In an article published by Foreign Policy magazine, author Jane Boenin reports that many Uighur detainees released from Chinese custody are either under house arrest or hard labor.
The phrase "we do not know whether they are alive or dead" has become a common phrase that can be heard in the Uighur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz communities outside of China on their relatives who are being arrested.
He adds that the phrase has long been the subject of special talks for the communities of these Chinese Muslim minorities, or online or in various video reports and forums.
Chinese authorities have detained large numbers of Uighurs and members of other minorities in detention camps in northwest China's Xinjiang province. The Chinese government has announced that these camps include "education and vocational training programs" aimed at improving people's lives and ensuring stability.
| Young Uighurs in one of their gatherings in Turkey (Al Jazeera) |
Protests abroad
However, the relatives of those detained abroad have been forced to raise their voices as they began to go out in protest in the streets and in front of the embassies and talk to the media.
Relatives of the detainees are beginning to pressure their local governments and are trying to make the world aware of the magnitude of the ongoing tragedy being committed by the Chinese authorities against the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.
The author says these pressures have finally borne fruit, adding that the Chinese authorities have begun to release these detainees.
He points out that this release does not mean their true freedom. Many have reported the release of relatives in Xinjiang, but authorities have placed them under house arrest without being allowed to communicate with others.
A young doctor
The author, who is a young Uighur activist with Finnish citizenship, said his parents were held in Xinjiang and that they were released in late December.
However, the doctor wrote a page on his Facebook page a few days later saying he had spoken to his parents over the phone and appeared to be under house arrest.
The doctor adds that 16 other Uighurs had written to him in secret and told him in similar detail.
According to the writer, activists from other minorities reported that their relatives were released in Xinjiang province and that one of the activists, working in a shop in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, said that his 72-year-old father had been released after two years of communication with him.
More than 90 people who have been released from Chinese detention have been identified in this context over the past four months, the author says.
He notes that there have been talk of the release of many of those under observation and house arrest, amid warnings that they will talk about what happened to them in the detention centers, or what they have experienced mistreatment or torture.