Abducted by the Chinese Government: The Family Members Who Vanished Overnight
By: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Tags: Genocide Prevention, Uyghur, China

The Pain of Silence

Mamatjan Juma is well acquainted with silence. It’s all he’s heard from his family in the last few years. He used to stay in regular contact with his parents and brothers in Xinjiang. That changed in 2016 when the Chinese government started sending Uyghurs to detention centers and monitoring their everyday lives.

“My parents all of a sudden said, ‘Don’t talk to your brothers anymore,’” recalled Juma. “‘Just talk to us and we’ll send your greetings to them.’” At the time, he was living in the United States as the deputy director of the Uyghur service at Radio Free Asia.

Mamatjan, center, with his missing brothers, Ahmetjan (left) and Abdukadir (right), in Urumqi, 2005. —Courtesy of Mamatjan Juma

“Later on, I realized that two of my brothers were taken away by the government in May 2017 and my parents didn’t and couldn’t tell me that,” he said. “They censored themselves because we knew that we could not ask certain questions unless it was about their daily lives.”

Juma’s brothers have been missing since May 2017. Ahmatjan Juma was a high school teacher and writer living in Kashgar. Abdukadir Juma was a poet, translator, and owned a media company before he was taken away from his home in Urumqi. This isn’t the first time his brothers have been abducted by the Chinese government, but it’s been the longest. Abdukadir has been detained twice while Ahmatjan was detained three times between 2006 and 2017.

“Ahmatjan was my buddy,” Juma shared. “We grew up together. He is a very intelligent and a very principled person. I heard from a mutual friend that both my brothers were tortured the first time they were detained. My other brother, Abdukadir, was almost beaten to death. They never told me this because it could be seen as sensitive information and classified as a state secret. Of course it’s a state secret because the Chinese government is torturing people.”

Similar to Abbas and Sintash’s experiences, Juma has not been able to communicate with his mother and father out of fear of Chinese retaliation.

Mamatjan’s (left) last photo with his father (center) in fall 2005. Ahmetjan, one of his missing brothers, is pictured on the right. —Courtesy of Mamatjan Juma

“I didn’t know that my father had passed away,” said Juma. “He died with only my mother by his side because at the time two of my brothers were in the camps and I was in the United States—unable to talk with him. Two years later, I got news from a third party that my mother is still alive and I was relieved. I wish no human being to go through this. It’s cruel. It’s harrowing. It’s painful. It’s agonizing.”

An Uncertain Future

Two years since her 58-year-old sister disappeared, Abbas still does not know if she is alive. Dr. Abbas retired early due to health reasons and her sister worries she does not have access to necessary medical support in the detention center.

“I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go to sleep because we know [COVID-19] made it over to Urumqi,” she said. “We have not seen a proof of life video, haven’t heard her voice, or know where she is.”

Rushan Abbas refuted the Chinese government’s claim that it was offering job training for Uyghurs in “vocational training centers.” Her missing sister is a retired medical doctor. —Courtesy of Rushan Abbas

A couple of months after sharing her story with the media, Abbas’s aunt was released by the Chinese government in January 2019. Abbas has become a full-time activist and founder of Campaign for Uyghurs. While she continues to campaign for all Uyghurs, her own sister’s fate weighs on her mind.

Juma is still searching for answers about his brothers, too. The latest news suggests that Ahmatjan, the passionate teacher, may have been sentenced to 15 years while his other brother, once a business owner, has been forced to work in a factory since 2019. That brother was not allowed to visit his hospitalized mother in spring 2020.

“We don’t know when it’s going to end,” Juma said, “when we will have some information about our family members, and we don’t even know if they’re alive.”

Despite this pain and uncertainty, he has hope for the future. “What I hope for my family is to be able to live without fear of what they say, what they read, and what they believe.”

Bahram’s father places blessings on his son at his wedding in Urumqi, 2008. Bahram moved to the United States later that year. —Courtesy of Bahram Sintash

Sintash does not know the health of his father, but to honor Mamut’s work as a journalist, he reports on Uyghur persecution via his website, Uyghurism.

“The evidence is there but we need more people to work hard to expose it,” he said. “We need more people, groups, and other countries to visibly support Uyghurs.”

Abbas emphasized the importance of action. “What’s happening to our people right now is a repeat of history. Never Again is happening in front of our eyes. If we don’t act now the only voice left to speak will be a voice of regret.”

WHAT YOU DO MATTERS. Learn more at ushmm.org/china.