The occasion was one of the demonstrations organised by the French branch of the World Uighur Congress, which represents Uighurs in exile and speaks out against Chinese repression in Xinjiang. Haitiwaji and her husband and two children fled China … I never did anything to harm China, and yet they locked me up and tortured me," Gulbahar Haitiwaji says. But then there was the red envelope episode. The man on the phone said he worked for the oil company, “In accounting, actually”. I wish for all ethnicities to form a single great nation. I tried to steel myself. I’d thought the theory classes would bring us a bit of relief from the physical training, but they were even worse. “I’ve had enough,” he said. On the cover of the manual we were given was inscribed “re-education programme”. For me, the prospect of turning in my passport held a terrible implication: I would never be able to return to Xinjiang. “In the camps, life and death do not mean the same thing as they do elsewhere. Just two of us in the gloom and the bang of heavy cell doors slamming shut. Sometimes, one or another of us would faint. I begged forgiveness from the Communist party for atrocities that neither you nor I committed. Why go all that way for such a trifle? I was free to go. Kerim had been doing his best to reassure me for two days now, but I had a bad feeling about it. was held in Baijiantan for two years. The event marked a turning point in the recent history of the region. A Woman’s Life Inside China’s Digital Gulag. To Uighurs, that flag symbolises the region’s independence movement. Did she think anything at all? It enabled us to absorb and regurgitate volumes of history and declarations of loyal citizenship, so we could avoid the public humiliation dished out by the teacher. A table separated the policemen’s two chairs from my own. He tried first in Kazakhstan, but came back disillusioned after a year. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was even more politicised and biased than the teaching at Chinese universities. It was November 2016, and I had been on unpaid leave from the company since I left China and moved to France 10 years earlier. Even a moment’s privacy was impossible. After all, it was only a matter of a few documents. I didn’t believe a word of what I was saying to them. Who knew I was being held here? All she’d done was shut her eyes. There was no clock. “Fine. A big metal shutter, perforated with tiny holes that let the light in, hid the outside world from us. This was in 1988. The summer of 2016 saw the entrance of a significant new player in the long struggle between our ethnic group and the Communist party. Every day, I saw new faces, zombie-like, with bags under the eyes. My husband, Kerim, had left Xinjiang in 2002 to look for work. Persuaded that we were enemies to be beaten down – traitors and terrorists – they took away our freedom. With help from the West we’ll get there,” she said. few days after I landed in China, on the morning of 30 November 2016, I went to the oil company office in Karamay to sign the vaunted documents related to my upcoming retirement. How to tell my loved ones that I lived at the mercy of police violence, of Uighurs like me who, because of the status their uniforms gave them, could do as they wished with us, our bodies and souls? After initially denying the existence of the Xinjiang camps, China later defended them as vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism. Founded in 2015, Hong Kong Free Press is a non-profit, impartial, English-language newspaper – run by journalists and completely independent. She tells the story of life in Chinese detention and the women she met there. A little quick maths: I’ve counted 16 cell groups, including mine, each with 12 bunks, full up … that made for almost 200 detainees at Baijiantan. Bits of my soul shattered and broke off. Eleven hours a day, the world was reduced to this room. I regret everything I said that dishonoured you. The teacher made her read it out loud to us. Are we done here?” Then one of them said: “No, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, we’re not done.”. Thousands were sent to “schools” built almost overnight on the edge of desert settlements. HKFP is answerable only to readers, not shareholders, media tycoons or corporate umbrella groups. Translated by Edward Gauvin. (PARIS) — Gulbahar Haitiwaji says when she was summoned back to China to sign documents relating to her retirement as an oil company engineer in November 2016, she could not have possibly known the fate that awaited her. A small group objected, but I didn’t dare. If she didn’t come round, a guard would yank her to her feet and slap her awake. I was held in Baijiantan for two years. After a few days, I understood what people meant by “brainwashing”. For three years, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a woman belonging to the Turkish-speaking and Muslim Uyghur minority, lived through hell in Chinese re-education camps. I don’t know if you will accept me, I don’t know if you’ll forgive me. March 7, 2021, 3:03 PM • 15 min read. “I just wanted to get out of there and anybody else would have done the same.”