It saddens me, to see the venal ruthlessness of the reality of the world communities, as they are idle against this genocide of my people. Not only China is getting away with genocide but getting ‘rewarded’ with hosting Winter Olympics 2022. It angers me, to see my sister and other millions of Uyghurs becoming human collaterals of international trade deals and economic benefits. It worries me, to see China become a power able to strong arm the world with, trade threats, the power of the Belt and Road Initiative, debt trap diplomacy and manipulation within the U.N.

For the Uyghurs themselves, how many are currently detained in China? Do these bear similarities to being political prisons, work camps, or internment camps or much worse? . Also, does the vast majority of China know about this due to its own censorship?

1 million in the camps is a conservative estimate. It is more likely there are close to 3 million based on capacity. Prisoners have reported torture, sexual abuse and rape, and many more atrocities such as forced sterilization. Most Chinese would accept the govt's narrative that these are vocational schools due to censorship and brainwashing.

Wasn't aware that its approximately 1 million that's horrible. I suspect that there isn't much footage so it might be difficult to know what is actually happening, guessing its from word of mouth. Thanks for replying.

That is a very conservative number from 2 years ago. Now, more than 3 million Uyghurs are in the concentration camps and many more millions being used as slaves on forced labor facilities.

So likely to be much higher then its being reported. Really hope others can come together to put an end to this.

Yes, thanks. For over a year, we have been asking governments around the world to hold china accountable and take action against this government which is responsible for this unprecedented atrocity of the century. By waiting so long to act, China's actions in my homeland now include every single act listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention, each of which the world, including China, is obligated to prevent.

It just continues, genocide has always been a major issue, this is just as bad as the Khmer Rouge genocide or the previous one in Indonesia. It seems rather tyrannical as of late with everything that is occurring recently in Hong Kong.

3 million Uyghurs including my own sister, are in concentration camps and millions more forced to relocate and work as slaves for China’s economic aggression. 13 tons of hair, perhaps but a portion of what is being taken from prisoners, seized recently, a product of this genocide. How can this image not pierce our conscience? Is this the hair of my sister? Who is benefiting from my sister’s forced labor? We know what this hair represents, a very physical representation of never again happening again. There are crematoria attached to the camps now. What else is needed for the world to wake up? Are we waiting for mass executions and gas chambers to be broadcast to the world? How can anyone with a soul remain silent? Do not make Uyghurs human collateral of economic trade and short-term politics. This is not just the calamity of the Uyghurs, it is a test for humanity!

I wasn't aware your sister was involved in this, so sorry to hear that. All one can do is continue to make people pay attention to it, it sometimes becomes a marathon on repeating and saying the same thing over and over again to make people pay attention.

Thank you for trying to remove some of the darkness that still exists in this world, there are no excuses for this type of behavior and we would think humanity would learn from all of the other previous examples around the world in the past century, but we are still doing this despite Geneva and everything else in place. Very tyrannical, it seems likely China hasn't made new ground since Mao or even Deng by this from what you are saying. Just as awful as the things going on in Syria.

I decided to expose the atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese government in East Turkistan, the fate of my in-laws, and the conditions of the camps. Then, as retaliation by the Chinese government, my sister Dr. Gulshan Abbas was abducted and became a victim due to my activism in the United States as an American citizen. Unfortunately, my sister’s story is not unique. China harasses Uyghurs in Diaspora, with relatives back home, presenting them with heartbreaking choice: keep silent about the horrific abuses or let your friends and family suffer the consequences.

In the regime’s rhetoric, this concentration camp system is made up of schools for vocational training. But surely a person like my sister, a skilled, professional medical doctor, doesn’t need any training. She is a thoughtful, caring, amiable soul, with compassion, who made helping others the most important part of her life. She retired in early age from practicing her profession due to impeding health conditions. She is not an outspoken person. She is an introverted person who was never active in any kind of political activities whatsoever. I am not sure if she will be able to endure the harsh conditions of the camps for long and survive for 22 months now. Honestly, I don’t even know if she is alive!

Yes it is very sad that humanity is not learning from past horrors. When we see what China has done to Tibetans, Mongolians, religious groups, and now the Uyghurs and Hong Kong, it is clear that this is an extremely tyrannical regime.

Also from leaked chinese govt documents, like the Karakax documents. The information we have is from documents, Chinese officials themselves, and witness testimonies.

China is bribing and leveraging some key politicians, the media, and scholars around the world and has successfully silenced international condemnation of its shameful crimes. What do you think is going to happen if this remains unchecked?

Continuing to do business as normal with China today is being complicit with genocide and supporting the spread of China’s totalitarian Communistic Nationalism to the world. History will remember those who act and those who fail to do so. We are all responsible for what happens next.

Don't trust her, she worked at GitMo

Yes, I helped the detainees in GTMO by providing linguistic support. I have never hide that as you are using my own biography to attack me here. But I failed to see the connection of not trusting me because of my help for those innocent GTMO Uyghurs. You are repeating what the Chinese government has been saying about me.

The 22 Uyghur you keep referencing at Guantanamo Bay—they were still detained there 5 TO 10 YEARS after you translated for them! At least one was still chained to the floor in 2012.

Why did you not advocate for their earlier release, if you are so concerned for Uyghur human rights? Why didn't you do or say anything to the American public about the conditions that existed while you were at Guantanamo Bay?

We're criticizing your background because the things you've done in your past completely contradict what you claim is your mission now. You were a propagandist and an accessory to torture against the very people you claim to now want to help.

