Do you know the Uighurs? These people are made up of predominantly Muslim people, who speak their own language and have their own culture. About 11 million of them live in China, where the government is accused of committing serious crimes against them. We present them to you.
A persecuted minority
Let me first explain to you what “persecute” means. It is the action of continually tormenting someone or a group. This can be done through unjust, violent, harassing acts.
Therefore, China is accused by many international organizations of persecuting Muslim groups in its country and, especially, the Uighurs.
Nearly a million of them are detained in “re-education camps”. These places are much more like a large prison than a school. In these camps, they are forced to renounce their religion. Several former detainees recounted cases of torture and other atrocities that I will not detail here.
The Chinese government denies these accusations and says these camps are a way to fight terrorism and Muslim extremism. Many experts are convinced that China is lying.
Living freely in Kazakhstan
Between the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of Uighurs in search of freedom left to live in Kazakhstan, a country close to China. Today, more than 200,000 Uighurs live there in complete safety.
The journalist from Duty Magdaline Boutros traveled to Kazakhstan, where she attended a traditional Uighur wedding. One of the rites: the spouses share a loaf of bread as well as a bowl of water, sugar and salt.
“It’s important to pass on traditions, to pass them on like a baton to the next generations,” Saïd Salikhov, the bride’s father, told her. Members of their family live in China, but they have not heard from them for several years. They are no longer allowed to cross the border between the two countries and cannot call them, for fear of putting them in danger.
Islam, a musician present at the wedding added: “Here, in Kazakhstan, we can live our culture freely, because we do not suffer repression like in China.”
“China is trying to erase us from history. That’s why we try to make our language and our culture vibrate as much as possible here,” said Shakhazad, the singer of the troupe. Free to live according to their customs, the Uighurs of Kazakhstan are therefore the guardians of their rich heritage.
Camille Lopez, according to a report by Magdaline Boutros
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