China arrests Uyghurs studying in Japan on their return: Report

Chinese authorities have arrested numerous Uyghurs in Xinjiang as well as Uyghurs who lived abroad, including those involved in Uyghur-language research in Japan.

In one such incident, Abduhelil Abdurehim, Uyghur involved in Uyghur-language research in Japan, was detained by the Chinese police after returning home in late 2021, reported Radio Free Asia.

Abduhelil returned to Xinjiang in 2010 from Japan and settled in China's Urumqi region. He worked for several computer companies in the following years.

At the time of his arrest, he was working at the Uyghur restaurant chain Herembagh where he updated information on the company's website.

His brother, Abdusemi Abdurehim who lives in Japan lost contact with Abduhelil in November 2021. He became even more suspicious when he noticed that his brother's information was no longer being updated on the website of the company where he worked.

In addition to that, Abduhelil also stopped communicating via his WeChat messaging app, reported RFA.

"He said he was fine and working," said Abdusemi. "On June 26, when we sent him a WeChat message, he didn't respond."

"I also found out that Herembagh stopped putting new information on its website since Dec. 10 of last year," he said. "I then suspected that something happened to my brother."

Additionally, ethnic Uyghurs from Turkey who went to study in China's Xinjiang's Province have also recalled physical and mental torment during their stay there.

Two ethnically Uyghur children say that their heads were shaved and that the class monitor and teachers frequently hit them, locked them up in dark rooms and forced them to hold stress positions as punishment for perceived transgressions, according to National Public Radio.

By the time they were able to return home to Turkey in December 2019, they had become malnourished and traumatized. They had also forgotten how to speak their mother tongues, Uyghur and Turkish. The children were being raised in Turkey but were forcibly sent to boarding schools during a family visit to China, as noted by National Public Radio.

( With inputs from ANI )