Oh believe me how hard I tried for that with their attorneys! But, then again because of the Chinese governments' pressures to the other countries, no one would accept them. What should the US do? Send them back to China, as the CCP wants? No. The 22 Uyghur men know that it was China that they ended up staying there that long. Again, please watch the documentary made by a Canadian film director "Uyghurs, prisoners of the Absurd". https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henríquez/dp/B07FQ4QLW4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs%2C+prisoners+of+the+absurd&qid=1595635850&sr=8-1

Too late for questions but I admire your work here. Notice your critics have no problem with genocide/torture itself - they just want to distract from China’s atrocities by focusing on your translation work, as if you tortured people by translating for them.

It’s such a transparent CCP styled defense, they’re so barbaric they think Guatanamo is actually a defense for their own God damned genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Yes, exactly. Thank you for your remark here. I appreciate your support.

Why this person always try to bring up Guantanamo here? My role was as a translator there. Thank you for your understanding!

The Chinese government is running a smearing campaign on my name try to discredit me. The CCP is threatened by my activism in the United States. This is evident in their attempt at using ad hominem arguments which are merely opinions as opposed to true hard facts. Their first retaliation to my activism was capturing my sister and my aunt. Now, they are trying to discredit my work and taint reputation by labeling me a deceiver.

What are your opinions on the torture that occurred in your presence during your employment in Guantanamo Bay?

The Uyghurs weren't being tortured--you can confirm that with the former GTMO Uyghurs and since I only translated to those 22 Uyghurs, I have not seen any. Of course, I condemn torture. Please watch me on this video for what I have said and what is my opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFpOVLr-M0

Can it be that your established long time cooperation with CIA and participating in very questionable Guantanamo practices such as unconstitutional detainment and torture of prisoners is pretty much discrediting the whole genocide accusations?

What is funny is Chinese government's foreign ministry's spokes person also accused me for the same subject--what a coincidence here?! Please check his Twitter account, you will see it. And also China's state media Global times also accused me for the same thing that you are saying here. Again, for the 15th times, and I believe that I am speaking English here if you understand me, I was contracted to translate and help those innocent Uyghurs. If you don't want to see that point and keep accusing me for cooperating with CIA and other things that you kept saying here, then go ahead. I did nothing wrong. You being complicit in China's genocide by spreading the Chinese government's disinformation here. Now, I started to wonder your motives here.

No one here is accusing you of anything. These are the simple facts which are a part of public knowledge body. Instead, you are accusing me being an accomplice in Chinese genocide and spreading disinformation?! What kind of disinformation am I spreading exactly? Excuse me, sir, you are not in Gitmo anymore, and I am not a helpless detainee yet. You are not quite in position to question my motives. Fact checking and telling the truth actually are the pillars of democracy. I am sorry you do not understand that. Maybe you are the one who needs re-education crash course here. Possibly, your friends from Langley can provide you one with a discount.

I don't hope that another 15-20 years from now, when it comes to you (China's unjust and dictatorship) when Uyghurs today becomes tomorrow for your people, you remember today and regret what you have said to me here...

Then fact check. See where the CIA accusations come from. Again, because you can't seem to grasp it: contracted translator and government employee interrogator are not the same thing. Thanks dear, I have nothing to hide, I monitor my wikipedia page which also lists my employment background.

You manage your own Wikipedia page? That's a violation of Wikipedia's rules against conflict of interest editing.

Looking at the revision history on your page, I assume you're Tburakd or GeographyInitiative. I'll be contacting Wikipedia's administrators to report this violation of their rules against manipulation of information.

Manage meaning, to check it so people like you won't add disinformation.

By manage I mean I read it to make sure it's accurate and make sure anything that is changed to be inaccurate is reported. You are really reaching here.

Because trolls like you always try to change things to go with CCP lies, I have to always monitor.

Well it is a typical tactic of wumao, paid Chinese propaganda agents, whom seek to discredit you as what you are saying is anti-CCP. By engaging them head-on like this, they have succeeded their goal of derailing the conversation and helping this thread not get too much attention and stop you from answering real questions. Note how many of the commenters whom attack you are not engaging you on the topic itself at all, and don't even try to attack the idea (as this would get the attention back to the topic). Additionally, several of them have post histories almost exclusively dedicated to pro-CCP topics.

Just something to keep in mind the next time you engage on online platforms, it's important to understand their tactics. I am sure some of them are also well-meaning people who are accidentally parroting the wumao, but not letting it derail the conversation is important. I am sure you aren't above reproach either, but setting clear boundaries for discussion and not responding to those whom are directly attacking you but simply acknowledging them once and explaining it without going into discussion can help.

You are absolutely correct! I will do that next time. Thank you!

Rushan, please explain how your views on the human rights of Muslims internationally have changed since 2002-2003, when you willingly involving yourself in unconstitutional operations at Guantanamo Bay which stripped rights from and tortured Muslims.

Rushan Abbas brings over 15 years of experience in global business development, strategic business analysis, business consultancy and government affairs throughout the Middle East, Africa, CIS regions, Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and Latin America. She also has extensive experience working with U.S. government agencies, including Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Justice, and various U.S. intelligence agencies.

In her role at ISI Consultants, Ms. Abbas leads the business development activities of the firm, which includes developing and leveraging international relationships to serve our clients. She also acts as the firm’s key liaison with US and foreign government departments, agencies and embassies in support of international business efforts.

Before joining ISI Consultants, Ms. Abbas was the Director for International Business at Leo A. Daly, an internationally recognized leader in the design of the built environment that is consistently ranked among the top design firms in the world. Prior to that, she ran her own consulting firm, working with companies on the set-up, development and implementation of their international business and providing market intelligence and consumer insight to capitalize on new business opportunities in international markets. Ms. Abbas also served as International Marketing Liaison at Pelco (a subsidiary of Schneider Electric) and as International Business Development Manager at Perity Land Inc. the largest commodity exporter in North America. She was also employed at L-3, as a consultant at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom during 2002- 2003 and as a news reporter at Radio Free Asia.

