East Asia and Pacific (EAP)
Sayragul Sauytbay (Ele Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture – nominated by Kazakhstan) – Sayragul Sauytbay was born in Ele Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. She attended medical university and worked as a doctor, teacher, education director, and headmaster. In July 2016, Sayragul and her family attempted to move to Kazakhstan but the Chinese Communist Party confiscated her passport and prevented her from going with her husband and children. Starting in January 2017, Sayragul was subjected to oppressive policies and large-scale arrests of innocent ethnic minorities. She was taken away from her home in the middle of the night, questioned about her family in Kazakhstan, threatened, and tortured. From November 2017 to March 2018, Sayragul was forced by the Chinese Communist Party to teach Chinese to ethnic minority people in a detention camp. In March 2018, Sayragul fled to Kazakhstan to avoid execution. There, she was arrested and imprisoned for 9 months. The Kazakh government rejected her application for political asylum three times and attempted to deport her to China, at which time the Swedish government accepted her family. Sayragul and her family currently live in Sweden.