'I've finally spoken to my mum after seven years'

Aziz's mother Hepizikhan visited London in 2011, before she was detained in a camp

Aziz Isa Elkun, from north London, spent seven years not knowing whether his mother was alive. On a random day in April last year, he received an anonymous video call from her, which he said was monitored by the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department.

Aziz, 54, said his mother Hepizikhan, who is an Uyghur Muslim, was placed in a Chinese camp in the Xinjiang province in 2018 and has since been released.

China is accused of has detaining more than a million Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang since 2016 – but the government calls them "re-education camps" and denies all allegations of abuse.

Aziz is calling on the government to allow his 82-year-old mother to come to the UK, where he can care for her.

The Chinese Embassy was contacted for comment but did not respond.

Recalling the moment they spoke for the first time since 2017, Aziz said: "She was crying so much and was so grateful to speak to me.

"I believe the call was monitored by the Chinese police, so we had to be careful what we said.

"I was asking her about her health and she was asking about the family."

He has been able to speak to his mother four times since April 2024, with the last call in January 2025.

He believes the Chinese police were monitoring the calls.

"Every day I feel depressed that I can't speak to my mother properly," Aziz said. "I don't know how to express how this makes me feel."

Five years ago the BBC interviewed Aziz, and he said that he did not know if his mother was alive in the camp.

An exile from Xinjiang and an academic, Aziz has written about the treatment of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese government, and protested against it.

He was forced to leave Xinjiang in 1999 because of his activism and came to London in 2001. Aziz is now a British citizen and lives in the capital with his wife and three children.

Aziz said: "There are 20 million Uyghurs on our land and the Chinese government have tried to uproot and erase Uyghurs' connection to their homeland.

"This has never happened in human history, it's beyond my understanding and expression, the level of atrocity."

Aziz hopes to care for his 82-year-old mother in the UK

A BBC investigation in 2022 found that the camps in Xinjiang used violence and torture to drive Uyghurs away from their Islamic beliefs.

Dr Joanne Smith Finley, reader in Chinese studies at Newcastle University, said: "Aziz's case is a microcosm of the bigger story.

"What we've seen is a campaign of what I describe as state terrorism.

"The state has used a system of terrorist acts, mass internment and forced labour for Uyghur Muslims to create a climate of horror so that everyone is afraid and will practise loyalty to China.

"People have been burning their Qurans and cutting contact with relatives who may be faithful abroad."

Diasporic groups including Uyghurs protested in February outside the new Chinese Embassy in London

In 2022, a UN report stated that they had "credible evidence" to accuse China of "crimes against humanity" and "serious human rights violations" in Xinjiang province - which China denied.

Aziz is not alone. He knows many Uyghur Muslims in London who have several family members in the camps.

"Their relatives were forced to learn Chinese, about the Chinese communist party, with a military-style discipline," Aziz said. "One woman even died in the camp.

"Every room has cameras and microphones where they are being watched. The Uyghurs are humiliated physically and mentally. These camps still exist."

'I have to speak out'

Aziz called on the Home Office to allow him to care for his mother in the UK.

The Home Office declined a BBC interview and said: "It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases."

A spokesperson added that there was not an automatic right for British citizens to bring their extended family members to the United Kingdom, but added: "They are able to apply under the family rules including the adult-dependant relative route."

Aziz said this route would not work for him because the Chinese government would not allow his mother to have a passport.

"I urge the British government and ask them to give my mother a passport so I can unite with her and look after her," he said.

"I don't know how long she has left, so I have to speak out."

Aziz said he wanted to speak for the many Uyghurs in his situation in the UK.

"Many of these families are afraid to speak because they feel their family members will face the repercussions," he said. "This is the main problem."