Ms. Abbas has also worked as a linguist and translator for several federal agencies including work for the US State Department in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and for President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush.

Ms. Abbas holds a Bachelor of Science from Xinjiang University in China and completed a graduate program in International Business from California State University in Fresno.

Outside of work Ms. Abbas has been an active campaigner for human rights and works closely with members of U.S. Senate, Congressional Committees, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the U.S. Department of State and several other US government departments and agencies.

Source

Last time you hosted an IAmA, you failed to adequately answer important questions, offering only the following deeply cynical justification for your work at Guantanamo Bay—suggesting that political prisoners at a CIA blacksite preferred their imprisonment over freedom:

As an American, I’m very proud of working for the US government in Guantanamo while translating for 22 uyghur inmates there. The uyghurs were treated respectfully with dignity and rights in Guantanamo. Do you want to contact them and ask how they feel about GTMO? They would tell you that their lives inside of the GTMO cell blocks were better than the normal uyghur people’s lives outside of the concentration camps. GTMO detainees were able to fast, able to pray, they weren’t force to eat pork. They had Quran and praying rugs.

I repeat those original questions here:

What was your role in Guantanamo?

Did you personally oversee torture or help with interrogating prisoners by using translation services? How much were you paid for your role in Guantanamo and do you condemn the shocking human rights abuses in Guantanamo or Abu Gharib and other black site CIA torture camps as robustly as you do Chinas?

Given the CIA used "rectal cleaning" torture as well as other forms of sexual torture like rape with inanimate objects and forcing inmates to masturbate in front of female torturers, do you consider what is happening in Xinjiang worse or less worse than what was happening in Guantanamo when you were employed by the US to translate at Guantanamo?

When you did translations was that during the torture or after the CIA had created "learned helplessness" in their victims?

Given you have worked with almost every arm of the American regime change machine, have the Americans offered you a green card yet? Which American state do you intend to settle in when they do?

I only translated for the 22 Uyghurs who did not speak any English and needed to have language support. They weren't being viewed as enemies. Do you think they should have left out there without understanding one word of English if you think it is wrong for me to be there to translate for them?

I am very proud of being able to help those innocent Uyghurs there in GTMO as I did nothing wrong. Thank you!

They weren't being viewed as enemies. Do you think they should have left out there without understanding one word of English if you think it is wrong for me to be there to translate for them?

Given that they were not being viewed as enemies, why were they detained at Guantanamo Bay? Were they there voluntarily?

Why were they interrogated at Guantanamo rather than invited to offer testimony voluntarily, before Congress, for example?

Given the situation you allege in Xinjiang, why were these Uyghurs not offered asylum in exchange for the information you extracted from them?

Why do you claim that the Uyghurs you translated for were not tortured, when that goes against reporting by the U.S. DOJ, Senate Armed Services Committee, the New York Times and The Guardian?

Have anything to ask about the Uyghurs rather than just accusing me? If you have a problem with these men having a translator I have nothing more to say to you.

How has the effect of a 500% increase in average wages per capita, from 8000 RBM to 40000RBM, in Xinjiang over the last twenty years served to oppress Uyghurs in the region? Even if we accept that many Han Chinese have migrated to the region in that time, note that the poorest reporting groups more than doubled their per capita income during that period of less than a single generation.

Does the Uyghur population largely feel that their having been lifted out of poverty, largely by CCP investment, is the result of oppression?

That is exactly the CCP's false propagandas! I am done answering you now. Don't expect me to answer anything that you ask--I have my sister's life to safe! Bye now.

Because the Pakistani government sold them to US gov as foreign fighters because they were in Afghanistan not as fighters but escaped from China's oppression. Only because they did not have language support (didn't have a translator like me) they were brought to GTMO to interrogate and find out who they were. Then they were released to third countries. the US did not send them back to China although China requested them to persecute.

They went to Afghanistan to escape from China's oppression? Why flee to a war-torn hotbed of international affairs with no significant representation of their ethnincity rather than, say, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, where hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs live in relative peace? Or Turkey, which hosts many Uyghurs and shares close linguistic and cultural ties to its people?

Furthermore, why did Pakistan, which has 3x the population of Uyghurs compared to the United States, which at the time hosted Abdul Rasul, Uyghur leader of the Asian Muslims Human Rights Bureau, and which is one of the largest communities in the world for people of Uyghur ethnicity, not have language support for Uyghurs?

There is something called "visa" on people's passports needed in order to travel to all those countries.

I have worked as a contractor with the DoD to serve as a translator for detainees in Guantanamo. Without a Uyghur to translate their situation would have been very dire indeed. It was the Chinese govt that first began to spread the information that I worked for the CIA. I used my time there to advocate for these Uyghurs, and I think we can all agree that was important work. I am an American citizen. My role at Guantanamo has been addressed multiple times and those who continue to share the same old tired propaganda clearly have no interest in helping the Uyghurs. Thank you.

Without a Uyghur to translate their situation would have been very dire indeed.

How so? What would have been done to those political prisoners if you had not translated for them? And why were those Uyghurs detained? For how long, and why at Guantanamo Bay in particular? What were the conditions of their release?

It was the Chinese govt that first began to spread the information that I worked for the CIA.

I read about it in comments on Reddit. Are you insinuating that those commenters are proxies for the Chinese Government? You admit to working with Radio Free Asia, a self-proclaimed CIA operation, so I'm not sure what you intend to suggest by implicating that China 'spread the information' available in your resume.

My role at Guantanamo has been addressed multiple times and those who continue to share the same old tired propaganda clearly have no interest in helping the Uyghurs.

You've addressed it by professing pride in your service and by claiming that the detained Uyghurs were happier in Guantanamo than they would have been in Xinjiang. That's an incredible and extraordinary claim; can you provide citation for it?

