Uighur Muslims persecuted in Chinese concentration camps

Noha Elkeelany - Senior, Features Editor | News

Ever since 2017, millions of Uighur Muslims have been unjustly detained in Chinese concentration camps.

Uighurs are a Muslim minority group that are native to Xinjiang in northwestern China. They are a mostly Muslim Turkic ethnicity who are also found in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Uighurs have their own language (Uighur), but China is forcing those in the Xinjiang concentration camps to learn Mandarin.

However, that’s not all. In these concentration camps, the women are forced to undergo sterilizations to suppress the population of Uighurs. Medicines are forcibly administered to women to stop their periods and in some cases, these medications cause women to bleed in their uteruses. Various women survivors report being raped by the guards, some for years.

Their basic living conditions are lacking. There are no toilets and the cells are crowded with other 60 people in one small cell. There is no room to sleep or use the bathroom. The prisoners are forced to use a bucket for the bathroom and they must take turns standing to allow others to sleep.

The purpose for these camps is to completely brainwash the muslims and force them to go against their religion. They are forced to drink alcohol and eat pigs, both of which are prohibited in Islam. They cannot practice their religion in any capacity.

Those who have managed to make it out of the concentration camps have said that it was worse than prison. Survivors have witnessed others taking their own lives in the camps.

There a number of absurd reasons that Uighur Muslims could be taken to concentration camps such as: abstaining from alcohol or cigarettes, wearing a hijab if they’re under 45, going to a mosque, praying, fasting, having too many children, or simply being related to anyone who has done any of these things.

To help the Uighur Muslims, you can contact your local elected representative, inform others, use your social media to help spread awareness.