Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Politics

China Sends 1.1 Million Party Members to Share Uighurs’ Homes

A Uyghur woman walks outside a house in western Xinjiang province, China. 

A Uyghur woman walks outside a house in western Xinjiang province, China. 

Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (DAKE KANG and YANAN WANG)
Updated on

Istanbul (AP) -- The two women in the photograph were smiling, but Halmurat Idris knew something was terribly wrong.

One was his 39-year-old sister; standing at her side was an elderly woman Idris did not know. Their grins were tight-lipped, mirthless. Her sister had posted the picture on a social media account along with a caption punctuated by a smiley-face.