I recommend you watch the documentary "Uyghurs, Prisoners of the Absurd" that goes into the mind-blowing reasons they were wrongfully detained there.

Also, you can look it up. A chinese foreign ministry spokesperson made these claims long ago and many people picked up on it. It isn't for me to say what their relationship to the CCP is, but that is a fact.

If you’re going to host an AMA, the onus is on you, instead of “you can look it up.”

This AMA's focus is on China's treatment of their Uighur community. The question she answered with "look it up", was off topic and trying to steer the conversation to focus on the US's treatment of Uighurs detained at gitmo.

Exactly, thank you!

The Uyghurs in China's concentration camps are being forcibly sterilized, tortured mentally and sexually, and are in some of the most mind-blowing conditions of abuse. And this is being sanctioned and approved by the Chinese regime. Please address what you think of that? Instead of smearing me, address what I am saying about Uyghurs.

I'm not the host of an IAmA, but fine. Another Redditor offered an excellent summation of criticisms against the U.S. perspective of the situation in Xinjiang in response to the recent HRW IAmA:

I'm sorry, but the more I read about what you have to say about China and the situation in Xinjiang, the more frustrated I get. I am a very academic person and every paragraph I read in your report reeks of bias and an anti-academic attitude. I'm a researcher at a major European university which name I do not want to disclose (you can contact me personally and we can communicate outside of a public forum if you are interested). Non of the things in your report actually seem to check out and it seems to contain a lot of personal beliefs of the authors instead of verifiable fact.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating-ideological-viruses/chinas-campaign-repression-against-xinjiangs

Throughout the region, the Turkic Muslim population of 13 million is subjected to forced political indoctrination, collective punishment, restrictions on movement and communications, heightened religious restrictions, and mass surveillance in violation of international human rights law.

Could you present any evidence for these accusations? Your article doesn't even explain what you mean by terms such as "political indoctrination". Do you mean basic political education as it happens through compulsory schooling in every other country?

The report quotes yourself saying:

"The campaign of repression in Xinjiang is key test of whether the United Nations and concerned governments will sanction an increasingly powerful China to end this abuse.”

Could you elaborate on why you think China should or could be sanctioned? On which basis? Do you feel like you have presented actually credible evidence of significant abuse? If the UN is not sanctioning the US, a country that has a history of committing far worse human rights violations and even committing war crimes, wouldn't sanctioning China be an example of double standards and hypocrisy? Sounds highly counter-intuitive.

The report then goes on to state the following:

Credible estimates indicate that 1 million people are being held in the camps, where Turkic Muslims are being forced to learn Mandarin Chinese, sing praises of the Chinese Communist Party, and memorize rules applicable primarily to Turkic Muslims. Those who resist or are deemed to have failed to “learn” are punished.

You say "credible estimates". What exactly makes them credible? Have they been peer-reviewed? I have checked your cited source.

You cited "research" by the "Chinese Human Rights Defenders", which is a group headquartered in the US(!) and which does not disclose their funding or structure(!). If you asked for my opinion, I would say it seems to be an intransparent group with a clear agenda.

The "research" once again is based on witness testimonials. Exclusively on witness testimonials. Of very few individuals and only individuals who have negative views about the situation. Without consideration for opposing views or evidence amongst the millions of Uyghurs and other peopel living in Xinjiang. Without fact-checking. Just witness testimonials taken at face value. Do you not find you methods questionable considering that in this comment you are trying to question the methodology and results of a long-term international study led by American researchers demonstrating the increasingly positive attitude of Chinese people towards their government? Isn't it weird that you firmly believe the results of your research based on potentially biased witness testimonials of a very small amount of people all of which share anti-government views?

The "researchers" also keep using the term "re-education" to refer to the programmes in Xinjiang. You, too, are using that term in your report. What exactly is the difference between "education" and "re-education"? What exactly is wrong with receiving compulsory "re-education"?

Your attitude from the get-go seems to be that forced education is always wrong rather than looking at the actual impact of the programmes. Could you elaborate why you believe that is? Isn't compulsory education something normal and desirable and something all countries enable for their citizens? Have you found any evidence of "re-education" actually harming Uyghur populations (e.g. decreasing their social or economic standing within Chinese society or lowering their grade of recognition as a minority)?

You go on to make an entire list of allegations, too many to list and discuss here in a sensible amount of time, but for non of which you seem to present any actual evidence besides unreliable witness testimonials of a small sample of people all of whom share a similar attitude without counterbalancing your research with contrarian evidence or opinions.

When exactly were previous genocides verified by the peer review process?

As one example, U.S. Senate inquiries have long found evidence for and provided condemnation against genocides and human rights abuses internationally as they occur. Several Senate inquiries have investigated human rights abuses in Xinjiang and have found no evidence of such an atrocity.

Still, the politically-motivated legislative arm of the Senate recently passed legislation condemning alleged human rights abuses which their own investigations determined were not occurring.

Similarly, embedded monitors and foreign governmental observers have long substantiated claims of human rights abuses in instances which they were later determined to have occurred, but that's not the case here. Turkey, Russia, the United States and others have repeatedly sent teams to Xinjiang to observe and have never found evidence of wrongdoing.

Those are not examples of peer review. The mention of such a specific process to discredit the credibility of an ongoing genocide is bizarre and throws into doubt the legitimacy of these arguments.

There's a few people in here that are successfully derailing this AMA.

Exactly! A very few people here purposely doing that. Thank you for pointing it out.

Dude, you are assuming that it's possible to get credible academic sources from China. All these comments reflect a lack of understanding about China. FYI, I lived there for over a decade and my husband is Chinese. Worked in the universities there for a while. Everything is controlled by the CCP.

