Uygurs upset by posts calling them missing

More people in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have expressed anger after seeing inaccurate information posted about them online, giving the impression that they were missing or illegally detained. Interviewees called such posts a way to attack China's policy in the region.

"I don't know the person who claimed that I was missing," said a visibly angry Ablizjan Aidin at his home in Turpan's Toksun county. The 37-year-old has been working for a logistics company as a driver since he graduated from a vocational education and training center in October.

Twitter user Guly Mahsut said in a post tagged "StillNoinfo" on Dec 10 that her "best friend" Aminagul Amat, the wife of Ablizjan, deleted her from her WeChat contact list "under pressure from the government", so she is unable to contact the family. She also claimed that Ablizjan had a "forced labor experience". The user is now living in Canada, according to the account's details.

"The fact is that I haven't had any contact with Wurmat Mahsut, which is the real name of Guly, since 2005 after she and I both graduated from the university. I later learned that she went abroad. How on earth would she know about the situation of my family?" Aminagul said at their family home.

A group of individuals, overseas organizations and media have been posting photos and names of allegedly missing Uygurs on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. The purpose is to convince the international community that those people were illegally detained by the government, Xin­jiang officials said. Those officials have said that many of the posts distorted the truth or were fabricated.

Aminagul said she is the one who persuaded Ablizjan to study at a center that provided courses on standard Chinese language, laws, vocational skills and deradicalization programs after noticing he was deeply influenced by religious extremism.

The centers set up around the region have been portrayed by some people — as a part of political agenda to restrain China — as concentration camps where Uygurs have been brainwashed, said Zhang Yonghe, executive director of the Human Rights Research Institute at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

Azez Niyaz, 63, said Mayirem Azez, his oldest daughter, is the one who has been missing.

Mayirem claimed her parents were nowhere to be found, and she said she suspected they were being held in a "concentration camp", according to a post on her Twitter account carrying the name Mahire. She also added the tag "StillNoinfo".

Mayirem moved abroad with her husband, a naturalized Canadian who originally is from Xin­jiang's Ily Kazak autonomous prefecture. Azez said he hasn't heard from her since May 2016 and still wonders why.

"My phone number hasn't been changed, so she can always reach me. I was shocked and angry to hear that she said on social media that her mother and I were missing. How can a child so easily claim her parents had disappeared. What a shame," Azez said at his home in Kuqa, Aksu prefecture.

Mareyem Kazit, Mayirem's mother, burst into tears when talking about how difficult it was to sponsor Mayirem to study at a university. "She failed to take care of us as she promised. Now she has even claimed that we were missing?" Mareyem said. "Her behavior hurts us a lot."

Despite her disappointment, she hasn't stopped thinking about her daughter and hopes she will return home one day, Mareyem added.

Abudulqukur Rexiti claims that his brother, Abdulwali Rexiti, was missing in a Dec 15 post carrying the tag "StillNoinfo" on his Twitter account, which goes under the name Uyghur Fighter. He clearly knows that Abdulwali was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2015 for instigating ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination as well as gathering people to disturb social order, because his wife visited Kuqa in 2016, according to Ayjia­mali Rexiti, Abudulqukur's sister.

"Abudulqukur's wife even bought a dictionary for Abdulwali, who was in prison. What's more, I regularly visit him in prison and talk to him on the phone," said Ayjiamali, 35.

Abdulwali had been following religious extremists and becoming involved in criminal activities. "He is an adult, so he should be responsible for the things he did," Ayjiamali said.

She said she hopes Abudulqukur will stop separatist behavior and instigating ethnic discrimination and hatred. "How could we both have gone to universities if we were discriminated against?"

"I hope Abudulqukur will come home and see Abdulwali in person, but he needs to drop the biased attitude first and see our lives in Xinjiang fairly," she said.

Many of the posts were uploaded after the US House of Representatives passed the so-called Uygur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 on Dec 3. China expressed strong opposition to the bill. Many officials in China said it was packed with lies and was the latest US action to interfere in China's internal affairs.