Leaked information shows ‘brutality’ of treatment by Chinese government in Uyghur region

Thousands of pages of police data and photographs from the Uyghur region in China reveal the sheer brutality of the treatment of the Uyghur people and other minorities on the ground in the Xinjiang region.

The data, which was hacked and released to news outlets including BBC, show the reality of the Chinese re-education camps and the falsity of the Chinese government’s repeated claims that the camps are filled with “willing students.” In 2019, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “The truth is the education and training centers in Xinjiang are schools that help people free themselves from extremism.”

In many of the photographs, minority individuals can be seen with tears in their eyes, or with guards standing nearby with batons, both strong indications the photographs were taken under duress. The accompanying documents also hacked from the Xinjiang police computer server show a highly specific and detailed shoot-to-kill policy for anyone who attempts to escape the camps.

The 2,884 photographs published by BBC show people as young as 15 years old who had been photographed and detained for various reasons, including such things as the crimes of their families, or for having “strong religious leanings.”

The information was given to Dr. Adrian Zenz, an activist in the United States, who then distributed it to news agencies. After months of being verified as authentic, they have been publicly released by BBC and a few others. 

The Chinese government has been accused of genocide by the United States and other governments over its stringent crackdown on the rights and freedoms of Uyghur and Turcik minorities in recent years.

The information obtained from the hack reaches back to 2018. Their publication comes at the same time as United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, makes a controversial visit to the Xinjiang region to investigate the claims further.