Freedom on hold

A decade ago, 3 Uyghur brothers fled East Turkistan (Xinjiang) only to land in an Indian jail.
In 2012, violent clashes in East Turkistan prompted a harsh crackdown by the Chinese government.
After watching authorities detain their friends and relatives Adil, Abdulhalik and Abdelsalam Tursun fled their home in East Turkistan in June 2013. It was the start of what would become a decade long-ordeal.
The brothers, 16, 18, and 20, at the time set their sights on India, a journey the required trekking over the Karakoram mountains.
After travelling hundreds of kilometers over rugged terrain, they crossed into India in the Ladakh region of Kashmir. Their hopes of finding freedom, however were soon dashed where they were apprehended by local indian border guard forces.
Called (Chinese indruters) by authorities, the brothers were sentences to 18 monthsin jail for trespassing in July 2014.
But the end of the sentence did not bring their release, they remain to this day in a judicial purgatory, shuffled from jail to jail under a special security law.
What is happening to them is not only illegal, but completely inhuman too, How can these young men be jailed for 10 years only because they fled persecution?, Mohammed Shafi Lassu, their lawyer said.
The brothers have been allowed to stay together in jail. They have learned Urdo, Hindi and English. They have also studied the Quran and can recite its first seven chapters, Lasso said.
But the conditions are challenging: the heat, the heat can be nearly unbearable at the jail near Delhi where the brothers are now confined, exceeding 50 degrees celsuis.
And they have had no contact with any family back in East Turkistan, where four years after they left, the Chinese government's crackdown intensified.
An estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been locked up since 2017.
Lassu said, India denied the brothers asylum request out of fear of angering China, Which denies well-documented reports of human rights abuses. Recently India initiated a repatriation process, returning the brothers to East Turkistan would amount to deat sentence, Lassu said.
Adil, Abdulha;iq and Abdulsalam hope to benefit from a plan Canada has announced to resettle 10,000 Uyghur refugees, but for now the brothers are stuck in limbo. The broader world beyond their reach and the prospect of the rougher treatment hanging over their heads.