Chinese Persecution of Uyghur Muslims | ICNA CSJ
Channel: ICNA
Date: 2018-11-01

What is happening in China? Why is the government persecuting Uyghur Muslims? Join us with Anwar Yusuf Turani, who fled his homeland due to persecution decades ago. He has had no contact with his family for years due to restrictions from the Chinese government. He plans to provide details on what is happening, personal accounts when he was still living there, why their people specifically are being targeted, and what we can do to help.

Anwar Yusuf Turani is an Uyghur Muslim from East Turkistan, a nation that has been under Communist Chinese occupation since 1949. Born into a family branded counter-revolutionary, Uyghur nationalist, and separatist by the Chinese government, Turani was raised in a labor camp where he faced economic hardship and political oppression. Turani attended Kashgar Teacher’s College and graduated from the Department of Physics in July 1983. Turani came to the United States on August 12, 1988 and became the first Uyghur political asylee. In 1995, Turani established the East Turkistan National Freedom Center (ETNFC), a non-profit human rights organization based in Washington DC. He is the first person to start the East Turkistan independence movement in the United States. In 2004, Turani set up the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGIE) and was elected Prime Minister. He is a husband and father of four children.