{"id":1058,"date":"2022-05-25T11:45:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T08:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2022-05-25T13:01:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T10:01:22","slug":"haunting-portrait-of-crying-uyghur-muslim-at-chinas-re-education-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/haunting-portrait-of-crying-uyghur-muslim-at-chinas-re-education-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Haunting portrait of crying Uyghur Muslim at China\u2019s \u2018re-education\u2019 Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This portrait of a crying Uyghur woman lays bare the heartbreaking human reality of China\u2019s concentration camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing has long been accused of discriminating against its minority population of Uyghur Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government began building so-called \u2018re-education\u2019 camps in the northwest Xinjiang region in 2017 \u2013 after Uyghurs were blamed for several terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

But the country\u2019s leaders have always rubbished claims of human rights violations as \u2018misinformation\u2019, insisting the schools \u2018help people free themselves from extremism\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the BBC <\/a>has published a damning report claiming to prove up to 1.2 million people have been detained and mistreated \u2018not for what they\u2019ve done but for who they are\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A catalogue of photographs of detainees have emerged, which it appears were taken in Tekes County, going off the labels on their uniforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the harrowing images show people with tears in their eyes, with \u2018broken spirits\u2019 and shaved heads and beards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reiterating the warnings of many Holocaust scholars<\/a>, the portraits share a disturbing resemblance to those taken of Jewish people at Nazi death camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hawagul
Hawagul Tewekkul, 50, was detained for re-education in October 2017 for unstated reasons (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Some of the photos of Uyghurs look disturbingly similar to photos Nazis took of Jewish people before murdering them (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reasons Uyghurs get detained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hacked Xinjiang police files contain more than 5,000 photographs of Uyghurs, taken between January and July 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 2,884 of these people are believed to have been detained on terrorism charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the rest may officially be considered \u2018students\u2019 of a re-education camp, the evidence shows there is little difference between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many were detained for reasons \u2018not stated\u2019 while others have been handed long sentences for \u2018crimes\u2019 which include travelling to Muslim-majority countries, growing a beard and being a relative of someone with \u2018strong religious leanings\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
This 58-year-old was jailed for 16 years and 11 months for \u2018growing a beard under the influence of religious extremism\u2019 (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One man was handed 10 years for his \u2018strong religious leanings\u2019 because he did not drink or smoke. His mum was also detained just because they were related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the 452 spreadsheets, there are multiple examples of people imprisoned retrospectively for \u2018crimes\u2019 committed years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One man was given a 10-year sentence in 2017 because he \u2018studied Islamic scripture with his grandmother\u2019 in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it\u2019s like inside Xinjiang camps?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many portraits of prisoners or \u2018students\u2019 shows guards armed with batons in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other photographs appear to show guards practising drills for subduing inmates who are shown to have their faces covered in black hoods and their wrists and ankles chained up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal protocols listed in the files explicitly say it is a requirement for \u2018students\u2019 to be handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded when being transferred between facilities or to hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"These
It is believed these photos show guards at the Tekes Detention Centre practising drills (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"These
Guards were frequently pictured holding batons in different areas of the camps (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"These
Internal protocols require all \u2018students\u2019 to be handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded when moved around (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is a rota for guard shifts in all areas of the camp with anyone stationed at watchtowers armed with machine guns and sniper rifles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a shoot-to-kill policy in place for anyone who tries to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groups of people can be seen standing in a line, reciting something \u2013 a potential example of indoctrination programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously leaked documents quote officials saying the purpose of the camps is to \u2018break (Uyghur) roots, break their lineage, break their connections, break their origins\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Xinjiang Police Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Someone who claims to have hacked police servers in Xinjiang sent the files to Dr Adrian Zenz \u2013 who does research at the US-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He passed the files over to the BBC and the pictures were verified by several image forensic experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was evidence that some of the pictures had been copied and rotated slightly but it is believed this is because the images are being used as part of China\u2019s efforts to develop facial recognition technology for its surveillance programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear exactly how many people have been detained but Dr Zenz predicts that in the county of Shufu alone, 22,762 residents were in a prison or a camp in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is 12% of the adult population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rahile
Rahile Omer was the youngest person detained \u2013 she was 15 at the time (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"73-year-old
Anihan Hamit, 73, was the oldest detained person on file (Picture: Xinjiang Police Files\/Dr. Adrian Zenz)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If this statistic is applied to the whole of Xinjiang, it would mean 1.2 million people have been incarcerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The youngest person on file was Rahile Omer, who was just 15 when she was detained. The oldest was 73-year-old Anihan Hamit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese government did not respond to any information obtained in the files but it did issue a statement saying: \u2018Xinjiang related issues are in essence about countering violent terrorism, radicalisation and separatism, not about human rights or religion.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spokesperon went on to claim China\u2019s \u2018decisive, robust and effective deradicalisation measures\u2019 had achieved \u2018social stability and harmony as well as economic development\u2019 in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: METRO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This portrait of a crying Uyghur woman lays bare the heartbreaking human reality of China\u2019s concentration camps. Beijing has long been accused of discriminating against its minority population of Uyghur Muslims. The government began building so-called \u2018re-education\u2019 camps in the northwest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}