That is correct, thanks. The Xinjiang Papers (On New York Times last November), one of the first major leaks from Beijing in decades, reveal Chairman Xi's vision for using the "organs of dictatorship" against Uyghurs and showing them "absolutely no mercy." And, it was the new Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo's heavy-handed tactics that ordered security forces to "round up everyone who needs to be rounded up" into involuntary camps for "concentrated education and training" -- in other words, concentration camps. The 403 pages of leaked documents provide an unprecedented, inside view of the CCP’s racially-targeted and brutal attitude towards the Uyghur people in which the authorities have corralled more than three million innocent people, like livestock, into concentration camps and prisons.

We now know that these ruthless and vicious policies were conceived, and orchestrated, by top-level officials in the Chinese government. Xi Jinping’s ability to conceal and mislead the international community about the nature of the camps continues to be eroded, day by day. The fact that the leak happened is also crucial – it illustrates that some official was brave enough to not only deeply question China’s approach, but also to risk his own life and take action against it by revealing those documents out to the world and to the people that can stop this atrocity.

The Xinjiang Papers make clear in official texts many of the features that journalists and researchers have discovered over the past two years. What is inescapable is the culpability of the most senior Party leaders, especially Chen Quanguo. So the real question now is how much longer we have to wait until Chen Quanguo is sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act. Magnitsky sanctions aim directly at the Achilles Heel of Authoritarian Kleptocracies like China: their repressive violence is exactly what enables their massive scale of corruption to continue. Freezing perpetrator's assets abroad and restricting their freedom to travel publicly names and shames them, showing the world's disgust with their actions and separates them from international trade.

I'm going to put your interrogation of Rushan aside and ask that you reflect sincerely on your positionality of this issue and self-proclaimed dedication to colonized peoples around the world.

As a self-professed academic, have you done literally any academic reading about the Uyghurs or history of Xinjiang? I doubt it, your posts demonstrate an incredible--but at this point predictable--ignorance. There is an entire field of research conducted predominantly by anti-colonial left wing scholars dedicated to Uyghur/Xinjiang history and anthropology (I can give names/books if you're genuinely interested). Look up what these scholars are saying about what's happening in Xinjiang. You clearly care way less about the Uyghurs and their colonization or in understanding how their colonization and oppression in China is clearly linked to both global capitalism and a type of Islamophobia pioneered by the U.S. after 9/11.

Please start ACTUALLY READING AND DOING RESEARCH and stop embarrassing the international anti-colonial left that actually cares about the Uyghur people. People like here: http://criticalchinascholars.org/

Case in point, there are dozens and dozens of articles written about the Guantanamo Uyghurs that answer all of these questions you have.

You asked, for example, "They went to Afghanistan to escape from China's oppression? Why flee to a war-torn hotbed of international affairs with no significant representation of their ethnincity rather than, say, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, where hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs live in relative peace? Or Turkey, which hosts many Uyghurs and shares close linguistic and cultural ties to its people?"

​

Qassim became involved in "Islamic Advocacy" after the February 5, 1997 Ghulja demonstration in Xinjiang, China, and was arrested in June 1998.

"They accused me of being part of the separatist movement. And they jailed me for seven months."

After his release, Qassim decided to try find an Uighur village in Afghanistan. Many Uighurs fleeing China chose to go to Afghanistan because it is one of the few countries in the region that doesn't have an extradition treaty with China. He found the village near the mountains a few hours outside of Jalalabad. This village was later named as a Taliban training camp by the US military.

"All of us who stayed there had great respect for the Afghan people, and the Taliban, because no one else provided refuge to the Uighur people. You didn't need a passport or anything else. Even if you were not making any money you still had three meals a day. I'm still grateful to them. No other country has given Uighur refugees anything like that," says Qassim.

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2015/12/uighur-guantanamo-22-151206112137598.html

Thank you!

You're asking a fair question but remember, he was a translator, not interrogator. I managed almost 200 translators from a lot of countries during a tour in Iraq. All they did was move information from 1 language to another, nothing else. They're a necessary cog in the wheel but not the engine that drives it.

He also, almost certainly, signed an NDA that lasts almost forever. The feds are VERY conscious about enforcing that. In fact, as I recall, Obama's presidency was ruthless in enforcing NDAs and I can only imaging it has continued under the current regime.

Once again, you can watch "Uyghurs Prisoners of the Absurd" for more information on these Uyghurs. Very interesting and tragic set of circumstances actually. https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henr%C3%ADquez/dp/B07FQ4QLW4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs+victims+of+the+absurd&qid=1595627101&sr=8-1

Never heard of it, I will check it out.

Three of those former GTMO Uyghurs were interviewed and their lawyers. It is a very informative documentary. thanks.

You claim the Uyghurs you translated for were not tortured; that's not what the U.S. DOJ, Senate Armed Services Committee, the New York Times and The Guardian believe:

A May 2008 report by the Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice claimed that American military interrogators appeared to have collaborated with visiting Chinese officials at Guantánamo Bay to enact sleep deprivation of the Uyghur detainees. A bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report, released in part in December 2008 and in full in April 2009, concluded that the legal authorization of "Enhanced interrogation techniques" led directly to the abuse and killings of prisoners in US military facilities. Wiki

Yes, exactly-the one and only time the Uyghurs got miss-treated in GTMO was the time that China sent its people to interrogate the Uyghurs! As you read it here, it was the Chinese officials who got away in GTMO with their manipulation and became a power able to strong-arm the world into kowtowing to its every wish! Thank you for seeing that, finally!

BTW, The Chinese officials were there only for 2 weeks in the Summer of 2002. That is when the few hours of sleep deprivation has happened.

My role was translating for those Uyghurs as a translator. Thanks

Are the Chinese harvesting organs from the Uyghur people? If yes what are they doing with them?

