On United Nations International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we should not forget the agony of silence for exiled Uyghurs waiting for news of loved ones at home.
by Ruth Ingram
Deafening silence meets every Uyghur pleading with the Chinese state for news of their loved ones caught up in the mass roundups ups and detentions since 2017.
Seven long years have passed since the worst of the atrocities were unleashed on several million Turkic citizens in China’s north west and for Uyghurs who had to flee their homeland, the trauma has only intensified.
As the world remembers the United Nations International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on August 30, “Bitter Winter” revisits the story of Rizwangul NurMuhammad whose brother disappeared in 2017.
Mewlan NurMuhammad’s plight was raised by “Bitter Winter” four years ago. We caught up with his New Zealand-based sister again recently, to find her urgency and frustration growing amid Beijing’s stonewalling and an international community unmoved not only by her brother’s situation but that of hundreds of thousands of exiled countrymen and women who wait in agony for news of their relatives and friends.
The Uyghur diaspora community scattered across the globe is peppered with fractured families, separated spouses, and orphaned children, all desperate to talk to those they left behind and be reassured that they are still alive.
Rizwangul NurMuhammad, well known to “Bitter Winter“ for speaking up for Mewlan, now 38, since he disappeared in 2017, has been pushing every door at the highest levels to discover his fate, only to be blocked at every turn.
There had been a glimmer of hope in March 2019 when it seemed that Mewlan, who had been arrested by plain clothed police during his lunch break in 2017 and subsequently sentenced to nine years for “separatist activities,” might be released; but it was not to be and his case went quiet. “Local authorities informed the family that my brother was going to be released and asked the family to prepare clothes for him,” Rizwangul told “Bitter Winter.” “But the release did not happen; instead, in April 2019, he was transferred from internment camp to a prison in Bole city (north of Ili hugging the China-Kazakhstan border) where he was initially detained.”
Becoming increasingly worried, Rizwangul enquired through the UN’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Detention (WGEID) for news of his whereabouts and his case was brought up at its 118th session in May 2019.
The Chinese government eventually conceded on 2 September that he had been transferred to a prison in Shihezi city, 374 Km away from Bole city, his hometown.
In early June 2020, the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, where Rizwangul is now a citizen, after an enquiry from the New Zealand government, admitted that Mewlan had been given a nine year jail term for “splitting the state.” “There has been no official information to explain the reason he was arrested and sentenced. To the best of my knowledge, there was no trial,” said Rizwangul.
According to Rizwangul, her brother was “an innocent person who has done nothing against the government, nothing against the law, who is not a threat to the State, who is simply striving for supporting his family,” she said. “He has been detained arbitrarily and is being punished for a crime that he did not commit.”
Mewlan has a son who has barely seen his father. He was born shortly before Mewlan’s disappearance and has been brought up by his mother and grandmother. He is now seven years old. “Thinking of him growing up without a father makes me extremely sad,” said Rizwangul.
After Mewlan’s disappearance all contact was lost between Rizwangul and her mother for two years until suddenly one day in early 2020 she received a message on WeChat, the Chinese social media app, from her. “We couldn’t say anything significant but it was such a relief to know she was still ok,” said Rizwangul. The calls continued until June 2020 and as abruptly as they had started, they stopped.
Since then there has been no news of any kind. Her mother has just turned 70. Rizwangul has no idea where she, her sister in law, or her nephew are living, nor has she had any news of her brother.
She has grown increasingly fretful since hearing of Mewlan’s jail sentence and the four subsequent years of silence. She has no idea where or how he is. “I am deeply concerned and increasingly worried, especially with the growing number of reports indicating that Uyghur prisoners are being denied adequate food, they are tortured, and targeted for organ harvesting. They are also being forced to work, some up to 11 hours daily, in places like Turpan Daheyan prison.”
In desperation she appealed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on June 19 this year to investigate her brother’s whereabouts, with claims that his detention is “arbitrary.” “His prolonged imprisonment poses severe threats to his health and life,” she told the group, asking that it call on China for his immediate release. So far the body has been silent.
Having failed to raise the WGAD, she wrote again to the WGEID with an urgent request to re-examine his case at its 134th session in Geneva in September 2024. “His current fate and whereabouts remain unclear, and the prolonged uncertainty about his status is deeply concerning,” she wrote.
The WGEID Secretariat replied, agreeing to include Mewlan’s case during the 134th session, where she hopes to be able to address the working group in person to discuss his case.
Rizwangul is convinced that her brother was detained because of his Uyghur identity. “My brother is an innocent Uyghur man. The uncertainty keeps me awake at night, worrying about his physical and mental health,” she told “Bitter Winter.” “I insist that the CCP release my brother immediately and unconditionally. Beijing must uphold its international commitments and respect the human rights of all Uyghurs, both within and outside China. It is crucial for justice and international decency that these rights are upheld.”
Source: BITTER WINTER
