The proof by the numbers. For years, China has been accused of having organized a system of ruthless repression in Xinjiang province to bring the Muslim Uyghur minority into line, which Beijing has always strongly denied. In the administrative district of Shufu, a county in southern Xinjiang, the heart of Uyghur territory, however, nearly one in 25 residents has been sentenced to prison for terrorism allegations. This is the highest imprisonment rate in the world, according to the Associated Press (AP) which obtained and partially verified a list of more than 10,000 inmate names. As if, in Strasbourg, which has as many as the 267,000 inhabitants of Shufu County, there were 10,680 inhabitants convicted of terrorism.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the Chinese authorities began to invoke the specter of terrorism to justify strict controls in the restless province, where the Uyghur majority resented the growing screed of the central government. Beijing mounted a relentless response, consisting of short-term “political re-education” camps where “trainees” came to study.
Prisons have replaced camps
Faced with the industrial scale of the camps – it is estimated that one million people have been arbitrarily interned since 2017 – and the accusations of torture, rape, sterilization of women, forced labor, the international community was outraged. Under pressure, the Chinese authorities have announced that they are closing the camps. But that was without counting the prisons, where thousands of people languish for years, on the basis of fanciful accusations validated during hasty trials.
The list was obtained by Russian-American scholar Yevgeny “Gene” Bunin, a specialist in Xinjiang, and banned from several countries bordering China because of his work on Uyghurs and other minorities. On his Shabit.biz site, he has already documented the retention or detention of nearly 38,000 people. Bunin told AP that he kept the list of a member of the Han community “opposed to the Chinese government’s policy in Xinjiang”.
There are no convictions for theft or homicide on the list. The sentences handed down to men or women, of all ages, range from 2 to 25 years in prison, with an average of 9 years, and are all related to charges of “terrorism” or disturbing public order . Most of the people named were arrested in 2017, which means that many of them are certainly still imprisoned. Above all, all of them are Uyghurs. What the authorities deny: “We would never specifically target regions, ethnic groups or religions, and even less the Uyghurs”, argued the spokesperson for Xinjiang, Elijan Anayat.
AP tells the story of Rozikari Tohti, a Uyghur farmer, loving family man, little versed in religion. He is, however, on the list of those sentenced for “religious extremism”, to five years in prison. His cousin, Mihrigul Musa, contacted by the news agency in Norway where she went into exile, believes that there were other family members more at risk, including a cousin who prayed every week. Tohti’s younger brother, Abilikim Tohti, was also sentenced to seven years in prison for “gathering people to disturb social order”. Tohti’s neighbour, a farmer named Nurmemet Dawut, was sentenced to 11 years on the same charges, as well as for “causing quarrels and troubles”. Anyone attempting to practice their religion, grow a beard or wear the veil would be quickly singled out by the authorities. Judged without a lawyer. And doomed.
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