The story is the alleged mass incarceration of Uighurs, more than a
million of them in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.
Uighurs in the United States are getting
contacted by Chinese authorities and told to provide
information.
Everyone got someone as a hostage by the
Chinese government.
It's time for us to break the silence.
[Music]
My name is Tahir Iman.
I am Uighur from Uyghurstan,
China occupied, so called, Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.
I came to United States in August 2017.
It was very hard to me to leave my family members,
my daughter, my friends,
but I had to leave.
Even if I am in America I'm still scared.
[Music]
The Uighurs are one of the 56 nationalities
of the People's Republic of China today.
They're mainly Muslim. They speak a Turkic language
and they live in Xinjiang,
which is the far northwestern part of China.
So since it took over the Xinjiang region in 1949,
the Chinese government has always been concerned about
separatism among the Uighurs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged more
efforts in promoting social stability
and security in
Xinjiang Uighur autonomous...
President Xi called for the
safeguarding of ethnic unity,
saying that it's the fundamental cornerstone for the
development and progress of Xinjiang...
Right now, the Chinese Communist Party
have a major foreign policy initiative,
known as the Belt and Road initiative.
Xinjiang is right at the hub of that infrastructure development plan,
so they're concerned that if Xinjiang is not stable,
this undermine their entire foreign policy initiative.
I was 25 years old.
I was arrested and put in jail around two years.
My crime was writing an article titled
'The Uighur Culture In Danger.'
When I was released
I started to promote Uighur national identity and cultural values.
The local community Chinese police officers started to confiscate passports.
He started to arrest the public figures, intellectuals, rich people.
My advisers asked me to leave for a while.
I was in prison before.
I know what is it like.
Since the summer and fall of 2017,
Xinjiang has been building increasingly
large compounds, which they call
'educational transformation training centers.'
These are really reeducation camps, and they're large compounds,
sometimes holding thousands of people.
They're surrounded by high walls with razor wire.
They have guard towers and they actually seem to be being used to detain anywhere
between a few hundred thousand and maybe a million Uighurs.
After the development of this vast network
of reeducation camps,
there's been a good deal of
emigration from the Xinjiang region,
in particular in the Washington/Virginia/Maryland area.
Many, many of the Uighurs living here
say they're no longer safe.
After I came to the United States, two Chinese police officers contacted me.
This is the last time I was contacted by Chinese police officers.
[Man speaking Uighur]
My wife and my daughter
were put in blacklist of
people who cannot get a passport.
I have lost every kind of contact with my family.
I have been doing everything I can do
to expose the Chinese brutality,
human policies towards Uighur people.
Many people feel scared.
They are not very active
and speaking out to media
because they're afraid of their family members in China
They are also afraid of some Chinese spies in America.
But I encourage the Uighur people to stand up and speak to the media.
At least we can leave a message to the world.
[Nat Sound]
Many Uighur communities in the US,
they're scared to speak up
because the Chinese government got someone as a hostage.
And back home, like personally, it's my mother directly.
Still, honestly, like
I worried that, like, being on camera
being, like, openly speaking up like this to
the world, that might bring any, like, severe consequences to my mother.
Everyone got someone as a hostage by the Chinese government.
We know that Chinese government,
they are using all measures to intimidate Uighur people,
taking our family members hostage,
to stop us, to speak, to fight against
Chinese oppression.
If you are Uighur, you are the enemy of the Chinese government.
It's time for us to break the silence.
I ask in many people to record testimony,
through Facebook Live or YouTube
and share it in social media.
I'm ethnic Uighur from East Turkestan.
Both my parents are detained in a concentration camp.
I came to the United States in 2015
with my student visa.
My father was sentenced to 9 years of prison
and my mom is in concentration camps.
My father... and my uncle...
detained in a concentration camp.
[Testimony audio and rising music]
[Music]
[Street noise and chanting]
Today, more than 200 Uighurs
from Washington DC and in New York area have
gathered in front of United Nations building in New York
to protest Chinese
oppression and imprisonment.
We are taking risk by showing our face in public media,
but we want to stand up and speak up
to raise the awareness in front of
United Nations to let the world know
what's going on against the Uighur people.
My stepmother, my sisters, my brothers, they were put in jail.
I have lost every kind of contact With my daughter.
Every day is a painful day
without your family members.
[Music]