Over Thirty Kazakh People Secretly Arrested by CCP in Xinjiang

On March 5, 2024, military delegates attending the CCP National People&9;s Congress arrived outside the Great Hall of the People.(online screenshot)

[November 6, 2024] Recently, authorities in Xinjiang, China, arrested over thirty Kazakh individuals, including government officials, journalists, writers, and scholars. As a result, the Kazakh-language department of Xinjiang Daily has nearly ceased operations. The incident has drawn significant international attention.

According to Kazakhstan's human rights organization, Atajurt, and several Kazakh immigrants from Xinjiang, since April of this year, dozens of Kazakh officials and intellectuals from cities like Urumqi and Ili have been secretly detained by authorities on charges of treason, inciting ethnic separatism, and other accusations.

Radio Free Asia reports that on Tuesday (November 5), Serikzhan Bilash, founder of Atajurt, said, "Through multiple channels, we have verified that since April, several Kazakh officials and intellectuals in Xinjiang have been arrested, including former Xinjiang TV Kazakh-language director Kanat Yerezhep, a Xinjiang Daily journalist, and the head of the Kazakh children's program department."

Bilash noted that some individuals were detained between 2019 and 2023, but their families only received verbal notification from authorities in April of this year.

Atajurt provided a list of detainees, including journalists from the Kazakh-language children's program department at Xinjiang TV, former Xinjiang Daily journalists, and members of the regional Party Committee's propaganda department. Although they have diverse backgrounds, most have been accused of separatism or treason. However, the authorities have not disclosed specific reasons. This large-scale arrest operation highlights the authorities' heightened vigilance toward Kazakh intellectuals, causing the Xinjiang Daily Kazakh-language department to nearly halt operations. Human rights organizations have expressed serious concern, noting the broad scope and intensity of the arrests, though official motives remain unexplained.

Bekzat, a representative of Atajurt, mentioned that the organization spent considerable time verifying detainees' identities and discovered that authorities are investigating actions of some Kazakhs from over a decade ago. He stated, "Since last year, we have gradually learned about the arrests of Kazakh intellectuals, mostly retired senior officials, with some individuals targeted for actions or published works that complied with the law at the time but are now deemed to promote separatist ideas."

Bekzat believes Xinjiang authorities are using these accusations as a pretext to suppress Kazakh cultural elites with intellectual influence.

The incident has drawn media attention in Kazakhstan, with multiple outlets reporting on the arrests of Kazakh people in Xinjiang, and the news has spread widely on overseas social media platforms.