THIS IS PART THREE OF A FIVE-PART EDITORIAL SERIES.
*A full warning about content that may be viewed as offensive, triggering and/or otherwise distasteful is being provided now. This article will discuss acts of rape, forced abortion, sterilization, murder, torture, forced labor and genocide. This writing is meant to help give the Uighur people a voice, and to show that they are being thought about, cared about and fought for in as many ways as possible. The Uighur people deserve their lives, their families, their culture and the one thing that we all hold dear: their freedom. *
The horrible truth about this situation is the prevalent and horrific accounts of rape. The rape did not occur randomly, as it was used as a systematic punishment in the previously described camps. One method of torture described was the use of solitary confinement. Prisoners were removed from their normal cells and placed in dark cells where they were shackled and left. While in these cells, many women have described terrifying experiences of not only being raped but witnessing it as well. Following are accounts from people who were inside the camps.
* Trigger warning: will include graphic depictions of rape, gang rape and other acts of brutality. Reader discretion is advised.*
Authors note: I will use terms such as “allege,” “claim,” and “potentially” in these accounts. Please note that I believe these women and their stories need to be investigated. It is important, however, to remain objective and note that their claims cannot be supported by physical evidence due to the nature of when these events happened. Please know I am in no way claiming they are lying or being misleading, merely that these are their stories, and they deserve to be heard. Their bravery for speaking out is unchallenged, and their courage to survive admirable.
Tursunay Ziyawudun: Ziyawudun is a Uighur (often referred to as Kazakh as her husband is Kazakh) woman who was thrown into prison after she tried to receive official documents in Xinjiang Xinyuan County. She described the conditions inside the prison as horrific. Prisoners were given little food and water and were only allowed to use the toilet for three to five minutes. She also described how others who took too long to use the bathroom were electrocuted with shock batons.
Ziyawudun continued to describe how she was interrogated by guards on whether she was affiliated with a Uighur exile group. During one of these sessions, a guard kicked and beat her so hard she passed out. A time after this beating, she was escorted by two female guards into another room and laid her on a table. They then proceeded to ‘“insert a stun baton insider of [her] and twisted and shocked [her] with it. [She] blacked out.”’
She continued to explain how ten days after the ordeal, she saw a group of approximately six male guards take a crying, screaming girl into another room. Ziyawudun alleged that she thought they were merely torturing the girl. She later came to realize that the men potentially gang-raped the girl as Ziyawudun herself claimed that she was also gang-raped. She explained that it happened to her multiple times while she was in the camp, saying, ‘“They were extremely sadistic, causing pain and damage to the body by beating and smacking my head on the wall ... it was their way of punishing us.”
Ziyawudun was later released from this prison. She suffered medical complications that resulted in her having her uterus removed. She claimed that this is all due to her suffering in the camps.
(It is important to note that this story is disputed a little more than the others due to the fact that in a previous article Ziyawudun claims she did not suffer any torture in the camp. If I may offer a potential explanation for this, at the time she said this she was in Kazakhstan. She was under pressure of being deported and in the more recent articles she now lives in the United States with stronger protections that make her more able to speak out as is supported in this article).
Gulzira Auelkhan: This woman claimed that her job was to strip Uighur women naked and handcuff them so they could not move. After she would do this, a man would enter the room and she would sit by the door. After the man would leave, she would then take the women to the shower. Auelkhan noted that she was forced to do this or be punished herself and that she was powerless to resist or intervene.
Qelbinur Sedik (Sidiq): Sedik is an Uzbek woman who was brought in to teach students in the camps. She described how there were signs and rumors of rape in the camps. She spoke to a policewoman and asked about these stories of rape. Sedik claims that the woman told her that rape has become a culture in the camps. The policewoman alleged that she had also seen them electrocute prisoners and torture them horrifically. Sedik said she did not sleep after this conversation and cried all night long. She described four kinds of electric shock: ‘“the chair, the glove, the helmet and anal rape with a stick.”’ She heard screams echo throughout the building and could hear them during lunch and class time.
Sayragul Sauytbay: Another teacher in the camps claimed that rape was common. She described how guards would pick young girls and young women that they wanted and simply took them away. She also described a public gang rape of a 20 to 21-year-old woman where 100 detainees were forced to watch in order to get a confession. Allegedly, the police took turns raping the girl and forced everyone to look. Sauytbay said that if anyone showed signs of resistance they were taken away for punishment. Despite the young girls’ cries for help, no one could do anything. Sauytbay said, ‘“I felt I had died. I was dead.”’
Abduweli Ayup: Ayup is a Uighur man who claimed that he was raped in his first interrogation. He also witnessed other Uighur cellmates also being raped before or after their interrogations.
Ruqiy Perhat: Perhat spoke about how she was repeatedly raped by Han Chinese guards and forced to have two abortions while she was imprisoned.
Gulzira Mogdyn: Mogdyn is a Kazakh woman who claimed she was forced to have an abortion without anesthetic in prison.
Gulbakhar Jaliliova: Jaliliova is another Uighur woman who claimed she was raped by a guard in the prison she was kept in. She called on the CCP to ‘“show a video”’ after being accused of lying about her story. She had since stated that she is sticking by it.
These are not the only stories out there and most of the women involved were not directly raped themselves. It is important to note that in Islamic culture discussions of rape are frowned upon and it is often hard for women and men to discuss what they have been through without cultural repercussions. If a person combines that with what any other rape victim goes through, then these people’s reluctance to speak out is completely understandable. If a survivor from these camps or anyone who has experienced any sexual violence reads this, please know, you are not to blame at all for any of what you went through. You are just as valuable now as you were before. You are not defined by it and you are stronger having survived it. I will include a number to call if you need support for what you have been through as well in the hopes that it may help someone.
1-800-942-6906: New York State Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline for confidential assistance.
Part four of this editorial series will focus on “reeducation camps” and forced population control. To catch up on this series, you can read part one here and part two here. Read The Lamron in the following weeks to stay informed on the devastating events occurring in China.