By Poornima Weerasekara / Pak Yiu
Ethnic Uighurs have launched a global campaign to press China for video proof that their missing relatives are alive, turning the tables on Beijing’s use of video to counter claims that a renowned Uighur had died in custody.
The social media campaign was launched Tuesday under the hashtag #MeTooUyghur after China released a video of a man who identified himself as Uighur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit saying he was alive and well.
The video was made public after Turkey claimed that Heyit had died in a Chinese prison in a statement in which Ankara condemned China for herding vast numbers of Muslim minority Uighurs into “re-education” camps in the country’s remote northwestern Xinjiang region.
“Chinese authorities showed video as proof Mr Heyit is still alive. Now, we want to know, where are millions of Uyghurs?” said Halmurat Harri, an activist in Finland, who created the hashtag.
He told AFP that his own parents had been previously detained, but were released last year.
Please join our social media campaign- #MeTooUyghur!
As you know Chinese authority responded Abdurehim Heyts scandal by released a video to show he is alive.
Are millions of detainees too alive?
Small action, big impact! You action count, please join us! #MeTooUyghur pic.twitter.com/jtpvAX0oPM— Halmurat Harri Uyghur (哈瑞)🇪🇺🇫🇮 (@HalmuratU) February 11, 2019
The hashtag prompted posts from around the world, with Uighurs holding pictures of missing mothers, fathers, sons, daughters or friends.
A UN panel of experts says nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities are being held in extrajudicial detention in camps in Xinjiang, where most of China’s more than 10 million Uighurs live.
Beijing at first denied the allegation, but later said it has put people into “vocational education centres”.
Many overseas Uighurs have not been able to contact relatives and friends in China for years as phone calls and messaging platforms are under close Chinese surveillance, said Rushan Abbas, a US-based rights activist.
She is demanding authorities release a video of her sister, a physician, who she says was “sent for vocational training”.
Xinjiang has long suffered from violent unrest, which China claims is orchestrated by an organised “terrorist” movement that seeks the region’s independence. It has implemented a massive, high-tech security crackdown in recent years.
#MeTooUyghur
Dear president Xi,
Please free our grandpa, he is a good man, we miss him a lot. Grandma is sick. Grandpa should take care of her. pic.twitter.com/XjlXErPoxa— Ezer Enver (Aiziheer Ainiwaer) (@aiziheer) February 12, 2019
But many Uighurs and Xinjiang experts say the violent episodes stem largely from spontaneous outbursts of anger at allegations of Chinese cultural repression of Uighurs, and that Beijing plays up terrorism to justify tight control of the resource-rich region.
Critics say Uighurs in the camps are being brainwashed in a massive campaign to enforce conformity with Chinese society and encourage them to abandon Islam.
Our parents Abduqadir Jalalidin and Jemile Saqi , have been detained since January 2018. We are worrying about their well-being.
My sister and me ask Chinese government to show our parents‘ video as they did with #AbdurehimHeyit #MeTooUyghur #SaveUyghur pic.twitter.com/lyawZ2iamB— Babur Jalalidin (@baburjlld) February 12, 2019
Arslan Hidayat, son-in-law of prominent Uighur comedian Adil Mijit, posted a Facebook video saying his father-in-law was missing and calling for a “proof of life video” of Mijit and others “who have been locked up in Chinese concentration camps”.
Ordinary voices
Abdul Mukaddes said his cousin Erpat Ablekrem, a professional football player, has been missing since last March and that if China responds by releasing further videos it would prove they were “illegally holding people for months or years” without charge.
Xinjiang’s regional government, which according to state media had released the original video of Heyit, did not respond to a request for comment on the social media campaign.
CCP, where is my father, mother, brothers, and sisters.
China’s government, show their videos too the way you did with#AbdurihimHeyit
Where are they?#SaveUyghur #MeTooUyghur pic.twitter.com/uHB1mNqfbg— Mustafa Uyghur (@TarimUyghur) February 13, 2019
Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International, said the movement gives worried Uighurs a rare outlet while undercutting China’s terrorism assertions.
“These people are ordinary people. The Chinese government simply can’t claim that they are all extremists or terrorists,” Poon said.
It also adds pressure on the world community to speak out, he said.
Hey China, you released the video of Abdurehim Heyt, showing that he is still alive. Where are my relatives? Show them to me if they are still alive! #MeTooUyghur #MenmuUyghur pic.twitter.com/hVGWSmmTZl
— HATİP (@HATP21074362) February 12, 2019
The Muslim world in particular has been conspicuously quiet, possibly to avoid Chinese diplomatic or economic retaliation.
Turkey’s statement on Saturday was perhaps the strongest yet by any country, calling China’s treatment of Uighurs “a great cause of shame for humanity”.
Turkey said it had learned that Heyit died serving an eight-year prison sentence “over one of his songs”, but China rejected that on Monday, pointing to the video released by Xinjiang and calling the Turkish statement “vile”.