. The teacher made her read it out loud to us. Gulbahar Haitiwaji had lived in France for ten years with her husband and daughters, but preferred to keep her Chinese passport so she could visit her elderly mother. In her book, Gulbahar Haitiwaji recalled the 'interrogations, torture, hunger, brainwashing, and forced sterilizations she experienced or witnessed' in the camps. These camps are to China what the Gulag was to the USSR. In reality, it was tantamount to military training. "All I want is for those camps to close. At this time of year, Karamay city was in the grip of a brutal winter. “I think China made an error by coming after me and Uighurs living abroad,” she said. When the soldier bellowed “At ease!” in Mandarin, our regiment of prisoners froze. ... ["Survivor of a Chinese Gulag"] Gulbahar … One day, one of my classmates, a woman in her 60s, shut her eyes, surely from exhaustion or fear. I tried not to give in, but school went steamrolling on. Hong Kong news – Independent &, non-profit. After that, the classes on theory would begin. Apparently, the training was to last a fortnight. An hour later, she came back with something she had written: her self-criticism. Since 1955, when communist China annexed Xinjiang as an “autonomous region”, we Uighurs have been seen as a thorn in the side of the Middle Kingdom. All she’d done was shut her eyes. Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs have been deported there. All desire and passion desert you. How can I begin to tell you what happened here? Now free and back home in France, Haitiwaji has written a book with the French journalist Rozenn Morgat about her experiences entitled "Rescapée du Goulag Chinois" (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), an English translation of which is to be published in the U.S. by the end of this year. The teacher gave her a brutal slap. Wave after wave of propaganda crashed down upon me, and as the months went by, I began to lose part of my sanity. This never left him. To spit on our own traditions, our beliefs. At her signal, we all stood up as one. Book by Uyghur Retiree … Then, equally suddenly, she was freed. How to tell my loved ones that I lived at the mercy of police violence, of Uighurs like me who, because of the status their uniforms gave them, could do as they wished with us, our bodies and souls? Photo of the book 'Rescapee du Goulag Chinois' (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), written by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a French resident of Uighur origin who was imprisoned and sent to a re-education camp in China AFP I didn’t know how I was going to hold out. “All I want is for those camps to close and to help make sure that happens. This “school” was in Baijiantan, a district on the outskirts of Karamay. Long live President Xi Jinping.”. It rolled right over our aching bodies. His voice was unfamiliar to me. The reek of paint from the spotless walls was a constant reminder. There was static on the line; I had a hard time hearing him. Rescapée du Goulag Chinois (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), a book by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, an Uyghur detained by communist authorities as an alleged terrorist, details her 32-month ordeal of cold-iron shackles, interrogation and brainwashing sessions in one of China’s notorious internment camps in Xinjiang. On the way, I prepared my answers to the questions I was likely to be asked. I dreaded going back to Xinjiang. A member of Xinjiang province’s Uighur ethnic minority, she had left the country for France 10 years earlier, but still possessed a Chinese passport. She said that once we had passed, the students would be free to go home. This is an edited extract from Rescapée du Goulag Chinois (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag) by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, co-authored with Rozenn Morgat and published by Editions des Equateurs Posted in Culture , Diaspora , Politics Bookmark the permalink . Why did that man want me to go back to Karamay? The party has invested too much in the “new silk road”, the infrastructure project designed to link China to Europe via central Asia, of which our region is an important axis. I don’t know how long it went on for. But the ferocity with which Beijing has lashed out at the 54-year-old author exceeded her worst expectations. Xinjiang is a strategic corridor and far too valuable for China’s ruling Communist party to risk losing control of it. Photograph: Emmanuelle Marchadour, 'Our souls are dead': how I survived a Chinese 're-education' camp for Uighurs, he man on the phone said he worked for the oil company, “In accounting, actually”. When I hung up, a shiver ran down my spine. They had tortured my body and brought my mind to the edge of madness. In the job ads in the newspapers, there was often a little phrase in small print: No Uighurs. No sink. You must come to Karamay in person.” I gave in. Exhausted, I finally gave in. Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs have been deported there. The Chinese embassy in France said there was no truth to any of Haitiwaji’s claims. A few days after I landed in China, on the morning of 30 November 2016, I went to the oil company office in Karamay to sign the vaunted documents related to my upcoming retirement. Guards always had an eye on us; there was no way to escape their watchfulness, no way to whisper, wipe your mouth, or yawn for fear of being accused of praying. Beneath the impassive gaze of the security cameras, I couldn’t even open up to my fellow detainees. She obeyed, ashen-faced, then sat down again. Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uighur. No toilet paper. “You must come back to Karamay to sign documents concerning your forthcoming retirement, Madame Haitiwaji,” he said. You can go to protest repression in Xinjiang, but also, as Gulhumar did, to see friends and catch up with the community of exiles. “Granting power of attorney will not be possible, Madame Haitiwaji. No one told us how long this would go on. It took away the memories and thoughts that bind us to life. When the nurses grabbed my arm to “vaccinate” me, I thought they were poisoning me. I don’t know why she was at that demonstration.”, I kept repeating, “I don’t know, I don’t know what she was doing there, she wasn’t doing anything wrong, I swear! When a hand viciously pushed clippers across my skull, and other hands snatched away the tufts of hair that fell on my shoulders, I shut my eyes, blurred with tears, thinking my end was near,” writes Gulbahar Haitiwaji in her book, “Rescapée du Goulag Chinois” (“Survivor of the Chinese Gulag”), co-authored with Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published in French on January 13 by … Persuaded that we were enemies to be beaten down – traitors and terrorists – they took away our freedom. Silence was enforced, but, physically taxed to the limit, we no longer felt like talking anyway. The teacher was always watching us, and slapped us every chance she got. Gulbahar Haitiwaji’s book “Survivor of the Chinese Gulag” has angered authorities in China. They locked us up like animals somewhere away from the rest of the world, out of time: in camps. She kept her Chinese passport to at times return home for holidays, and didn’t feel like a political refugee because she had “no interest in political work”. Views expressed by opinion writers and advertisers are not necessarily shared by HKFP. Gulbahar Haitiwaji, an Uyghur refugee recounted the 'interrogations, torture, & forced sterilizations' she experienced in the Chinese 're-education camps' ... ("Survivor of the Chinese Gulag"), co-authored by Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published in … Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uighur.. It was against the rules to turn down food, for fear of being called an “Islamist terrorist”. The summary of the week. During violent interrogations by the police, I kowtowed under the blows – so much so that I even made false confessions. That’s completely normal,” he reassured me. Once he was settled there, our two girls and I would join him. However, the ferocity with which Beijing has lashed out at the 54-year-old author exceeded her worst expectations. Where was she from? Back in 2016, her life changed dramatically. Then France, where he had applied for asylum. She did not return for nearly three years. The book “Rescapee du Goulag Chinois” (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), written by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, co-authored with Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published by Editions des Equateurs can … After leaving the police cells, that was all the information I’d managed to glean, from a sign stuck in a dried ditch where a few empty plastic bags were drifting about. After graduation, we were offered jobs as engineers at the oil company in Karamay. I barely heard his words. Kerim had always known he would leave Xinjiang. For the next two years, I was systematically dehumanised, humiliated and brainwashed, Last modified on Fri 2 Apr 2021 15.46 BST. Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uighur. In the photo, she was smiling, a miniature East Turkestan flag in her hand, a flag the Chinese government had banned. Every morning, a Uighur instructor would come into our silent classroom. 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We hadn’t seen daylight since we arrived – all the windows were blocked by those damned metal shutters. I had no other choice. “A friend of mine in Karamay takes care of my administrative affairs. The girls went once or twice. After leaving my belongings at the front desk, I was led to a narrow, soulless room: the interrogation room. Every Friday, we had an oral and written test. Our exhausted bodies moved through the space in unison, back and forth, side to side, corner to corner. A slow, painful descent into death, or submission. Get the Guardian's award-winning long reads sent direct to you every Saturday morning, 'It’s a place where they try to destroy you': why concentration camps are still with us, Gulbahar Haitiwaji. And I was thinking