Elderly Uyghur, imprisoned for learning Quran, dies in Chinese prison
ISTANBUL – A 71-year-old Uyghur serving a 14-year sentence died in a prison in China’s Xinjiang province.
According to reports, Abdurusul Memet was arrested in 2017 for studying the Quran, praying, and supporting a beard.
Chinese authorities justified his religious leanings as “illegal religious activities.”
His situation came to light through the Xinjiang Victims Database, which collects records of detained Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang.
A police official in Kashgar County confirmed Memet’s death, stating that he died of hypertension in mid-July.
Memet’s name and police record were found in Kashgar police archives, which are part of the “Xinjiang Police Files” leaked and published in May 2022.
These files document the Chinese government’s internment of up to 2 million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in Xinjiang in 2017 and 2018.
Memet was serving a prison sentence in a prison in the regional capital of Urumqi.
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