Uyghur listener describes torture for listening to RFA

UYGHUR: Man Tortured For Listening to RFA Programs (09/03/07)
Reporter: Abdulla

Man: I was arrested by the authorities for listening to RFA programs. Some people, er, my arrest was linked to some people, er, some traitors who had reported me [to the authorities]. The radio used to broadcast here for about a half an hour from 7:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., er, a half hour.

Right after finishing the program, I left the house to go home. As soon as I came out of the house, two policemen came towards me with an arrest warrant, er, the arrest warrant in their hands. They asked me to identify myself, and I verified my name with them, then they arrested me.  I asked why they were arresting me, and they said I would know after I arrived [at the police station]. They took me to Ghulja City Police Station. Er, they said they had watched me for months, and they knew my whereabouts and what time I would come home and what time I would leave home and what I would do…etc. They said I would listen to the radio [RFA] daily, and they also knew with whom I would meet and what I would say….etc.

MC: The young man was brought to New Life Prison after he had denied any wrongdoing that he was allegedly accused of.

Man: There are three “dahua’r” (rows of prison cells) in New Life Prison in Ghulja City. It is called, “dahua’r” in Chinese language. After you enter the largest dahua’r, you see a number of prison cells located along the three rows. Er, prison cells on those three rows and er, each row has about between 16-18 cells. In those cells, er, there is only one cell for female prisoners. The last cell – that was located on the very last row – was called “Jingdi shi” in Chinese. “Jingdi shi” was reserved as an interogation room, er, they torture prisoners in that cell. There was a big stool located in the middle of the cell. The stool has a hole where the prisoners are tortured. The hole, er, it looks like, er, the prisoners are put in the hole when they deny any wrongdoing. The prison guards tie the prisoners up naked and freeze them with icy cold water during the winter. They torture them with all kinds of cruelty. If a prisoner gets into that room, he/she would be tortured there for about a month. It is impossible to get out of the room less than a month. The prisoner would be tortured on and on. I was one of the victims.

When they torture the prisoners, they always bring the prisoners to the interrogation room in the middle of the night. Er, they take the prisoners to the interrogation room during the night. They  use all of kinds of very cruel torture methods. For example, hurting your genitals with horse hair and hitting with electric clubs, and so forth. They would just torture you until the next morning. They would bring you to the room to torture around 2:00 a.m., then put you back in your cell before dawn, as if nothing had happened.

MC: As the young man stated earlier, he was brutally tortured in the prison cell because he refused to admit to any wrongdoing that he did not do.

Man: When they interrogated me, they tortured me with all different kinds of electric tools, such as electric clubs or heated electric tools during the middle of the nights. Er, they would torture me. They would accuse me of having overseas contacts. Er, they would accuse me that I had contacts overseas and would force me to tell who they were.   I would faint, er, I would lie unconscious for a couple of days. They would force me to think during the day and report to them throughout the nights. That would continue for a few days as they would try to force me to sign their statements and reports. Many times, I was forced to sign. If I did not sign, they would beat me. After I signed, they would torture me again. I told them many times that I had not done any of the things that I was allegedly accused of doing, so I would refuse to sign those statements. I would tell them I did not anything wrong, but they would beat me and torture me to sign. The Chinese would find all kinds of excuse to torture us.

MC: They [police] interrogated and tortured the young man for about three months, because he would refuse to sign the police statements and would deny any wrongdoing that he had not done. Then, he was brought to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of Illi Autonomy Prefecture.

Man: On the third day of my arrival at the PSB, four Chinese police and one Uyghur police came into my cell. After they verified my name, they accused me of doing a number of things that I had never done. They said that I had refused to admit my “crimes” while I was at New Life Prison, and if I admitted my crimes, they would be generous with my sentence. They had advised me that I should admit all of my crimes, because their political and legal systems were just and fair. If I confess, they would be fair with me. I told them that I had not done anything wrong and I had not committed any crimes at all. They said that I was stubborn, and if I continued to be stubborn, then I would face the consequences. If I admitted my crimes, they would forgive my crimes, and be fair with me. They had pretended to be nice and had asked me if I was hungry. They had lured me with fancy food and tea, and they had promised that they would investigate anyone who had illegally tortured me.

In fact, they do not investigate, and they would not care, and they would not keep their promises. They all are their own people! So, I sat and continued to tell that I did not do anything wrong. They said I would face the consequences of my stubbornness, so that I should think carefully, then they left the room.

MC: Dear radio listeners, please join us later for the rest of the program.