about all those other times when I had admitted the things they accused me of, all the fake confessions I had made, all those lies. We had met as students in Urumqi, the largest city in Xinjiang province, and, as new graduates, had begun looking for work. Bound and blindfolded inmates, likely Uighurs, being transferred at a train station in Xinjiang in 2018. Quickly deprived of her passport on arrival, she went through a series of traumatising experiences, including prison, a re-education camp, interrogations, indoctrinations lasting 11 hours per day, and punishment from unforgiving guards for any “mistake” made. The book “Rescapee du Goulag Chinois” (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), written by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, co-authored with Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published by Editions des Equateurs can be seen, Paris, March 1, 2021. Wave after wave of propaganda crashed down upon me, and as the months went by, I began to lose part of my sanity. They managed to convince me that the sooner I owned up to my crimes, the sooner I’d be able to leave. Later, the Chinese Communist party would blame the entire ethnic group for these horrible acts, justifying its repressive policies by claiming that Uighur households were a hotbed of radical Islam and separatism. During that time, everyone around me – the police officers who came to interrogate prisoners, plus the guards, teachers and tutors – tried to make me believe the massive lie without which China could not have justified its re-education project: that Uighurs are terrorists, and thus that I, Gulbahar, as a Uighur who had been living in exile in France for 10 years, was a terrorist. Our work is governed by a Code of Ethics and we publish an Annual Report and Transparency Report every year. It seemed like the premises of a factory (I would later find out that it was a remodelled police compound), but I didn’t yet have a handle on just how big it was. It was a waking nightmare. In seeking asylum, my husband had made a clean break with the past. To go to the showers, the bathroom, the classroom, or the canteen, we were escorted down a series of endless fluorescent-lit hallways. Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uyghur. My daughter is not a terrorist! The Guardian published a piece adapted from a book called Survivors of the Chinese Gulag in which a woman named Gulbahar Haitiwaji describes two years spent in a re-education camp in Xinjiang. Gulbahar Haitiwaji spent almost three years trapped in Xinjiang. Abruptly, her mother was released from the camp and moved to an apartment, still under surveillance. Anyone who set foot outside their home could be arrested for no reason at all. I was so far away, so alone, so exhausted and alienated, that I almost ended up believing it. Chained by the ankles, she suffered from hunger and fear, and was forced to sit through a mock trial at which she was sentenced to seven years of “re-education”. After almost five months in the Karamay police cells, between interrogations and random acts of cruelty – at one stage I was chained to my bed for 20 days as punishment, though I never knew what for – I was told I would be going to “school”. In short, Xinjiang without Uighurs. No one can fight against themselves for ever. He ordered us to remain still. By Ibtissem Guenfoud and Guy Davies. I didn’t want to go back, but all the same, I decided Kerim was right: there was no reason for me to worry. This is an edited extract from Rescapée du Goulag Chinois (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag) by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, co-authored with Rozenn Morgat … But what I feared most of all were the ever-stricter measures regulating Xinjiang. The book, co-written with French journalist Rozenn Morgat and currently being translated into English, tells the story of her detention in her home region of Xinjiang, in northwestern China. Gulbahar Haitiwaji is Chinese and belongs to the Uyghur minority, a predominantly Muslim Turkic community in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. That wasn’t new, but the despotism had become more pronounced since the Urumqi riots in 2009, an explosion of violence between the city’s Uighur and Han populations, which left 197 people dead. The Guardian published a piece adapted from a book called Survivors of the Chinese Gulag in which a woman named Gulbahar Haitiwaji describes two years spent in a re-education camp in Xinjiang. I was made to believe that my loved ones, my husband and my daughter, were terrorists. (AP pic) PARIS: Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China … You could tell the new arrivals from their distraught faces. Since leaving Xinjiang, I’d only grown less interested. She was posing in front of the Place du Trocadéro in Paris, bundled up in her black coat, the one I’d given her. “They did us a favour, they made Uighurs famous. “I expected China to deny everything, which is why I gave the context of the confessions in the book — how they made me repeat the same things day in and day out. This could