Mihrigul Tursun is a reported former Uyghur detainee in one of the re-education camps in Xinjiang, China. Tursun said that she was taken into custody several times, including at one of a network of political "re-education camps" and that one of her sons died under mysterious circumstances while she was in the custody of Chinese authorities in 2015. China's Foreign Ministry denied her allegations and gave their own account of the events.
Testimony in US
On November 26, 2018, Mihrigul Tursun gave testimony at National Press Club in Washington D.C. In the club she testified that detainees in those camps are beaten, starved, electrocuted, and strip-searched. She said: “My hands bled from their beatings, each time I was electrocuted, my whole body would shake violently and I could feel the pain in my veins, I thought I would rather die than go through this torture and begged them to kill me.” On November 28, 2018, Mihrigul Tursun, speaking through a translator, testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China about her experience over a series of three internments. She said: "There were around 60 people kept in a 430 square feet cell so at nights, 10 to 15 women would stand up while the rest of us would sleep on sideways so we could fit, and then we would rotate every 2 hours. There were people who had not taken a shower over a year." In December 2018, Tursun received a Citizen Power Award. What Has Happened to Me – A Testimony of a Uygur Woman, a Japanese comic book recounting the story told by Mihrigul Tursun by artist Tomomi Shimizu telling become a viral hit in the Internet.
China's reaction
Responding to a CNN report, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying rejected Tursun's allegations and gave their own account of the events. According to Hua, Tursun was taken into custody by Qiemo County police for 20 days from April 21 to May 20, 2017 on suspicion of inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination, but she was never jailed or put in a "vocational training" center. Hua said that apart from those 20 days, she was totally free during her stay in China and traveled abroad extensively. Hua also rejected Tursun's claim that one of her sons died in Ürümqi's Children's Hospital. On November 27, 2018, the Chinese state-run tabloid, Global Times, said: "It's easy to tell the woman was lying and there must be someone who taught her to speak like this. She might want to obtain asylum in the US." On December 3, 2018, the tabloid released another article criticizing Tursun. On March 14, 2019, China Global Television Network released a video rejecting Tursun's testimony.
