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The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has released its weekly brief, spotlighting the harrowing survivor accounts, condemning Chinese propaganda in East Turkistan, and mourning the passing of one of its founding figures, reflecting the ongoing struggle of the Uyghur people amid repression.
In a testimony highlighted by Radio Free Europe, Kalbinur Sidiq, a former Chinese-language teacher from Urumqi, detailed her experiences inside China's internment camps in 2017. Forced to work in two facilities, she said detainees, including professionals, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs, were tortured, degraded, and subjected to compulsory birth control measures. After nine months of service, Sidiq herself was forcibly sterilised despite her appeals to the authorities. Now resettled in the Netherlands, she has become an outspoken advocate against Beijing's abuses of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, even as she endures pressure and threats from Chinese state actors abroad. The WUC sharply criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping's 23 September visit to Urumchi, branding it a choreographed spectacle aimed at concealing ongoing crimes against humanity. Groups of Uyghur performers and children received Xi in scenes designed to portray unity and celebration. According to the WUC, the visit sought to mask the grim realities of internment camps, coerced labour, constant surveillance, and cultural suppression that define life for Uyghurs. The criticism was further fuelled by Beijing's release of a new white paper claiming Uyghurs live in "happiness" under Communist Party leadership, an assertion the WUC rejected as deliberate misinformation. The week also marked a solemn moment for the diaspora as WUC announced the death of Perhat Muhammet on 24 September in Munich at the age of 61. A co-founder of the WUC, former vice president, journalist, and chief editor of WUC TV, Muhammet was hailed as a visionary leader whose decades of activism and media work strengthened the Uyghur movement in exile. His legacy, WUC stated, will continue to inspire generations in the struggle for East Turkistan's freedom. (ANI)
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