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Forced Abortions and Torture in China, Fled Uighurs describe the Situation

 
uighurs of china

Three Uighur Muslims fleeing China to Turkey have described the forced abortions and the rigrous torture by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang province.

The three are expected to testify in a London court to investigate whether Beijing's anti-Uighur genocide is tantamount to genocide.

One woman said she was forced to have an abortion when she was six and a half months pregnant, while another man said he was "tortured day and night" by Chinese soldiers who were in prison.

An independent court, without the support of the UK government, is expected to draw a large number of witnesses as it begins its four-day trial on Friday.

The organizers hope that the public evidence will compel international action on allegations of torture in Xinjiang.

Another witness, mother of four Bumeryem Rozi, 55, said authorities had collected her and other pregnant women to have an abortion for her fifth child in 2007. He said he did so because he feared that the authorities would seize his house and endanger his family.

“Police arrived, one Uighur and two Chinese. They put me in a car with eight other pregnant women and took us to the hospital, ”said Rozi.

“First they gave me a pill and told me to eat. I did the same. I didn't know what it was. After half an hour, they put a needle in my stomach. And after a while I lost my baby. ”

Semsinur Gafur, a gynecologist who worked at a hospital in Xinjiang in the 1990's, said he and other women doctors often went from house to house with a moving ultrasound scanner to check that no one was pregnant.

“If a family gave birth to more children than they were allowed to, they would burn down their home. They could have made the house flat, demolished it, ”said Gafur.

The third deportee, Mahmut Tevekkul, said he was arrested and tortured in 2010 by Chinese authorities who questioned him about one of his brothers. He said that the brother was wanted in part because he had published a religious book in Arabic.

Mr Tevekkul described the beatings and punches in the face during cross-examination.

“They put us on the floor with tiles, bound our hands and feet with chains and tied us to a pipe, like a gas pipe. There were six soldiers guarding us. They investigated us until dawn, ”he said.

An estimated one million people or more have been detained in Xinjiang's "re-learning camps" in recent years, according to investigators.

Beijing has denied the allegations. Officials say the camps teach Chinese language, job skills and law, but are now closed.

Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice, who led the prosecution of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, will chair the group.

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