and women who had made the hajj (i.e. the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca), who were there for the same reason, i.e., to surrender their passports to the police. The police took my biometric data, such as fingerprints and photos, and also asked me to sign a document.
In September 2016, Chinese authorities requested Uyghurs to return to their places of origin. I noticed that the scale of surveillance began to increase significantly in late 2016, e.g., the number of exits from a residential area was reduced to just one; more armed police presence in the streets; and the number of surveillance cameras had also increased. I frequently heard stories of how the police barged into Uyghur homes and arrested family members, sending them to internment camps, e.g. on the pretext of having kitchen knives longer than a specific length.
In November 2016, the regime began to build a new police station (aka. convenience police station) every 300 meters or so in Ürümchi, and brought many Han Chinese men from other provinces to these police stations, with at least 20 people at each station. The local authorities also asked us to hand in our electronic devices (e.g. computers and mobile phones) for inspection to the police. Those who had apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, images of flags of Turkey or other similar images with a star and a crescent, and verses from the Koran or similar religious materials were considered “suspicious” and sent to internment camps, whose family members would not be informed of their whereabouts, i.e., which internment camp or detention center they were sent to.
We were constantly being monitored. The Chinese police forced us to install a special application on our cell phones. Whenever I said anything related to Islam, the police would immediately call me and ask me what I had said. The police also installed a surveillance device with a QR code in my home, and every two days, residential committee members would come to my home to scan this device. Even in our home we were afraid to talk about religion or say anything critical of/against the Chinese regime. Our internet routers were confiscated by the police and we were given new ones approved by the authorities.
On March 31, 2018, Saturday, at around 9 or 10 a.m. I received a phone call from the police and was asked to go to the police station immediately. My husband was not home at the time as he had gone to a bank. At the police station they took my mobile phone and made me wait for about 30 minutes. Then two police officers grabbed me by the arms and took me down to the basement, where there were several interrogation rooms. I was strapped into the “tiger chair,” a torture equipment, and to which my arms and feet were chained. I was then told that the interrogators would come soon.
Two police officers came with several documents in their hands and began the interrogation. They asked me about my phone calls and showed me a Pakistani number (with the country code +92) on my phone and asked me who had called me. I explained to them that it was my husband who called me from Pakistan when he was there. Then the officers left, and I felt a little relieved. However, after an hour, they came back with copies of my bank statements and asked me about some money transfers from a Pakistani friend of my husband in Guangzhou. I replied that those transfers were related to my import/export company that I had established with my husband, which was registered under my name. After hearing my reply, the police officers asked me to tell the truth while hitting me with the papers.
I started to feel pain in my arms and feet caused by the chains. I cried a lot and asked the officers if I could go to the toilet. In that interrogation room, there was a small toilet and I was told to go ahead and relieve myself. I felt like an animal, embarrassed about using the toilet in front of two male interrogators. When the interrogation continued, they asked me about my visits abroad. I had previously visited several countries, including Japan and Singapore, through Chinese travel agencies. I had also visited Pakistan, only once, without using a Chinese travel agency. Once again, the officers asked me to tell the truth, and shackled my hands and hit me with a plastic baton, asking me to confess to my wrongdoings. They asked me why I had visited those countries and which Uyghurs I had met during my visits. They also asked me why I had applied for a U.S. visa and which Uyghurs I knew in the US.
They continued to asked me why I had given birth to a third child, if my husband encouraged me to have more children, and whether my Islamic faith played a role in having my third child.
The interrogation continued throughout the night. On the following day, April 1, 2018, they took me to the first floor from the basement, put a black hood over my head, and put me in a police car. I thought they were going to shoot me. After about an hour’s drive, they removed the black hood on my head, and I found myself in some kind of a military hospital with high barrier walls, on which there were barbed wire. The staff wore army uniform under their white gowns.
I saw many Uyghur women in that place, including older women aged 60–70. In one room, they took our fingerprints and photos. In another room, they drew blood and placed all blood samples in a bag marked with “DNA.” In another room, they took our eye scans. In the next room, they carried out a pelvic exam and an ultrasound. It took a whole day to finish all the required tests and procedures, for there were many women. I cried along with many other women there.
All the test results were given directly to the police officers who had brought me there, after which they put the black hood over my head again and brought me back to the car. After about one and a half hours’ drive, the car stopped and they removed the black hood, and I realized that I was in an internment camp. The two police officers handed me over to the camp guards and left.
The camp guards gave me grey camp uniform and asked me to put my own clothes into a bag and mark it with my name. I change into the uniform in front of two male guards and one female guard, which was quite embarrassing for me. I was then put in cell No. 28, which was about 25 square meters in size and it stank a lot, with a strong toilet smell. It was overcrowded as there were more than 30 women held in this cell, half of whom lay in bed and the other half stood because there were not enough beds for everyone. The lights had been turned off before I arrived. I soon realized that the women were taking turns sleeping in the beds, and they rotated every three hours.
