On the night of May 17, 1997, Zhou Yuan, then 27, was taken away by the police from his home in Ghulja, Xinjiang. The police suspected him of being the perpetrator in multiple cases of physically injuring and raping women, with the trial of first instance seeing him sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.
Author: Editor
“The camp broke me – spiritually, materially, and physically.”
The following is a translation of a first-person eyewitness account from Zhazira Asen, a businesswoman and writer who spent a year and a half in camp.
“Those were times when speaking the truth had serious consequences.”
In 1944, while studying in the city of Urumqi, Qazhygumar Shabdan was accused by the Chinese authorities of participating in an ethnic-minority uprising and sent to prison. That became the first of the prisons in which he would end up spending half of his life.
“My legs hurt, and one leg is almost paralyzed. They are killing me like this. I beg for your help.”
The following is a translated transcript of a series of videos released by Aimurat Erzhuman in 2022, from Xinjiang, in a desperate attempt to convey his situation to the world outside.
They called us the “terrorist family”
My name is Gulnar Omirzaq. I’m from Chapchal County – a village called Termenbulaq, in Segizsumyn. I’m going to share everything that happened to me and other members of minority groups that live in China. I am one of the people who witnessed these things.