Sayragul Sauytbay (Kazakh: Сайрагүл Сауытбай; born 1977) is a Kazakh doctor, headteacher and whistleblower[1] from China. In 2018, she fled China and then told the media about the Xinjiang internment camps resembling modern-day concentration camps where people are "re-educated" in China. She became one of the first victims of these camps in the world to speak publicly about the Chinese repressive campaign against Muslims, igniting a movement against these abuses.[2] Sweden offered her political asylum after Kazakhstan refused, and she subsequently emigrated there.[2]
Sayragul Sauytbay | |
|---|---|
 Sauytbay in 2020 | |
| Vice President of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile | |
| Assumed office 12 November 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Abdulahat Nur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1977 Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang |
| Nationality | Kazakh |
| Spouse | Uali Islam |
| Children | 2 |
| Occupation | physician and headteacher |
| Known for | whistleblower about the persecution of Uyghurs in China |
In March of 2020, she received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State.[3]
In March 2021 she was awarded the Internationaler Nürnberger Menschenrechtspreis (the International Human Rights prize of the city of Nuremberg, Germany[4]), for 2021; the prize ceremony was held 15 May 2022.
Also in 2021, she testified among other survivors, as a witness at the Uyghur Tribunal in London.
On 11 November 2023 she was elected as the Vice President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile at the 9th East Turkistan General Assembly in Washington, DC.[5]
Life
editChina
editSayragul was born in 1977 in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in China.[6] She is an ethnic Kazakh Chinese national.[1] She married Uali Islam, with whom she has two children.[7]
After finishing a medical degree at a university in China, she subsequently worked as a doctor, teacher, education director, and headmaster in several preschools.[2][1] In 2016 she and her family attempted to emigrate to Kazakhstan but were denied permission to do so by the Chinese authorities.[8] Subsequently she was reassigned from teaching in a kindergarten to a new job in a detention camp.[9] From November 2017 to March 2018, Sayragul was forced by the Chinese authorities to teach Chinese to Kazakh detainees there, and during that time she witnessed numerous instances of abuse of detainees, including rape.[2][1][6] While working at the camp she was not allowed to contact her family.[10] The camp she worked in held about 2,500 ethnic Kazakhs.[10][9] She herself was also subject to torture during her stay in the camps.[1][6]
Her family was able to leave during the summer of 2016; they received Kazakh citizenship within a year.[8][11] That angered the authorities who told her that she had to convince them to return to China; her passport was confiscated and she was told by the authorities she would never be allowed to leave China, as well as that she would face internment in the camps herself for several years.[10][2][6][11] She was also accused by the authorities of spying for Kazakhstan.[8] In March 2018, to avoid being sent back to the camps, where she feared she would die, Sayragul decided to flee to Kazakhstan, where her family had already found refuge shortly before.[1][2]
Kazakhstan
editShe crossed the Chinese-Kazakh border on 5 April 2018 using false documents. Following a report by the Chinese authorities, she was arrested on 21 May by agents of the National Security Committee (Kazakh security and intelligence agency) for illegally crossing the border.[8][9] On 13 July, Sayragul appeared in a court in the city of Zharkent, Kazakhstan accused of illegally crossing the border from China, facing $7,000 in fines or a one-year jail sentence.[8] During the trial she revealed extensive information about the maltreatment of prisoners at the camp which garnered the attention of the international public.[10][9][12][13][14] She also said that revealing that information made her subject to the death penalty in China as it was considered to be state secrets.[13] Her lawyer argued that if she were extradited to China, she would face the death penalty for exposing internment camps in Kazakh court.[10][9][14] Her testimony on the internment camps became the focus of the court case in Kazakhstan, which also tested the country's ties with Beijing; the Kazakh government was said to be facing a difficult choice of angering a powerful neighbour or displaying its inability to protect the Kazakh people.[8][10][13][14][15][16] Some Kazakh activists described her as a hero for revealing the fate of the mistreated Kazakh minority in China.[11] While China officially did not comment about the trial and her claims, Sayragul received information that members of her family and friends still in Xinjiang had been arrested and possibly sent to a camp by Chinese authorities, which she interpreted as an attempt to cow her into silence.[12][11]
On 1 August 2018, Sayragul was released with a six-month suspended sentence and direction to regularly check in with police.[17][16][18] After the trial, she was also subject to pressure to stay silent under threats to her family's safety.[12] During the trial she also submitted a request for aid to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.[9] She also applied for asylum in Kazakhstan to avoid being deported to China.[16][18] Eventually, however, Kazakhstan refused to grant her asylum because she had crossed the border illegally.[6][12][19][20]
Sweden
edit
On 2 June 2019, after the intercession of the United Nations, she flew to Sweden where she was given political asylum.[2][19][20]
Sayragul was chosen as an International Woman of Courage on 4 March 2020 by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.[3]
German-language book Die Kronzeugin, which appeared in mid 2020, was written by Alexandra Cavelius on the basis of interviews with Sayragul.[1][21] An English translation of the book, in which Sayragul describes her experiences in a Xinjiang province internment camp, was published by Scribe in May 2021 under the title, The Chief Witness: Escape from China's Modern-day Concentration Camps.[22][23][24]
Since then, there are editions of the book in several other languages, including Swedish.
