Imprisoned Uyghur scholar resurfaced after disappearing for three years

Last year, Samira Imin decided to break the silence and share with the international community about how her father was given a 15-year sentence. At the time, she had lost contact with her father for three years. The state-controlled China Daily suddenly released a testimony video featuring her father on May 4. The video caught Samira off guard as she didn’t immediately know how to react to the reappearance of her father.

Over the last year, Samira Imin has been trying to raise awareness about her father’s disappearance and imprisonment through different channels. The last time she saw her father was three years ago, before he went to work in Hotan Prefecture as part of the Xinjiang government’s program. Since then, he never went home again. The next time Samira heard about her father was when he had been sentenced to 15 years in jail for provoking radical thoughts.

Then on the evening of May Fourth, Samira suddenly received a Twitter link from several friends, and they told her that her father had resurfaced in a video published by the CCP-controlled China Daily. Not knowing what to expect from the video, Samira couldn’t believe what she heard from her friends.

“I felt like the whole thing is surreal, and I wanted to cry but couldn’t really cry,” said Samira. “I wasn’t sure if I should be happy, because I didn’t know what my dad was going to tell me in the video.”

When she finally gathered the courage to click on the video, she saw her dad become a lot slimmer and had his hair all shaved off. “Of course I was happy to see that he’s still alive in the video, but I was also wondering how did he lose so much weight over the last three years,” Samira explained. “He had shrunken for at least two sizes and the clothes that he wore in the video was too big for him.”

Additionally, Samira’s father used to be very proud of the amount of hair that he had, but in the China Daily video, his hair had already been shaved off. “Recently some overseas anti-China forces deceived my daughter into claiming that I was under illegal detention,” said Yiminjan Sedul. “This is deception and nonsense. I’m very well, healthy and free.”

Sedul then asked Samira not to trust the “deceptive rumors” and stop spreading false information about “his detention” abroad. He emphasized that without the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, he wouldn’t have a rewarding life and he also wouldn’t have the work at the institute. Also, he said Samira wouldn’t have the chance to study abroad if they didn’t have the support of the Chinese government.

“All these couldn’t have been possible without the care of the party and the government to our family,” Sedul said. “I used to believe you thought the same, and I was heartbroken upon hearing what you said. How could my daughter said something like this? So I want to tell you, don’t be deceived by overseas anti-China forces again and stop saying those things.”

Sedul went on to say that he missed Samira and wanted her to finish her study in the United States so she can return to China. “Our family will be happier,” he said.

The definition of freedom

After watching the video, Samira wanted to personally confirm if he had really been released from prison. Samira sent three voice messages to her dad’s WeChat account on May 5, but he didn’t immediately respond. Then on the evening of May 5, Samira’s mom called her through WeChat, and when she picked up the phone, she saw her dad sitting next to her mom.

“During the call, my dad kept reiterating how great China and the Chinese Communist Party was,” Samira said. “He said if it were not because of them, he would not have such a comfortable life. He told me he didn’t want me to be anti-China, because he thought the CCP was treating him well.”

When Samira tried to ask him about why he lost contact with her for three years and why he shaved his head, Sedul claimed that he decided to shave his head and beard because it was too dusty in Hotan. And when Samira tried to tell her dad that she had been working in the US, her dad simply told her to finish her studies and returned to Shanghai or Beijing for work. “He kept reminding me not to engage in activism, and he also wanted me not to listen to anything some ‘bad guys’ said,” Samira explained.

Even though her father had been released from prison, Samira still worries about whether he has truly been free from any form of detention. She said that since her dad has been released, she wanted the Chinese government to drop all charges against him and return all the fines that he had previously paid.

“Since he claimed to have already been free in the video, I want to always see my dad being healthy and free from now on,” Samira said.

China’s “Hostage Diplomacy”

In fact, this is not the first time that the Chinese government tried to release videos of prominent overseas Uyghurs to discredit their activism. Last November, the state-run tabloid Global Times released a four-minute video featuring interviews with family members of three prominent overseas Uyghurs. In the interview, these family members not only praised the Chinese government but also accused their family members abroad for spreading rumors.

According to Peter Irwin, Senior Program Officer for Advocacy and Communications at Uyghur Human Rights Project, it’s pretty clear that China wants to China wants to use the video as an open threat to Samira. He mentioned that Samira’s father urged her to return to China in the video, but any overseas Uyghurs will know that once they return to China, they will likely have to face severe treatment.

“The Chinese government has been asking people in Xinjiang to call their family members abroad and tell them to go back to China,” Irwin said. “Additionally, China is trying to tie all overseas Uyghurs who have been speaking up for their family to groups like the World Uyghur Congress and Uyghur Human Rights Project.”

“Sedul claimed in the video that his daughter had been deceived by overseas anti-China groups, but in fact, she has been speaking out as an individual. She has no direct ties to any group, and I think that scares the CCP.”

Additionally, Irwin points out that the reason why the Chinese government target certain overseas Uyghurs was because they were prominent. Irwin thinks that these prominent cases increase the level of threat that Beijing is feeling, so they want to use family members of these overseas Uyghurs to discredit them.

“They are using these particular cases to threaten other people overseas to stop speaking up,” said Irwin. “This is basically hostage diplomacy, and it’s not just directed at a particular individual. They are sending a message that ‘look, we might release these people, but you need to stop speaking up.’”

Since there have been other cases where Uyghurs were first released but then sent back to re-education camps again, Samira still feels a bit insecure about the status of her father’s freedom. But based on her personal experience, Samira thinks overseas Uyghurs need to be persistent while dealing with Beijing.

“Overseas Uyghurs need to believe in the truth they see, and speak up with courage,” Samira said. “These are the only ways to defend their family members and try to secure their freedom. There will be many heartbreaking moments during the process, but they need to learn to control their own emotions.”

Irwin said that Samira’s case shows once again that continuous international pressure on China works to some extent. “The case proves that international pressure does work to a certain extent,” Irwin explained. “The pressure forces China to change its approach, because they are afraid that their narrative is not strong enough to fight back against all of these people. This shows all the activists that there are some things they can do to put pressure on Beijing.”

This piece first appeared in Mandarin on DW’s Chinese website.