Are the Chinese harvesting organs from the Uyghur people? If yes what are they doing with them?

Yes, they are. China has created a lucrative business where they sell these organs (domestically and abroad). China has been advertising "Halal Organs" to the Middle East by killing innocent Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslims and selling their organs to them.

Moreover, now with COVID-19, which affects major organs, there has been a high demand for operations such as double lung transplants. China is making this happen. Keep in mind that ordinarily, there is a long waiting list for organs and people have to wait 3-5+ years to get an organ. Meanwhile, China has been matching people with organs in mere days.

Holy fuck! Its like the plot of a show or something, but the scale is huge and its just going on, all the way on the other side of the world, but its going on as I type

She is lying, the organ harvesting crap has been debunked thoroughly

Source?

Not the guy your replying to but the claim that "Halal organs" are being harvested comes from this tweet. The video in question is from a livestream from this channel. In the video, a caller concludes that since she heard that waiting time for organs is between 1 to 6 months, that organ donors must be "按需来杀人" (kill on demand). She goes on to talk about how she didn't believe the falun gong claims of organ harvesting until she saw international people in the hospital. Needless to say, this reasoning is problamatic. It seems like confirmation bias rather than actual evidence. It didn't stop some newsites from using it as source though.

I was curious and took a look at the Channel itself. This guy 路德 seems to be obessed with 中共 (CPC) and literally livestreams everyday. I guess this is sort of thing is probably catering for 反贼. Apparrently this guy has a twitter, and his feed is very crazy. Re-tweeting steve bannon videos from this propaganda account. It's a very deep rabbit hole I'd rather not dive into.

The newsite I talked about mentions a guy called Enver Tohti ( 安华托帝 ) who says the caller's "testimony" is credible. He is a former cancer surgeon who now lives in London as an uber driver and he's known for his testimony of chinese organ harvesting in 1995. But regarding the video from twitter, turns out from his twitter that the "halal organs" thing was a hoax.

Personally, I think there's just too much garbage on social media (reddit, facebook, twitter) to fact check everything. Even this Rushan Abbas person worked for "various US intelligence agencies". This "campaignforuyghurs" account is a mess, literally posting anti-china propaganda nonstop. She even claims that " GTMO cell blocks were better than the normal uyghur people’s lives outside of the concentration camps ".

​

If r/CampaignForUyghurs was honest about this claim of "halal organs", she should provide sources for this.

​

Sources:

Saudis allegedly buy 'Halal organs' from 'slaughtered' Xinjiang Muslims

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3862578

Does China Sell ‘Halal Organs’ Harvested from Muslim Uyghurs to Saudi Arabia?

https://www.albawaba.com/node/does-china-sell-%E2%80%98halal-organs%E2%80%99-harvested-muslim-uyghurs-saudi-arabia-1292235

Here is the source: https://campaignforuyghurs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Genocide-Report-English.pdf

​

Thanks

I read that Uyghurs all have their DNA banked and there were advertisements in Arabic about halal organs....with like no wait time....sooooo.....apparently they are going to people who need to buy organs. :(

Yes, the PRC has managed to kill four birds with one stone:

1. Forcing millions of Uyghurs into slavery, forcing them to work on production.

2. Dislocating Uyghurs’ from their homes, neighborhoods and towns, to reallocate Han Chinese settlers and open the land for the Belt and Road Initiative.

3. Jailing Uyghur men in camps and prisons and forcing unwed and abandoned Uyghur women into arranged marriages with Non-Muslim Han Chinese men with government gratifications such as money, housing and jobs. Leaving Neither the girls nor their families able to decline in fear of repercussion.

4. And lastly Orchestrating Organ farms, where millions are forced to undergo DNA tests and prepped for slaughter. The human rights organizations in the world need to pay attention to and take the lead against the PRC’s Organ Slavery trade practices.

Children have also become the main target of China’s policy of assimilation and social engineering. The Chinese government is trying to eradicate the Uyghur ethnic identity by targeting the younger generation. While their parents are detained in the camps, Uyghur children are taken away, held hostage in Chinese government-run orphanages, where they are indoctrinated.

Holy fuck that's so sinister.

Yes. Because the international community ignored earlier abuses by the Chinese regime concerning forced organ harvesting from prisoners, now it has escalated to this disturbing reality that seems like a bad science fiction novel.

(1) What are your thoughts on anthropologist Darren Byler's usage of the term "terror capitalism" to describe what's going on in Xinjiang?

Byler describes "terror capitalism" as follows:

"Terror capitalism justifies the exploitation of subjugated populations by defining them as potential terrorists or security threats. It primarily generates profits in three interconnected ways. First, lucrative state contracts are given to private corporations to build and deploy policing technologies that surveil and manage target groups. Then, using the vast amounts of biometric and social media data extracted from those groups, the private companies improve their technologies and sell retail versions of them to other states and institutions, such as schools. Finally, all this turns the target groups into a ready source of cheap labor – either through direct coercion or indirectly through stigma.

The people being targeted by terror capitalism include entire stateless groups, such as ethnic Bengalis in north-east India and Palestinian Arabs. They are almost always from minority or refugee populations, especially Muslim ones. While the Chinese system is unique in terms of its scale and the depth of its cruelty, terror capitalism is an American invention, and it has taken root around the world.

…

Meanwhile, across Europe and North America, terror-capital surveillance tools have placed hundreds of thousands of Muslims on watchlists as part of Countering Violent Extremism programs. In the United States, immigration control measures taken in the aftermath of 9/11 have paved the way for a system that monitors and controls asylum seekers who enter the country at the southern border."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/24/surveillance-tech-facial-recognition-terror-capitalism

https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/

Do you think framing it in these terms will help many of those who politically identify on the anti-colonial left in finally seeing the CCP's treatment of Uyghurs as a more localized manifestation of what is clearly a global phenomenon (and one in which Western countries are also complicit)?

