Zhanargul Zhumatai was a prominent figure in Kazakhstan and #Xinjiang. In 2017, she was sent to a re-education camp after returning to #China. More than three years after her release, she is facing the risk of being arrested again. My latest: dw.com/zh/%E5%86%8D%E…
Zhanargul used to be an editor at Kazakhstan's national television and she also recorded more than 1000 episodes of radio shows on ancient Kazakh music for government-run radio stations in #Xinjiang.
In 2017, authorities in Xinjiang "invited" her to go back to Xinjiang and sign some documents. But when she returned to Xinjiang, she was arrested and accused of being involved in a criminal case. Next thing she knew, she was sent to a re-education camp.
After she was arrested by police in September 2017, she was detained at two detention centers before transferring to a re-education camp and then two "industrial parks."
According to her, the possible reason for her arrest was that she advocated for Kazakh nomads, who she believed were mistreated by authorities in Xinjiang after their grasslands were acquired by local authorities without the correct amount of compensation.
"Police claimed that I downloaded Facebook and Instagram, which contained extremist and terrorist ideologies and that my ideologies had been affected. They asked me to confess my wrongdoing, but I asked them to check my phone to see if I had downloaded or used those apps."
After she was transferred to a re-education camp, she had to sing patriotic songs every day and recite slogans praising the Chinese Communist Party. She was also asked to write confession letters multiple times, but she refused to confess that she had committed any crime.
Eventually, she was charged with "interfering with public affairs." "I was always sick while I was in the camp, but I couldn't get any medical treatment.
One doctor would use needles to poke me, and when I screamed due to the pain, five or six people would be standing around me and laugh. They would ask me if the poking was painful," she told me in a tearful interview.
"Authorities at the camp would also give me unknown drugs and watch me taking the medication. After eating the medication, I would often sweat, vomit and had diarrhea. Before I was sent to the camp, I weighed 86 kilograms. When I was released, my weight dropped to 50 kilograms."
In April 2019, Zhumatai was transferred to two "industrial parks," where she added embroidery on clothes. However, her health conditions didn't improve.
"I constantly had stomach aches and headaches, but I couldn't see doctors. Whenever I had. stomach aches, I had to add some warm water to an insulated mug and put it on my stomach to reduce the pain," she told me.
Eventually, she was released in October 2019. However, she was still under the government's constant surveillance. Authorities canceled the registration of her company and they also pressured her into selling her house.
Additionally, she couldn't find any job, which forces her to not be able to afford social and healthcare insurance. "Whenever I go to see doctors, the police and local authorities would know and contact the doctors. They would also go to the appointments with me.
Due to pressure from the government, doctors often would refuse to prescribe me any medication or even examine me properly," she told me.
Additionally, police repeatedly threatened to send her to "hospitals" or "civilized schools," because they said "ideologies haven't been fixed." Later, she learned that the "hospitals" are "psychiatric wards" and the "schools" are re-education camps.
On December 28, 2022, Zhumatai said local police called her family members and claimed that they couldn't find her. Then they went to her mother's apartment and interrogated her about whether she knew several overseas Kazakhs.
Then on January 2, 2023, police called her brother, claiming that Zhumatai had contacted some overseas individuals and that she had committed some "unforgivable crimes."
"They said they were going to arrest me, but if my family members sent me to a psychiatric hospital, I could avoid being arrested," she told me.
Zhumatai admitted that she still lives in constant fear.
"No one in Xinjiang cares about what happened to me, and there is no solution to my problems. I don't think my situation is going to get better, and it's only going to get worse."
"No one in Xinjiang cares about what happened to me, and there is no solution to my problems. I don't think my situation is going to get better, and it's only going to get worse."
"I hope the international community will pay attention to my situation and use human rights channels to improve my situation," she said.
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