I felt very weak as I had not eaten any food or drunk any water since the interrogation. I was also anxious, thinking about my children, for I had heard that many people had died in such camps. I was so tired that I fell asleep. The next morning, I was woken up and we had only one minute to wash our faces. The breakfast was very bad, and since I was starving I ate it. We were given some medication and the camp guards ensured that we swallowed the pills.
I noticed that some women had skin problems, caused by the unsanitary conditions in the camp. The camp guards told us that they would disinfect us, and they walked into our cell in hazmat suits and started spraying the disinfectant directly on us. We were completely drenched, and many of us started screaming because the disinfectant was causing pain. I too felt a strong burning sensation, which lasted an hour or so.
There was an old woman who had diabetes, with whom I shared some of my bread. Before long, two camp guards beat me hard for it, as they saw what I did through the surveillance camera, telling me that I was not allowed to share my food with others. As they beat me, I accidentally said, “Allah,” for which they beat me even harder, which resulted in an ankle dislocation.
With shackles on our feet, we were brought to a large hall, where they made us (about 80 to 100 of us) sit for four or five hours. The hall had several portraits of Xi Jinping, many surveillance cameras, and iron fences, on the other side of which stood teachers. We could not move as we were surrounded by the camp guards.
On my second day I was brought to a room, where there were two cardboard boxes, in which there were full of human hair taken from different women, including white hairs. They also cut my hair. I was so sad in that room upon seeing those white hairs that once belonged to elder women.
I bear witness to the fact that young female Uyghur internees were sexually abused and violated. Sometimes at night the camp guards would come to our cell and select young pretty girls and take them away. When the girls returned to our cell, they cried alone, and I could see the bruises on their bodies. We could not even ask what had happened because of the surveillance cameras installed in the cell. However, one day I was able to ask one cellmate, who was a little older than me, what had happened. She told me that the police officers had undressed her, beat her, and urinated on her.
The female internees in our cell changed every night, meaning that on some nights we would be 37, while on the other nights 20. I could recognize some of my cellmates as we were from the same district.
In addition to giving us some “medication,” they also drew our blood every 15 days. Every time after getting my blood drawn, I would feel very dizzy. They gave me two unknown injections, which made me feel languid, no longer thinking about my children and the outside world.
I was also regularly interrogated about my religion. I was asked, for instance, whether I believed in the existence of Allah. Once, after the class, they asked us, “Does Allah exist?” I could not say no to that question, so I kept quiet, for which I got beaten. So, in the end, we had to say that Allah does not exist. The camp guards compared Allah to Xi Jinping, stating that Allah does not exist, but Xi Jinping does and he had done many good things for us. We had to write several times about how many good things Xi Jinping had done for us.
In the camp, there were also some very small cells/cages (one square meter in size), in which you cannot lie down but only stand. I was lucky enough not to be sent to one of those, but I heard from other female internees that they existed and those who were sent there did not receive food. The camp guards often threatened to bring us there if we disobeyed them.
While I was in the camp, I did not know which camp I was sent to. After I was released, I did some research and found out that it was probably the Beizhan camp, which previously was a school, but it was repurposed as an internment camp. The overall layout of the school didn’t change, but new security features were added: iron fences, barbed wire on the walls, and surveillance cameras.
On June 2, 2018, they released me and gave me back my clothes. They once again put a black hood over my head and after about one and a half to two hours’ drive, we arrived at the police station and they removed the black hood and shackles around my wrists and ankles. One Uyghur policeman treated me very well and offered me tea. Then I saw my husband at the police station. They informed me that they were going to release me, and we were asked to sign some documents, including the one stating that my husband had voluntarily sent me to the internment camp. I was also forced to sign a document stating that I had religious extremist ideas and that was the reason why I had to go to the camp. Both of us were forced to sign these papers or they would not release me.
When I asked my husband how he had fought for my release, he said that he had gone to many police stations in Ürümchi to inquire about my whereabouts. He challenged Chinese authorities, asking them to provide information about why they had arrested me and where they had sent me to. The police officers told him that they could not reveal anything to him because the orders were from higher authorities. So, in the end, he went to the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing, where he met other Pakistani men whose Uyghur wives were also disappeared into internment camps. So, they also went to Beijing to petition and protest, demanding that the embassy contact Chinese authorities and inquire about their wives. Initially, the Embassy of Pakistan did not offer much help, but my husband put pressure on the embassy on his second visit, warning them that he would speak to international media outlets. The Beijing authorities contacted my husband and asked him not to speak to the media, which resulted in my release. They even bought him the flight ticket back to Ürümchi.
After my release, I found out about the forced “pairing up as relatives” surveillance tactic, which was touted as a unity promotion concept by the Chinese regime, pairing up Uyghurs with Han Chinese people. The Han Chinese would visit their Uyghur “relatives” and live with them. As a result, a family of four Han Chinese was paired up with my family. They had to stay for 10 days in our home every month. I did many things to please this family, including shopping for them. I also had to give “correct” answers to the questions they posed me. We had to regularly provide the evidence of us living together to Chinese authorities by sending them our photos.