(2)Likewise, do you have other thoughts about how those of us on the left and suspicious of the US government's motives can incorporate the clearly colonial and racialized violence against Uyghurs into transnational critiques of colonialism and imperialism without also reinforcing the goals of Western powers?

(3) As a Uyghur, what books about Uyghur/Xinjiang history do you think are most useful for providing historical context for the developments in Xinjiang over the past decade or so?

(4) How can we help center Uyghur voices in our responses to colonization?

There is a lot of information and books are available. Please look at our website too for more info. www.campaignforuyghurs.org

China is bribing and leveraging some key politicians, the media, and scholars around the world and has successfully silenced international condemnation of its shameful crimes. What do you think is going to happen if this remains unchecked?

Continuing to do business as normal with China today is being complicit with genocide and supporting the spread of China’s totalitarian Communistic Nationalism to the world. History will remember those who act and those who fail to do so. We are all responsible for what happens next.

Darren Byler's articles are excellent. Please read his writings. Thanks

What can individuals do regarding family members in countries (such as Pakistan) whom are indebt to China. They cannot speak out against the violations (in some cases denying) because China is helping said countries out of crisis?

I would point out that China is not really helping, it is using debt-trap diplomacy. The BRI is a short-term benefit, but if you look at what has happened with regions that China "helped" I would still urge Pakistan to exercise caution. And whatever decisions Pakistan makes politically, they should absolutely NOT be vouching for China's protections of religious freedoms, that is crossing a line.

Must contact the Pakistani government and ask to use their strong influence with China to secure their release. Many Muslim majority countries are being victims of China's disinformation. Therefore, it is very important to raise awareness and speak out.

Many local Pakistanis get verbally angered when any criticism towards China is presented to them. The Minister for Human Rights denied any existence of Uyghur genocide on Al Jazeera’a segment with Mehdi Hassan. When the government itself is difficult. What can we do to sway them towards the correct course of action?

Chinese money has purchased the compliance of Islamic countries, of the U.N., of corporations, of the NBA, the IOC, Hollywood and celebrities, but the world must take note: history will remember the upstanders and condemn those who fail to stand for what is right in the face of this evil. Do not allow your conscience to be bought with blood money. As we follow his example, may we prove that his efforts have not been in vain. We must act now, before the only voice left to speak is one of regret.

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What a "Communist China way" of spreading disinformation and falsely interpreting what I said?! Which part in any language there that I said: "they would rather stay in prison?"--English is not my native language but surely, you need to learn some too unless if this is just some cheap attacks on me! Why don't you also disclose that I spent years working with the HABEAS attorneys to secure safe third countries for those GTMO Uyghurs? Why don't you also tell me what this means when I said in this video here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFpOVLr-M0&t=3s

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I am not going to answer any of your questions but just to point it out that video you just watched is from 2010! PLEASE look at the date it was uploaded on YouTube before you spread more lies. Thank you!

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....and you are here distorting the truth about me! Watch this for the reality: https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henr%C3%ADquez/dp/B07FQNZHZS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs+prisoners+of+the+absurd&qid=1595817467&sr=8-1

...I said I was not going to answer you anymore but if you are genuinely interested, just to educate you, this is a documentary made in 2014. You can watch what I said and what those GTMO Uyghurs said about me. Please purchase it from Amazon and watch it then you question me here: https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henr%C3%ADquez/dp/B07FQNZHZS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs+prisoners+of+the+absurd&qid=1595817467&sr=8-1

That video interview was from 10 years ago!

Wait, so you went into that position already aware of the atrocities that were happening?

We have a proverb saying "When you ask about the head, he/she answers about the foot". This video is 10 years ago, it was uploaded in 2010 which I talked about how I felt about GTMO. Which part of that language, don't you understand?! Yes, Uyghurs are facing atrocities by the CCP since 1949! I am done answering you and please do get yourself a life.

Yeah. I get it. You don't like it. Neat. You keep saying that like it actually answers something. So was this video before or after you took the job? Oh wait; it doesn't matter because:

You still WORKED THERE. You were either complicit after finding out, or complicit before and after.

So you spoke out in one video in 2010 that has...8 views? And a movie you're charging people to watch.

Edit: By the way; I was actually notified of this AMA by other redditors who are also wary of you. I came here by request.

If you are wary of her please actually examine what others are also saying about what is happening to the Uyghurs. Thank you.

I don't have time to waste speaking to a stone with no ears to listen, sorry. Me charging for the movie? Hahaha you are helpless! FYI, I have nothing to do with Amazon's charging or not charging on this movie--I only said it because I saw it on Amazon and I thought you supposed to purchase it to watch it. 8 viewers? is that how you read 1,465 views as 8?

Is it possible to try China for crimes against humanity in ICC and ICJ?

We hope so, There are some groups trying to file a case at the ICC.

Why is China targeting Uyghurs specifically in your opinion?

The only crime of my sister, the same crime perpetrated by the millions of Uyghurs suffering today, is being Uyghur Muslim. What the Chinese government is doing is a crime against humanity, and at this point, it has become about the right to live and the means to survive as human beings for Uyghurs. It challenges our basic integrity, and the world cannot be silent when over 3 million Uyghurs and other Muslims are being detained, stripped of their religion, culture, and forced to swear blind loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping. The Communist Chinese government is exterminating my people today, challenging the human dignity and basic survival rights that God gave us with our birth.

