“I was very much afraid to sign,” Sauytbay recalls. “It said there that if I did not fulfill my task, or if I did not obey the rules, I would get the death penalty. The document stated that it was forbidden to speak with the prisoners, forbidden to laugh, forbidden to cry and forbidden to answer questions from anyone."
Sayragul Sauytbay was forced into one of the "re-education camps" China has built in its northwestern region. She is Muslim, like many citizens in this region, and China claims that it has clamped down here because of terrorist incidents in the past. She eventually escaped the camp and fled to Sweden where she reported her experiences to a journalist.
Her job was to teach Communist Party songs and propaganda slogans: "I love Xi-Jinping [the president]. I am Chinese. Thank you to the Communist Party." Punishment, torture, and squalid conditions filled daily life.
She says, "I cannot forget the eyes of the prisoners, expecting me to do something for them. They are innocent. I have to tell their story, to tell about the darkness they are in, about their suffering. The world must find a solution so that my people can live in peace. The democratic governments must do all they can to make China stop doing what it is doing in Xinjiang.”
(cont'd tomorrow)
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