Tursunay Ziyawudun (; born 10 August 1978), born in
Kunes of Xinjiang, is a former
Uyghur
Uyghur may refer to:
* Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China)
** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs
*** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...
detainee in one of the
internment camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
, China.
Testimony
Ziyawudun claims that she was taken to one of the internment camps in April 2017 and was released after a month, at which time she had developed stomach ulcers, but she was detained in March 2018 for the second time. She was released from the camp in December 2018 and was allowed to go to
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
to unite with her husband in September 2019.
She then gave interviews to the press describing the emotional trauma of the internment camp, even while fearing Chinese retaliation. She also told the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
that she was physically abused during
interrogation
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...
, kicked in the stomach repeatedly and forcibly sterilized. She said that she is now unable to have children.
See also
*
Uyghur Americans
Uyghur Americans () are Americans of Uyghurs, Uyghur ethnicity. Most Uyghurs emigrated from Xinjiang, China, to the United States from the late 1980s onwards, with a significant number arriving after July 2009.
History
Uyghurs' history in the ...
*
Xinjiang internment camps
The Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training centers by the government of the People's Republic of China, are internment camps operated by the government of Xinjiang and the Chinese Communist Party P ...
*
Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (S. 3744) is a United States federal law that requires various United States government bodies to report on human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government against U ...
*
Magnitsky Act
The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in D ...
*
United States sanctions against China
The United States government applies economic sanctions against certain institutions and key members of the government of the People's Republic of China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), certain companies linked to the People's Liberat ...
References
External links
Uygur woman describes torture in China’s Xinjiang ‘vocational training’ camps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziyawudun, Tursunay
Living people
Uyghur people
1978 births
Chinese expatriates in the United States
Persecution of Uyghurs
Uyghur women
People from Ili