A Uighur woman who spent two years in a Chinese re-education camp has described the systematic dehumanisation, humiliation and brainwashing she endured after returning to China from France. The woman, identified only as Haitiwaji, said she was lured back to Xinjiang in 2016 by a phone call from someone claiming to work for her former employer, an oil company in Karamay.
Haitiwaji had lived in France for a decade after fleeing discrimination in Xinjiang, where she and her husband, both Uighur engineers, faced systemic bias. She recalled how Han colleagues received larger bonuses in red envelopes at lunar new year, and how Uighur workers were transferred out of the central office to the outskirts. Her husband quit in 2000 after being passed over for a promotion despite superior qualifications.
After her husband obtained asylum in France, Haitiwaji and their two daughters joined him in 2006. She chose to keep her Chinese passport to maintain ties with family, including her elderly mother. But in November 2016, a caller from the oil company insisted she return to sign retirement documents. When she asked to grant power of attorney, the caller said he would check and call back.
Two days later, he called again and told her to come. She flew to Karamay, where she was immediately detained. For the next two years, she was held in a camp where she was subjected to systematic abuse and brainwashing. She described the experience as a nightmare of dehumanisation and humiliation.
Haitiwaji's account sheds light on China's mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang, which Beijing claims are vocational training centres to combat extremism. The Chinese government has denied allegations of abuse, but survivors and human rights groups have documented widespread torture, forced labour and indoctrination.
After her release, Haitiwaji managed to leave China and return to France. She now speaks out about her ordeal, hoping to draw attention to the plight of Uighurs in Xinjiang. 'I was systematically dehumanised, humiliated and brainwashed,' she said. 'No one should have to endure what I went through.'
