The imprisonment, death, and denial of a proper funeral to the respected leader confirm how life is like in an “occupied” region.

by Kok Bayraq

Bitter Winter, 03/15/2024

Last month, 96-year-old Uyghur cleric Abidin Damollam died in an East Turkistan (Xinjiang to China) prison. Damollam’s body was not handed over to his family, which was not allowed to hold a funeral ceremony. The police have kept the family under surveillance for fifteen days.

The surveillance came at a time when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was campaigning to deny the Uyghur Genocide at the Munich Security Conference and complaining about “ too many lies” circulating on the Uyghur issue.

The reason for the funeral restriction was that four years ago, Damollam’s granddaughter Mariya Mohammad, who lives in Boston, announced to the world that Damollam was in prison, and it was widely reported in the media for quite some time. If the death was revealed, the controversy could reignite, and Wang Yi’s campaign would be disrupted.

Recently, as part of its campaign to deny the Uyghur Genocide, China has distinguished the situation of the Uyghurs from the one of the Palestinians, and defended Hamas’ actions as a “fight against occupation.”

Let’s look at Damollam’s case from the point of view of “occupation.”

Mariye Muhammad told the author that her grandfather had worked as an imam and teacher in a neighborhood mosque for more than fifty years. The extremely limited religious activities of the mosque, which took place within the restrictions determined by the state, caused the deceased to be criticized and imprisoned in every political wave of repression. He was last arrested in 2017 at the age of 89, when concentration camps were established in the region.

There is no specific news about Abidin Damollam in the Chinese media. However, a criminal record of a different person called Song Kaicai on China’s national court rulings website reveals some vital details about Damollam’s case.

According to official records, Song Kaicai, Secretary of Chinese Communist Party’s committee in Artush city , was punished for his dereliction of duty. His negligence is described as allowing “fundamentalist preacher” Abidin Damollam to receive treatment outside the camp when he fell ill in detention in 2018. According to the record, Damollam was considered a threat to state security, and during the fifty days he was receiving treatment, he came into contact with many dangerous people and caused great damage to the security of the state.

Mariya Mohammad claims that the so-called “dangerous people” were Damollam’s family members who cared for him, and the “damage” was her revealing his detention to the media during his treatment.

The facts show that Abidin Damollam’s life, illness, and even his dead body worry China. How can a 96-year-old person be considered a threat to the security of the state? The answer is, when the foundation of your state is extremely weak, and some parts of the state have been obtained through occupation.

It can be assumed that Song Kaicai, taking into account the age and health of Abedin Damollam with a normal rational conclusion, decided that he could not be a threat to the national security. He allowed him to be treated in the hospital, thinking that if he died in prison ,this would be harmful to the image of the country.

How can a sick man, or even a corpse, pose a threat to the security of the state? The answer is, when the state commits a crime and tries to cover it up. In other words, the humanitarian attitude demonstrated consciously or unconsciously by Song Kaicai did not comply with Xi Jinping’s “show no mercy” order in effect in the region.

The 15-page decision also stated that Song Kaicai committed more than thirty embezzlements from 2001 to 2018 and received a total of 2 million yuan in bribes. It is noteworthy, however, that there is no mention of a bribe paid by Abidin Damollam or his family to Song Kaicai to allow the old preacher to receive medical treatment outside of the camp.

The decision states that Song Kaicai will be dismissed and imprisoned.

Of course, those who live in the People’s Republic of China know very well that there is no CCP official who does not take bribes. This being the case, why is Song Keisei being punished as severely as if he had committed treason? Because the regime is alarmed and is implementing genocide as the final solution to the Uyghur problem in the region. Even a small amount of mercy may derail the CCP’s plans.

Where do genocides occur? Mostly in occupied areas, to permanently secure colonialism/occupation.

We do not even need to study history to prove that East Turkestan is an occupied territory. There are thousands of tangible, observable facts proving it today. For example, the geographic location of East Turkestan is outside Great Wall; the Chinese themselves call the region “New Border” (Xinjiang); the inhabitants affirm their Turkic and Muslim identity through an uninterrupted struggle and challenging the bloody oppression they have been subjected to.

Abidin Damollam’s death is just the most recent chapter in the story of this oppression. Unfortunately, it will not be the last.