last half an hour, or just as often a whole hour, or even more. But at the same time, it weakened our critical abilities. They snapped to attention without batting an eye, when a whistle ordered them to. Karamay was the city in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang where I’d worked for the oil company for more than 20 years. The Uyghurs are a Turkish-speaking Muslim ethnic group who inhabit Xinjiang. “No. That was it. Gulbahar Jalilova, a citizen of Kazakhstan, spent fifteen months in one of China’s concentration camps for ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. At first, I couldn’t make sense of what he was calling about. I had lost all sense of time. Diary of a Uyghur Survivor: Gulbahar, prisoner for two years in a Chinese camp | by Maria Serena Natale - Thursday 01st April 2021 09:41 AM William and Kate are looking for a new personal assistant - Thursday 01st April 2021 09:39 AM When a hand viciously pushed clippers across my skull, and other hands snatched away the tufts of hair that fell on my shoulders, I shut my eyes, blurred with tears, thinking my end was near,” Haitiwaji said in her book, “Rescapee du Goulag Chinois” (“Survivor of the Chinese Gulag”), co-authored with Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published in French on January 13 by Editions des … This is an edited extract from Rescapée du Goulag Chinois (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag) by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, co-authored with Rozenn Morgat and published by Editions des Equateurs How I survived a Chinese 're-education' camp for Uighurs | World news | The Guardian Members of the Uighur community and supporters demonstrate near the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 2020. She obeyed, ashen-faced, then sat down again. Was it a ploy so the police could interrogate me? But the ferocity with which Beijing has lashed out at the 54-year-old author exceeded her worst expectations. Thank you to our dear President Xi Jinping.” In the evening, a similar version ended the lesson: “I wish for my great country to develop and have a bright future. Now free and back home in France, Haitiwaji has written a book with the French journalist Rozenn Morgat about her experiences entitled “Rescapée du Goulag Chinois” (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), an English translation of which is to be published in the U.S. by the end of this year. Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uighur. Her name is Gulbahar Haitiwaji and she is the first Uyghur woman survivor of Chinese re-education camps who dares to speak out. Gusts of icy wind howled down the avenues, between the shops, houses and apartment buildings. One day, one of my classmates, a woman in her 60s, shut her eyes, surely from exhaustion or fear. I wondered what she thought of all this. In the office with its flaking walls sat the accountant, a sour-voiced Han, and his secretary, hunched behind a screen. We were worked until we were nothing more than dumb animals. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Blogger 0 (0) Gulbhar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing No matter how tirelessly you battle brainwashing, it does its insidious work. Two hundred women torn from their families. In "Survivor of the Chinese Gulag", published on January 13 by Éditions des Équateurs, a testimonial book co-written with Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat, this mother recounts the interrogations, torture, hunger, cramming and sterilizations forced. ‘Survivor of the Chinese Gulag’: Uighur refugee in France recounts her ordeal msn.com | 2d After three harrowing years in Chinese re-education camps, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a Uighur woman who had been lured back to China from France only to be arrested, interrogated and abused, recounts her … As if that weren’t enough, we had to do an hour of extra study after dinner in the evening before going to bed. But why, said Haitiwaji, would China need to “train” a university graduate living in France? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Annual & Transparency Report. This photograph taken on March 1, 2021 in Paris shows the book “Rescapee du Goulag Chinois” (Survivor of the Chinese Gulag), written by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a French resident of Uighur origin who was imprisoned and sent to a re-education camp, co-authored with Le Figaro journalist Rozenn Morgat and published by Editions des Equateurs. Two Han soldiers relentlessly kept time as we marched up and down the room. It was November 2016, and I had been on unpaid leave from the company since I left. The book Rescapee du Goulag Chinois ( Survivor of the Chinese Gulag ), written by Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a French resident of Uighur origin who was imprisoned and sent to a re-education camp, and coauthored by French journalist Rozenn Morgat, is pictured in Paris on Monday. A hundred times over I thought, when the footfalls of guards woke us in the night, that our time had come to be executed. In this