Xinjiang: Horrendous Crimes Against Humanity - Rahima Mahmut

Horrendous Crimes Against Humanity taking

 place in East Turkestan – Rahima Mahmut

Dr. Mozammel Haque

“What we are reading in the papers is only the tip of the iceberg, as there are many more horrendous crimes against humanity taking place at this very moment in Xinjiang,” said Rahima Mahmut, London-based Uyghur Muslim who is a human rights activist, singer and translator, at the conference on China’s Brute Crackdown and Mass Incarceration of Uyghur Muslims held recently at London Muslim Centre, London.

Rahima Mahmut

“The gruesome details of how people were targeted and criminalized in the claim of cracking down on religious extremism, in fact, apply to all ordinary practicing Muslims,” said Rahima Mahmut, who was born in Ghulja, in the north of East Turkistan and brought up in a large religious family, came to the UK in 2000 to study and living here ever since, for the last 18 years. She is a London-based Uyghur Muslim who is a human rights activist, singer and translator. Her translation of The Land Drenched in Tears, by Soyungul Chanisheff won English Pen Translation Award. She mentioned, “We believe that there are possibly up to 3 million people are held in the camps.”

Rahima gave her personal insight to what is happening to the people held in detention and camps. She also described the hardships she faced and gone through. She mentioned, “For the last 18 years, I was unable to return to see my family and my beloved homeland because of my involvements in speaking out against the Human Rights violations imposed on my people by the Chinese government.  And my last contact with my brother was in January 2017 and he said: “Please leave us to God’s hand, we leave you to God’s hand too.” He indirectly told not to contact them anymore. Up till today, I don’t know how they are, if they are safe or interned in re-education camps. I have tried to find information indirectly, but it has not been possible. Whoever I approach is terrified to get involved as the political environment is so terrifying.” 

Rahima also mentioned that as she was working as an interpreter, she has been involved with various organizations in interviewing people who have been detained in re-education camps or prison. “Their accounts about the torture is chilling and horrendous,” said Rahima and added, “There was another detainee who spent nearly a year in three different detention centres, he described his ordeal for over 4 hours, he revealed that many innocent people he knew falsely admitted making bombs despite never having seen a bomb in their life in order to stop their torture. He described when he was taken to interrogation room, the sound of women and men screaming which made his legs feel like jelly. The horrific details which he described affected me so deeply that I was unable to sleep for two nights.”

Rahima also mentioned, “People who are outside of these establishment are not free of intimidation either, as they have no freedom of speech, language, dress, eat, drink, and religion. The entire way of Uyghur cultural heritage and tradition has been taken away from them, including their funeral rights.”

While describing the hardships she has gone through and the people who are suffering in the so-called re-education camps, Rahima also reported a report published by Bitter Winter. In that piece a vivid description of the present situation is depicted. It runs like as follows:

“The whole of Xinjiang region gives the appearance of being on a war footing. But this is a war like no other. This is a “people’s war on terror,” where ordinary citizens have been dragooned into the task of mutual surveillance and control. This is mobilization of the masses on a scale only China could envisage. The enemy is nowhere and everywhere, undefinable and invisible. The enemy is within.”

“Special treatment is reserved for those whose relatives are in detention or live abroad. The simple act of pressing their ID card against facial recognition software on entry to any building, housing complex or public area, sounds an alarm which brings four or five armed guards running. An escort to the nearest police station follows, they are questioned aggressively whilst computer checks are run and not released until they are cleared to go free. A simple day trip to the mountains or local beauty spot for these people can result in at worst, detention, and at best being thrown off the public bus they are on and turned away from the resort to find their own way home. Driving through town at night has its own gauntlet of hazards as motor scooters and cars are funneled through rigorous checks of their contents and drivers of their documents and phones,” the report continues.

The report mentioned, “The dawn of each new day heralds yet another layer of security. Whether it be a second layer of razor wire, now the accepted decoration atop every single wall or building in the city, or another configuration of surveillance cameras at the end of your street or housing complex. Many are now reporting cameras at the end of their apartment landings which then broadcast comings and goings on wall to wall screens in the residential area police station. “Every part of our social life is monitored,” said Turnisa, a local primary school teacher. “Friends don’t come any more and I am too scared myself to have visitors in case they bring me trouble.” She added that mistrust has grown exponentially between friends. “How do I know what hold the government has on my friends or how much they are questioned when they leave my home?” She asked. “We all keep ourselves to ourselves these days. We are all afraid.”

The Report also said, “Whether it be a new system of armed guards pacing the roads, new uniforms and weaponry for the elderly bus stop monitors, electrification of school fencing, or increased numbers of armed security at the school gates, people wonder when it will all end. “We cannot imagine what they will think of next,” said Tursun, a shopkeeper who has so far managed to evade capture. “I wake up every morning wondering if this will be my last day of freedom,” he said. “They could pick me up on any pretext at any time.” He spoke of seeing roundups while coming home from the cinema early one evening a few weeks before. “The police were just taking people off the street and driving them into a large van,” he said.

“Selim, a law student, spoke of hearing a commotion outside his window at midnight one evening. “I watched for more than an hour as people piled out of three vans and were herded into the police station. There were men shouting, women screaming and children crying.” He said that family members were running off and returning later to bring clothes and provisions for those who had been taken. He mentioned that one room at the front of the building seemed only to contain children. “They were all just sitting on chairs and tables in the window,” he said.

The above was the report published by Bitter Winter under the caption “County in Xinjiang: A Case Study in Destroying Faith” [https://bitter-winter.org/a-case-study-in-destroying-faith/]

Quoting from another report, Rahima mentioned about children, “A prison officer in Xinjiang said, ‘When dealing with the education of the children of ethnic minorities, the government has organized a rigid and isolated education for them. With public security police officers as their teachers, the young Uyghurs are forced to study a uniform Chinese curriculum arranged by the government — they must speak Chinese, eat pork, wear Han clothes, and live according to the Han people’s habits and tradition. They are restricted to this environment, with no chance to contact the outside world. Indoctrinated with such a heavy-handed and mandatory education, these children of ethnic minorities become unconsciously obedient to the Chinese Communist Party government.””

After quoting two reports, Rahima said, “What we are reading in the papers is only the tip of the iceberg, as there are many more horrendous crimes against humanity taking place at this very moment.”

Naturally the question arises why it is not known to the outside world so long and why did it take so long for the world to take notice of the Chinese party-state’s mass roundup of Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims in Xinjiang? This question was not only raised but answered by Yuan Chan, British-Hong Kong journalist and TV and Radio presenter for many years. He exposed how the ruling party maintains a tight grip on Chinese domestic and overseas media.