The highly coercive and potentially lethal control systems used against minority groups in China’s internment camps have been revealed in a giant cache of secret documents shared with the BBC.
China insists that the network of secure facilities built in its far western Xinjiang region are simply “schools” for combating extremism in which “students” voluntarily enroll. But the contents of the leaked Xinjiang police files suggest a different story.
Taking information from the leaked documents, the BBC has reconstructed one of the camps, the Shufu County New Vocational Skills Education and Training Centre, to reveal the methods used inside.
The leaked documents detailing the protocols or rules for protecting the camps are part of a cache of tens of thousands of documents, mostly dated 2017 and 2018.
The Xinjiang police archives, the title given to the cache by a consortium of international journalists of which the BBC is a part, include classified speeches by senior officials, thousands of images of Uyghur detainees, spreadsheets detailing their internment status and the hundreds personal information. of cops.
An anonymous source, who claims to have hacked, downloaded, and decrypted the files from a series of police computer servers in the Xinjiang region, first passed them on to Xinjiang American academic Dr. Adrian Zenz, who in turn shared them. with the BBC.
Painstakingly detailed police job lists, training manuals and instructions for protecting the camps show more than just the presence of weapons.
In the most important document in this part of the dataset, officers are ordered to be prepared to use weapons in the event of an escape.
When the alarm goes off, the newspapers say, the perimeter roads must be sealed, the buildings closed, and the camp’s own armed police “strike group” sent in.
After a warning shot, if the “student” continues to try to escape, the order is clear: shoot him dead.
The documents also state that detained runaways are to be brought in “for questioning”, while the camp administration is to focus on “stabilizing the thoughts and emotions of other students” to ensure the school is “safe and stable”.
The police protocol documents also outline the rules for transfers from one facility to another.
Those being transferred must be blindfolded with “handcuffs in handcuffs” and “feet in chains,” the documents say.
The documents reveal that even the sick must be restrained and escorted by four staff members, again in handcuffs and shackles.
This is an approach used in other countries only for highly dangerous prisoners.
Previous instructions on moving detainees between facilities closely resemble images seen in 2018, which China vehemently denied had anything to do with the camps, but now appear to be given more weight as a result of the hack.
YouTube video from 2018 shows similar techniques
There is a striking similarity between the instructions to transfer the sick and an image from the hacked files, showing the highly controlled circumstances in which medical procedures are carried out, not in a camp, but in a detention center.
China insists that the camps provide lessons to grateful and willing Uyghurs and other Turkish minorities away from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.
In some respects, they bear a passing resemblance to schools, with the rote learning of Chinese and the recitation of propaganda slogans.
But the cache goes further than ever before in showing the harsh and unintentional nature of these facilities designed to attack almost any aspect of Uyghur identity and replace it with forced allegiance to the Communist Party.
Although police protocols, which are written in simple Microsoft Word files, are difficult to verify independently, they are found alongside many other documents that are much easier to authenticate.
The hacked data contains thousands of photographs of people who have been jailed, many of which also show evidence of a high degree of control with officers carrying batons visible in some of the images.
These images can be verified by showing that they contain real people, identified as the missing relatives of several Uyghurs abroad who were approached by the BBC.
The BBC was also able to verify spreadsheets containing the photographs, identification numbers and cell phones of police officers at the camp.
Although security personnel in Xinjiang are known to have orders not to answer calls from abroad, after dialing the listed numbers of more than 150 police and government officials, several answered and confirmed their respective names, roles and offices.
Transcript of the call to the police mobile number
hello that’s the policeman [name] ?
Yes, what’s up?
Are you the police officer who works at the Tokzak Township Police Station?
Yes, who are you?
May I ask if you have worked at the Shufu Industrial Park Vocational Skills Education and Training Center?
Who are you?
I would like to verify something with you.
What do you want to check? Who are you?
I am the person calling you.
What [expletive] want to check?!
(The officer hangs up the call)
In 2019, China began claiming that most of its re-education camps were closing and all “students” had graduated.
But the evidence suggests that many remain operational or have simply been renamed formal prisons or detention centers, in an attempt to cushion international criticism.
After approaching the Chinese government for comment on the hacked data, with detailed questions about the evidence it contains, the media consortium received a written response from the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.
“Faced with the serious and complex counter-terrorism situation, Xinjiang has taken a series of decisive, solid and effective deradicalization measures,” the statement said.
“As a result, Xinjiang has not seen any cases of terrorism for several years in a row,” he continued, stating that “a lot of false information has been spread on the Xinjiang issue” in recent years.
“The local population lives a safe, happy and fulfilling life,” he added.
But the statement did not provide detailed answers to any of the specific evidence raised by our questions, such as a document suggesting that responsibility for highly coercive control methods and shoot-to-kill policy rests with some of the highest ranking Party officials. Communist. officials
The cache contains the transcript of a secret speech delivered in May 2017 by Chen Quanguo, until recently secretary of the Xinjiang Communist Party.
On the one hand, Chen insists that the Uyghurs are the beneficiaries of the great love for the holiday, but on the other hand, he urges his audience to treat those who return from abroad “as criminals” to “arrest, detain, handcuff and chain them”. . without exception”.
And he tells the assembled police and military officers that they must “shoot to death” anyone who even tries to escape.
Reference-www.bbc.co.uk