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英文翻译:
The government shut off the Emin County; Kazakhs describes it as living hell
(Xinjiang-2018-4-20)According to a Kazakh from Emin County, Tacheng Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the police sent 6,000 Kazakh residents of the county to “political training centers” or detention centers. According to local Kazakhs, the government had blocked off the county, assigning armed police to guard the entrances. The district is no longer open to foreigners.
Ayken, a Kazakh from Emin County, Tacheng Prefecture, Xinjiang told the reporter on Friday (April 20th) that the government had detained more than 6,000 local Kazakhs at the so-called political training centers and prisons. There are 70,000 Kazakhs in the entire county. According to statistics, every one in every eleven or twelve Kazakhs is in prison. The local Kazakh told the reporter that sometimes the police arrest entire families. He said: “It’s common that an entire family is detained. The police break laws themselves, arresting people without showing the family members notifications. The government brought people away without legal documents. The family members of those who were sentenced never receive the verdict either. The police arrested more than 6,000 people away in the county. The statistics is reliable; the actual number of people arrested is only larger.”
According to Ayken, his parents and seven or eight relatives were sent to the “political training centers” in last September, and none of them has been released. Ayken said that the ages of the detainees range from a little older than ten to eight-year old. “The oldest prisoners are more than seventy or eighty years old. The youngest ones are teenagers. The family members are not allowed to visit. If they dare to argue with the police, they’ll be arrested as well. The government comes up with the most arbitrary excuses to arrest people. ”
According to official data, there are 180,000 residents and 22 ethnicities in Emin County. The majorities of the residents are Han, Uygur, Mongolian, Kazakh and Hui.
Currently, military police had surrounded Emin County, preventing foreigners or Kazakhs from Kazakhstan from entering. A Kazakh named Erlan told the reporter that the children were frequently left alone after the parents were taken. The government sent the children to orphanages. “It’s normal for the government to send children to orphanage after arresting their parents. In order to conceal the truth, the police have blocked off Emin County. No foreigners are allowed to enter the county, even those who travel to visit their family. The foreigners are assigned to live in special hospitals in Tacheng. The government tortures the Kazakhs and blocked all information, so people from the outside won’t know what’s going on.”
A Kazakh named Selik just arrived in Kazakhstan from Emin County. According to him, the air is tense in Xinjiang. The police began to investigate the people who travelled to Kazakhstan. “The government arrested every single person who had been to Kazakhstan, including those who only travelled their once. It’s forbidden for two Muslims to greet each other. The residents don’t dare to say anything other than ‘hello’. The local police clearly stated that it is strictly prohibited to conduct traditional Kazakh burials. None except the immediately family members are allowed to mourn for the dead. The government installed cameras in the cemeteries, arresting all people who recite traditional prayers.”
According to Selik, he had witnessed government raids of local Kazakh households, during which all objects with traditional embroidery or ethnic traits were confiscated. Selik also told the reporter that the county government had assigned people of Han ethnicity to live with the local Kazakhs. Any Kazakh who question the government police will be detained. “If a person asks if the meat is pork, he’ll be arrested and harshly sentenced. The government also encourages interethnic marriages between Han people and Kazakhs, arresting all family members who have a second opinion.”
According to Ayken, the local police had warned them that no religious activities were allowed. The government treats the locals who store Islamic prayers as terrorists. Ayken believes that Xinjiang becomes a living hell, teeming with innocent blood. Both Kazakhs and Uyghur people were arrested. The family members do not even know if they are still alive. He said: “It remains unknown what kind of tortures and interrogations the missing people have gone through. The reality is harsher than what I described. I hope the government of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Human Rights Council can intervene and rescue the innocent civilians.
China Aid Association Special Correspondent Qiao Nong