By Ilyaruq
Nov 4, 2020
A Uyghur man who has been previously forced to spy on Uyghurs in Turkey was shot and heavily wounded in Istanbul on Monday, November 2.
The man, Yusufujiang Aimaitijiang, was wounded in the arm and shoulder when a stranger shot him from behind on Monday evening when Aimaitijiang was returning home after visiting a friend in Avcilar district, Istanbul. Yusufjan was taken to a hospital and was in critical condition. The Turkish police are currently investigating the incident.
The Chinese authorities forced the young Uyghur who is known as Yusufjan in the Uyghur community to work as an agent for the Chinese police and sent him to spy on Uyghurs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey. In January 2019, Yusufjan turned against the Chinese police and told his story in an Aljazeera documentary that featured China’s atrocities against the Uyghur people in East Turkistan. According to Yusufjan, he was blackmailed and threatened to pass on the information of Uyghurs in Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan since he was sent to Pakistan in 2016, and until he decided to defect and turn against China in late 2018.
Yusufjan received a tremendous accolade in the Uyghur diaspora, as one of the few Chinese spies who turned against China. Yusufjan’s mother, wife, and five-year-old daughter in China have been used to blackmail him. He claimed asylum at the UNHCR office in Ankara, Turkey.
Yusufjan is conscious now, but still waiting for an operation and further treatment, according to our reporters who visited him in the hospital on Tuesday evening.
