Sayragul Sauytbay

Sayragul Sauytbay (Kazakh: Сайрагүл Сауытбай ~1977 - ) is a Chinese doctor, headteacher and whistleblower for the Kazakh Chinese people. She left China illegally and then she told the media about the Xinjiang re-education camps where people are re-educated in China. Sweden offered her political asylum after Kazakhstan refused. She was chosen as an International Woman of Courage in March 2020.[1]

Sayragul Sauytbay
Born1977
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
NationalityChina
Occupationphysician and headteacher
Known forwhistleblower on China's treatment of Kazakh people
Spouse(s)Uali Islam
Childrenson and daughter
This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by her given name, Sayragul, and not as Sauytbay.

Life

Sayragul was born in about 1977 in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in China. She is an ethnic Kazakh Chinese national and she became an employee of the Chinese state.

She married Uali Islam and they had a son and a daughter.

Mike Pompeo gives IWOC award to Sayragul Sauytbay (Melania Trump is to the left)

On 13 July 2018, Sauytbay appeared in a court in the city of Zharkent, Kazakhstan accused of illegally crossing the border from China. During the trial she talked about her forced work at a re-education camp for 2,500 ethnic Kazakhs.[2][3] Her lawyer argued that if she were extradited to China, she would face the death penalty for exposing re-education camps in Kazakh court.[4][3] Her testimony on the re-education camps became the focus of the court case in Kazakhstan,[5] which also tested the country's ties with Beijing.[6][7]

On 1 August 2018, Sayragul was released with a six-month suspended sentence and direction to regularly check in with police. She and the observers in the court were pleased that she had not been deported immediately.[8] She applied for asylum in Kazakhstan to avoid being deported to China.[9][10] She decided to keep silent out of fear that Kazakhstan may give in to diplomatic pressure and return her to China, even though her husband and children are all Kazakhstani nationals.[11]

Kazakhstan refused to grant her asylum. On 2 June 2019 she flew to Sweden, after the intercession of the United Nations, where she was then given political asylum.[12][13]

She was chosen as an International Woman of Courage on 4 March 2020 by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.[1] Within days the Chinese authorities stated that she was wanted for loan fraud and illegally crossing borders. They said "She made up lies to confuse the public and smear Xinjiang".[14]

The bestseller "Die Kronzeugin" (Europa) was written by the author Alexandra Cavelius on the basis of numerous interviews with Sayragul Sauytbay.

References
  1. "2020 International Women of Courage Award". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  2. "Kazakh Trial Sheds Light on Interned Chinese Muslims". Transitions Online. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  3. "China's 'prison-like re-education camps' strain relations with Kazakhstan as woman asks Kazakh court not to send her back". South China Morning Post. AFP. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  4. "Kazakhstan-China deportation case sparks trial of public opinion". nikkei.com. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. Kumenov, Almaz (17 July 2019). "Ethnic Kazakh's life in balance as deportation to China looms". Eurasianet. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  6. "Kazakh trial throws spotlight on China's internment centres". Financial Times. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  7. "Chinese 'reeducation camps' in spotlight at Kazakh trial". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  8. "Kazakh court frees woman who fled Chinese 're-education camp'". South China Morning Post. 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  9. Kuo, Lily (August 2018). "Kazakh court frees woman who fled Chinese re-education camp". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  10. "Sauytbay Trial Ends in Kazakhstan With Surprising Release". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  11. Standish, Reid. "She Fled China's Camps—but She's Still Not Free". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  12. "Woman who told of Chinese internment camps headed to Sweden". The Associated Press. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  13. Қызырбекұлы, Есдәулет. "Sweden granted political asylum to Sairagul Sauytbay". qazaqtimes.com. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  14. "H.E. Gui Congyou, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden, Gives Exclusive Interview with SVT on Media Exchanges and the Case of Sayragul Sauytbay". www.fmprc.gov.cn. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
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