In 2020, Sayragul said that she was being constantly harassed by the "long arm of China", receiving "death threats from Chinese callers".[6] In 2021 she said that her family in China was subject to constant surveillance and unable to contact her.[23]
In early 2021, Sayragul won the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award. A jury member noted that the reason for this was that "despite constant threats and attempts at intimidation, she gave fearless testimony and stood up for the Muslim minorities in China with admirable courage"; the jury also wanted to draw public attention to the persecution of minorities and to recognize the advocacy of women for human rights. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the award ceremony was delayed to 15 May 2022.[1] The formal jury motivation for the prize can be found in English and German, at the site of the City of Nuremberg dedicated to the International Human Rights Prize.[4] The prize ceremony was held on 15 May 2022.
In 2021, Sayragul participated among other survivors, as a witness in the public hearings of the Uyghur Tribunal in London, and contributed answers to hearing questions, and a statement.[25]
Reaction by China
editChinese authorities denied the claims by Sayragul, stating that she had fled abroad after being suspected of fraud, that she had never worked in or been detained in any "vocational education and training center" (which is the Chinese term for the Xinjiang internment camps), and that "her words about seeing people tortured cannot be true".[26][27]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Heilig-Achneck, Wolfgang (1 March 2021). "Nürnberger Menschenrechtspreis 2021 geht an chinesische Whistleblowerin". www.nordbayern.de (in German). Retrieved 1 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Biographies of the Finalists for the 2020 International Women of Courage Awards". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ a b "2020 International Women of Courage Award". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ a b Internationalen Nürnberger Menschenrechtspreis, https://www.nuernberg.de/internet/menschenrechte/sauytbay.html
- ^ "US: Ninth East Turkistan General Assembly highlights Chinese atrocities against Uyghurs, other Turkic people". Asian News International. ANI. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Wojcik, Nadine. "Sayragul Sauytbay: How China is destroying Kazakh culture". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ Pannier, Bruce (25 July 2018). "Analysis: Kazakhstan Confronts China Over Disappearances". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Kumenov, Almaz (17 July 2019). "Ethnic Kazakh's life in balance as deportation to China looms". Eurasianet. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Putz, Catherine (27 July 2018). "Sauytbay Trial in Kazakhstan Puts Astana in a Bind with China". The Diplomat. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "China's 'prison-like re-education camps' strain relations with Kazakhstan as woman asks Kazakh court not to send her back". AFP. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018 – via South China Morning Post.
- ^ a b c d VanderKlippe, Nathan (2 August 2018). "'Everyone was silent, endlessly mute': Former Chinese re-education instructor speaks out". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d Standish, Reid (6 February 2019). "She Fled China's Camps—but She's Still Not Free". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Kazakh trial throws spotlight on China's internment centres". Financial Times. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ a b c Bisenov, Naubet (26 July 2018). "Kazakhstan-China deportation case sparks trial of public opinion". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ Rickleton, Christopher (17 July 2018). "Chinese 'reeducation camps' in spotlight at Kazakh trial". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ a b c Putz, Catherine (1 August 2018). "Sauytbay Trial Ends in Kazakhstan With Surprising Release". The Diplomat. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "Kazakh court frees woman who fled Chinese 're-education camp'". South China Morning Post. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ a b Kuo, Lily (1 August 2018). "Kazakh court frees woman who fled Chinese re-education camp". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
- ^ a b de Pury, Kate (3 June 2019). "Woman who told of Chinese internment camps headed to Sweden". Associated Press. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ a b Қызырбекұлы, Есдәулет (3 June 2019). "Sweden granted political asylum to Sairagul Sauytbay". qazaqtimes.com. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Wojcik, Nadine (3 August 2020). "Sayragul Sauytbay: Gefangen in Chinas Umerziehungslager" (in German). Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Whitworth, Damian (30 April 2021). "My escape from a Chinese internment camp". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ a b Perrone, Alessio (23 July 2021). "The interview: Sayragul Sauytbay". New Internationalist. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ Lucas, Edward (7 May 2021). "The Chief Witness by Sayragul Sauytbay and Alexandra Cavelius review — escaping the grim reality of China's gulag". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ Uyghur Tribunal, https://uyghurtribunal.com/
- ^ "What's False and What's True on China-related Human Rights Matters". www.fmprc.gov.cn. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
- ^ "H.E. Gui Congyou, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden, Gives Exclusive Interview with SVT on Media Exchanges and the Case of Sayragul Sauytbay". www.fmprc.gov.cn. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
