Sayragul Sauytbay

Sayragul Sauytbay
Sauytbay in 2020
Vice President of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile
Assumed office
12 November 2023
Preceded byAbdulahat Nur
Personal details
Born1977 (age 48–49)
SpouseUali Islam
Children2
Occupationphysician and headteacher
Known forwhistleblower about the persecution of Uyghurs in China
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese萨伊拉古尔·索伊特拜
Traditional Chinese薩伊拉古爾·索伊特拜
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSàyīlāgǔ'ěr Suǒyītèbài
Uyghur name
Uyghurسايراگٷل ساۋىتباي
Kazakh name
KazakhСайрагүл Сауытбай
Sayragül Sawıtbay
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Sayragul Sauytbay (Kazakh: Сайрагүл Сауытбай; born 1977) is a Kazakh political activist and whistleblower from China. In 2018, she fled China and then told the media about the Xinjiang internment camps resembling modern-day concentration camps where people are "re-educated". She became one of the first victims of these camps in the world to speak publicly about the Chinese repressive campaign against Muslims, igniting a movement against these abuses. Sweden offered her political asylum after Kazakhstan refused, and she subsequently emigrated there.

In March 2020, she received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State. In March 2021 she was awarded the Internationaler Nürnberger Menschenrechtspreis (the International Human Rights prize of the city of Nuremberg, Germany), for 2021; the prize ceremony was held 15 May 2022.

Also in 2021, she testified among other survivors, as a witness at the Uyghur Tribunal in London.

On 11 November 2023 she was elected as the Vice President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile at the 9th East Turkistan General Assembly in Washington, DC.