The persecution against the Uyghurs is racially motivated. The PRC’s strategy of building a new Silkroad with the Belt and Road initiative is causing destruction in our homeland, and populating massive concentration camps. China’s campaign of despotism extends far beyond the horrendous camps. Ubiquitous security like that of George Orwell’s 1984, a massive, high-tech police state, is the cruel reality for the entire region in West China. According to numerous testimonies, inside of the camps, detainees are intensely indoctrinated with Communist Party propaganda, and forced to renounce Islam. They are subject to rape and torture. China claims that these sprawling camps with barbed wire and armed guard towers are humane job training or vocational training centers. This is a lie. Detainees include medical doctors, academics, businesspeople, and professionals, as well as young children and the elderly, none of whom need job training. Uyghur prisoners have also been dispersed throughout China proper as an attempt to hide the numbers of those who have been detained. The Uyghurs’ economy has been completely destroyed, and the government is distributing Uyghurs wealth and re-allocating their lands to Hans Chinese.

They fall against their ideology of “one people. One China”. Can you confirm this?

We believe in a religion. Any original thought is a threat to the Communist regime. China is waging war on religion and Uyghurs are the first victim. Then they will come after the entire world if we don't stop them now.

Original thought and religious believes are a danger to any Communist regime. Now, this totalitarian ideology has returned to the world with Xi Jinping. The individual freedom to choose ‒ to choose what we believe, how we believe, and why we believe ‒ is one of the major achievements of the modern world. It defines our sense of liberty, of the freedom of conscience. Yet now this foundation of our freedom has come under attack. This disturbing trend is clearly visible in the persecution of the Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans and Hong Kongers today. These blatant violations of human rights, by the Chinese communist regime is only one part of a rising tide of intolerance that is rapidly suffocating the world. Our struggle should be the concern of everyone who values the basic human rights of dignity, respect, and freedom of belief for all people. These rights are a fundamental part of the human legacy, our legacy, that is increasingly under attack from a new tyrannical threat, which is the return of communism through China’s rise to power.

That is also correct--One people One China: Uyghurs can continue to live if they become Han Chinese or they die as Uyghurs.

Can you share your experiences working in Guantanamo Bay during the Bush administration? What exactly did you do there?

Watch this. That is me speaking about GTMO 10 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFpOVLr-M0

Already answered please read. OR see the documentary, "Uyghurs: Prisoners of the Absurd". Thank you.

I translated for the Uyghur detainees. Here is a documentary in details about my work: https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henr%C3%ADquez/dp/B07FQNZHZS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs+prisoners+of+the+absurd&qid=1595817467&sr=8-1

What was you involvement in Guantanamo bay ?

https://www.amazon.com/Uyghurs-Prisoners-Absurd-Patricio-Henr%C3%ADquez/dp/B07FQNZHZS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uyghurs+prisoners+of+the+absurd&qid=1595817467&sr=8-1

If you care so much about human rights, then why did you work at Guantanamo Bay?

Because those Uygurs needed translator and I wanted to help them. Please watch this form 10 years ago. That woman is me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFpOVLr-M0

Considering that you have spread lies and propaganda elsewhere in this thread, I am inclined to believe you are also lying about what you did in GitMo

That reminded me of a children's story my father used to tell me: One wolf wanted to eat a little lamb. But wanted to give the lamb a reason before he eats him. So the wold told the lamb, "it is you that dirty up my water last Summer by drinking from the upper stream. The lamb said, "big uncle wolf, I was only born this past Spring, how could I dirty up your water if I wasn't even in this world?" The wold said, "then it was your mother who did that last Summer". The little lamb said "She just moved here from another mountain just before I was born. She wasn't even here" Then, the wolf said "I don't care about that. I just wanted to eat you!" then he went and ate that lamb :)

Why is China doing this?

After Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, the Chinese Communist government implemented brutal persecutions in our homeland. As the result, policies such as “punishment on the spot” is applied to Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic people, which means, any armed forces could shoot to kill if they feel that they aren’t following their orders. There is a news report that an Uyghur teenager was shot to death by a traffic policeman when he ran a red-light on his motorcycle. Special forces and armed police can raid Uyghur homes at any time, and search and arrest anyone as they wish. Then, Chen Quango was brought to East Turkistan, from Tibet in August 2016. He began his ruthless cultural and ethnic subjugations with the arresting of the members of the Uighur textbook compiling committee and abolished Uighur textbooks. Yalqun Rozi is a well-known scholar and writer who worked in the editorial board for the Uighur Textbook Department of Xinjiang Education Ministry. He compiled and edited Uighur textbooks for elementary, middle schools and high schools. In October 2016, as the first victims of the current atrocities, Yalqun Rozi and others were taken for investigation in relation to "ideological problems" in the literature textbooks. In January 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Crackdowns continue across the Uyghur region. In the last few years, the overall situation of the Uyghurs has rapidly deteriorated and has now reached active genocide. Today, the entire Uyghur population is facing persecution, arbitrary detention and forced labor as slaves. According to numerous testimonies, detainees in those camps are subject to food and sleep deprivation, forced medications, organ harvesting, torture leading to brutal deaths; and the dead are cremated to leave no evidence. There are news reports that the government is constructing massive crematoria throughout the region near by the concentration camps for a culture that doesn’t believe in cremations. This is a warning sign. Mutellip Nurmehmet, who earned one of his master’s degree from North Eastern University in Boston, and went back to East Turkestan to work and serve his people was tortured nearly to death in a concentration camp, and then given back to his parents in Urumqi. He died 9 days later in the hospital. His kids were born in the US, but they are now in back home and the Chinese government forced him to revoke the US citizenships of his two kids through the US Embassy in Beijing. Mutellip’s account is one of countless stories of Uyghurs being killed in the camps. People need to realize that these camps aren’t just about “cultural cleansing”, but also about physical extermination. Congressman Christopher Smith accused China of committing genocide against the Uyghurs, calling their actions "without precedent in modern times."