This Han Chinese family asked my children some questions without my presence, i.e., they went to a different room to talk. I was always worried that my children would say something wrong to them, and I would be sent back to the camp as a result, for the Han Chinese family would regularly report back to the authorities. Living together with this Han Chinese family for 10 days was such a torment for me and my family. So, I told my husband that we should move abroad.
We were subjected to forced assimilation, and the Chinese regime also started requiring our loyalty to the communist party. Every Monday morning, we were forced to attend a Chinese flag raising ceremony, forced upon Uyghurs but not on Han Chinese. During this ceremony, we had to praise Xi Jinping and speak about ethnic harmony. We were told to establish good relations with Han Chinese, and the regime also encouraged us Uyghurs to marry Han Chinese, for which there were government incentives and we would be rewarded with government benefits. My children could only speak Mandarin Chinese at school, not their mother tongue Uyghur. They were also forced to wear only traditional Han Chinese clothes during the festivals.
One Monday, after the flag raising ceremony, we, Uyghur mothers with more than two children, were asked to stay put, while others could leave. We had to register our third child (generally not allowed in China) and I had to pay a fine of CN¥18,000 (roughly US$2825) for my third child. I was told that this was not a fine but was a sum that would be used for educational purposes. So, I paid the fine. Around November 2018, after another flag raising ceremony, Uyghur mothers who had more than two children were asked again to stay put. The local authorities read out loud a direct order from the higher-ups, stating that a list of around 200 Uyghur mothers had to be sterilized, and my name was on that list.
When I told my husband about this forced sterilization, he said he would speak to the authorities. I was in bad shape after I was released from an internment camp, and he was afraid that the sterilization procedure would severely impact on my health. My husband even offered to be sterilized himself, instead of me. But the authorities told him that it could not be done on foreigners. They threatened to not allow my husband to stay in China if I didn’t undergo the procedure.
I received an official order from the authorities that I needed to go to the hospital on my own, without my husband. Circa November 2, 2018, a police car picked me up along with four other women and took us to the hospital, and I was terrified. I was not given any information about the sterilization procedure. At one point, I was given anesthetic. When I regained my consciousness, I felt a lot of pain and started complaining, and the nurse gave me a shot. I was told that I had to wait two hours before leaving the hospital. Following the procedure, I had to take anti-inflammatory medicine for seven days.
During the time when I was recovering at home, our Han Chinese “relatives” came to live with us again. They asked me many questions regarding the sterilization procedure, wondering what I thought about it and whether I agreed with it. They made me feel that I was under constant surveillance. But surely I could not tell them what I really thought about it. The procedure made me very sad as they had removed an organ from my body and sterilized me. I wish I could have more children, but the Chinese regime made it impossible for me to have more children in the future.
My husband and I decided to leave China with our children. According to the Chinese authorities, I did not have sufficiently strong relations with Han Chinese people; as a result, I couldn’t get a passport. I mentioned to them that I had a Han Chinese family living with us, but it was not enough regardless. They said that there was an old Han Chinese lady with cancer who needed money. So, I gave her CN¥15,000 (roughly US$2354). However, the issuance of my passport was blocked by the police because I had been to an internment camp. My husband threatened to go back to the Embassy of Pakistani in Beijing. As a result, they would issue me a passport, on condition that I would give that old Chinese lady with cancer another CN¥15,000.
Circa January 7, 2019, I got my passport and I was allowed to buy a return ticket to Islamabad. The Chinese authority also asked me to change my religion info from “Islam” to “no religion” on my Pakistani residence card, to which I agreed. From January 27 to January 29, 2019, I had to report back to my local police station. They asked me several questions about my relatives abroad and wondered whether I was planning to reveal anything about my experiences in the internment camp. I told them that I had no relatives abroad, and I agreed not to reveal anything about the camps.
I was finally allowed to leave China with my family on January 30, 2019.
When I arrived in Pakistan, I couldn’t say anything about the camps, knowing that I wasn’t safe there, for Pakistan has a good relation with China. When I came to the US, I started talking about my ordeal to the media. As expected, I got calls from my brother back in Ürümchi, who asked me to stop sharing my stories. Once he implored me to stop doing what I was doing and told me that my father was with the police.
I learned that my father was harassed many times by the police because of my activism. I testified at the United Nations on September 23, 2019, and on October 12 my father passed away. He was a very healthy man. I am 100% convinced that the Chinese regime abused my father both mentally and physically, which led to his death.
After having testified, the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that I was a liar, showing my picture during a press conference, which caused me a lot of psychological disturbance. The Chinese regime also made a threatening call, asking me to keep quiet and appreciate the fact that I get to be with my children. Even though I am in the United States, I am still worried about the safety of my children. My menstruation stopped on account of the medication that I was forced to take in the camp. I underwent surgery on March 10, 2021 because my uterus was filled with blood and the chance of developing a cancer was at 95%. I had another surgery on April 15, 2021. All my suffering was caused by the Chinese regime, and I am paying the price of being an Uyghur.