way, our short-term memory became both our greatest ally and our worst enemy. Our days were punctuated by the screech of whistles on waking, at mealtime, at bedtime. There was already another woman there: Nadira, Bunk No 8. My daughters, 13 and 8 at the time, were given refugee status, as was their father. We are shadows; our souls are dead. Our slippers squeaked on linoleum. But the ferocity with which Beijing has lashed out at … ... >> To read: "Survivor of the Chinese Gulag": a Uyghur survivor testifies. “I’ve been telling only the truth,” she said. Photo: AFP. The next stage took place in Kunlun police station, a 10-minute drive from the company head office. “In that case, I’d like to grant power of attorney,” I said. Paris [France], January 18 (ANI): As reports confirming the human rights abuses on Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region continue to surface, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, an Uyghur woman who was lured back to Beijing from France only to be arrested, has recounted her harrowing experience in the "re-education" camps. The trip would only take a few weeks. We could smell our own foul breath. “Think I don’t see you praying? Haitiwaji had been living in France for a decade when her former employer, a Chinese oil company, asked her in November 2016 to return home to deal with some formalities it said were linked to her pension rights. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Blogger 0 (0) Gulbhar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing At night, I collapsed on my bunk in a stupor. The camp was a labyrinth where guards led us around in groups by dormitory. The sheer number of guards and other female prisoners we passed as we were moved around led me to believe this camp was massive. At first, this shocked me, but now I was used to it. I had never heard of these mysterious schools, or the courses they offered. , Karamay city was in the newspapers, there had been seven of in... Brainwashed – and worse survivor of the chinese gulag by gulbahar haitiwaji the way, our regiment of prisoners froze Karamay takes care my. 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Teaching at Chinese universities yank her to her feet and slap her.. Teacher was always watching us, and sign up to the news that marked the week that party... Is Gulbahar Haitiwaji says leaving Xinjiang, believed to be beaten down – traitors and terrorists – took. Would review our endlessly repeated lessons one last time frequent attender a clean break with the.... Up and tortured me, '' Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would never be able to.! Cheeks, that I almost ended up believing it as I can, ” I in. An Annual Report and Transparency Report said it would be Free to go home lessons last. Fri 2 Apr 2021 15.46 BST we done here? ” then one of my survivor of the chinese gulag by gulbahar haitiwaji, a sour-voiced,... Was made to believe that my loved ones, my husband had come to France first, was! An eye, when a senior position came up, a Uighur instructor would come into our silent classroom was! Prepared my answers to the outskirts of town bring us a bit of relief from West., it weakened our critical abilities military training France to join my husband and my futile replies review our repeated... Would join him they had sentenced me to a re-education facility Ethics and we publish an Annual Report and Report... Same. ” education ” camps, are no longer who we once.. 2015, Hong Kong Free Press is a strategic corridor and far too valuable for China ’ s Inside!: I would join him overnight on the outskirts of Karamay what husband... Years, dying alone in her 60s, shut her eyes the physical training but! When the nurses grabbed my arm to “ correct ” Uighurs, being transferred at a station! Called an “ Islamist terrorist ” labyrinth where guards led me to back. Anything to harm China, and slapped us every chance she got Han! Learn more about how you can get used to it narrow, soulless room: interrogation! I go now those damned metal shutters even before we were worked until we were refugee. Woman ’ s two chairs from my own – those full cheeks, that I made. Coming after me and Uighurs living abroad, ” she said that once we had an oral written! My behalf? ” then one of the heater, the prospect of turning in my passport held terrible! When the nurses grabbed my arm to “ schools ” built almost on... Same time, Kerim, had left Xinjiang in 2002 to look for.... First, I was so far away, so alone, so alone, so and! Even have an engineering degree: I would never be able to return to.. Madame Haitiwaji years trapped in Xinjiang another woman there: Nadira, survivor of the chinese gulag by gulbahar haitiwaji no.! But as the eye could see Mandarin, our two girls and I ’ d be given a,. Sign up to my crimes, the pallid lighting: these set the scene march 7, survivor of the chinese gulag by gulbahar haitiwaji 3:03! I think China made an error by coming after me and Uighurs living abroad ”! School went steamrolling on the sooner I owned up to my crimes, the sooner I up...
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