THE MOST SHAMEFUL MOMENT IN OUR RECENT HISTORY...:

Abbas and Idris were in Israel as part of a worldwide tour to raise awareness about China's campaign against their people, which some describe as a genocide. Worldwide, Uighurs number around 12 million; about 80 percent live in Xinjiang, which they also call East Turkestan, making them China's fifth largest minority. Since 2017, according to estimates, Chinese authorities have sent more than 1.8 million Uighurs to forced labor camps, leaving their families in the dark about their whereabouts or well-being.

"The Chinese regime sometimes publishes names of people who died of diseases in the camps, but since they were taken in 2017 I have not received any information about my parents," Idris said. "If I knew they had passed away, I would go into mourning, and cry for them. Not knowing makes it very difficult for me."

China initially denied the existence of internment camps in Xinjiang but later changed tack, describing the compounds as vocational training centers for Uighurs who could otherwise be lured into Islamic extremism. Critics describe the education doled out at the camps as political indoctrination; Beijing, which has little appetite for dissent, has long been vexed by separatist groups from the region and has justified its campaign by pointing to a series of terror attacks carried out by Uighur extremists over the last decade.

Witnesses and survivors of the camps say arbitrary detention is just the first of a long list of potential crimes against humanity carried out at the centers, which also include forced labor, rape, sexual abuse, involuntary medical treatment, torture, unsanitary conditions and more.

"These people in the camps, they are not charged with any crimes and they are subject to constant mental and physical torture," Abbas said.

Tweet   @brothersjudd