An Irish woman fears Chinese officials have threatened her family because she speaks out about Beijing’s repression of the Uyghur minority
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Nuria Zyden came to Ireland in 2009, became a naturalised Irish citizen and has three children who were born in the Republic.
A Uyghur, she grew up in Xinjiang, a majority Muslim province where locals are regarded with extreme suspicion by the Chinese Government.
“As a Uyghur person, growing up we were seen as politically disloyal and culturally disadvantaged,” Ms Zyden told Newstalk Breakfast.
“The State media frequently portrayed Uyghurs as extremists and discrimination in jobs and education left us with limited opportunities.
“After 9/11, the Chinese Government rebranded its repressions as a war on terror, using it as a pretext to expand mass surveillance.”
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Determined to keep her culture alive and speak out against Beijing’s oppression of her people, she helped found the Irish Uyghur Culture Association in 2014.
Like many Uyghurs living outside of China, she soon found that her advocacy had not gone unnoticed by Chinese officials.
“My activism has become a target [with] phone calls from the Chinese Government and all different types of harassment,” she said.
Most disturbingly, she feels they are blackmailing her elderly mother.
“My gentle, 74-year-old mother told me to not come home,” Ms Zyden said.
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“I don’t know what is really happening to her but I guess she has been questioned and probably she was in detention.
“I’m not really sure; she begged me, do not forget about the Chinese Communist Party raising us and wherever we go, we should appreciate [them].”
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