testifying party

H.

victim's relation to testifier

information publicly available

about the victim

name: Parhat Imin
gender: male
ethnicity: Uyghur
occupation: fruit vendor in Urumchi

After paying an overdue phone bill during which he was required to swipe his ID card in summer 2017, he found out that his ID card had been blacklisted as it caused an alarm each time he swiped it. He suspects that he is now on some kind of government watch list. He says he cannot travel and does not dare to do so fearing that he may be arrested if he does so. He is under a sort of self-imposed town arrest in Urumchi.

Before opening a fruit store in Urumchi, he had a small shop near Erdaoqiao selling clothing and religious items. However, the shop was closed after the 2009 riots and Parhat was imprisoned for 6 months for “obstructing official business” since he protested when his shop was being closed. He was hit (probably by the people who arrested him), making him walk with a limp since then. He was jailed several times later one, including one time for 8 months for buying hashish.

[Additional info from WSJ: he ran his fruit business on Shuangqing Alley.]

current location

Urumchi

chronology of detention(s)

not detained, ID card seems blacklisted since summer 2017

suspected and/or official reason(s) for detention

not detained, but ID card seems blacklisted

last reported status

de facto town arrest

how testifier(s) learned of victim's situation

https://www.wsj.com/articles/twelve-days-in-xinjiang-how-chinas-surveillance-state-overwhelms-daily-life-1513700355 (19 DEC 2017)

additional information

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entry created on: 2019-02-22

entry last modified on: 2021-01-14

last update from testifier(s): 2019-02-22