Sayragul Sauytbay

Sayragul Sauythay was awarded the 2021 Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, and the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award in 2020. Her key witness accounts have already created a stir on the world stage, and have been reported by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Born in China's north-western province, Sayragul Sauythay trained as a doctor before being appointed a senior civil servant.Her life was upended when the Chinese authorities incarcerated her. Her crime: being Kazakh, one of China's ethnic minorities. In prison, Sauythay was put to work teaching Chinese language, culture, and politics, in the course of which she gained access to secret information that revealed Beijing's long-term plans to undermine not only its minorities, but democracies around the world. Upon her escape to Europe she was reunited with her family, but still lives under the constant threat of reprisal.