Japanese manga comic tells story of Uyghur oppression

A Japanese artist used comic book storytelling to draw attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Muslim ethnic minorities in western China.

Tomomi Shimizu, a manga comic–style artist, tells the story of Mihrigul Tursun, a young Uyghur mother who was tortured and subjected to other brutal conditions in one of China’s detention camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region camps in China.

Tursun studies, marries and has triplets in Egypt.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

Upon returning to China, she is arrested and her babies taken away.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

She is tortured and released and told one of her children has died. 

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

She is arrested again and interrogated about her life in Egypt.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

She and other prisoners are forced to reject their religions and praise CCP.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

She hears other people being tortured.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

Eventually, Tursun is released and returned to Egypt.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

The CCP continues to harass her, so she flees to the U.S.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)

To tell the world about what the CCP is doing, Tursun is telling her story.

Boxes containing words and illustrations of comic characters (© Tomomi Shimizu)