BEIJING: Nearly one in 25 people in a county in China’s Uyghur heartland have been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, the highest known incarceration rate in the world, an Associated Press review of leaked data shows.
A list obtained and partially verified by AP 10,000. cites names of more than Uighurs jailed in Konasher County alone, one of dozens in the Southern xinjiang, In recent years, China has taken brutal crackdowns on the largely Muslim minority of Uighurs, in what it describes as a war on terror.
The list to emerge with the names of imprisoned Uighurs is the largest to date, reflecting the sheer size of a Chinese government campaign that put an estimated millions or more of people in detention camps and prisons. It also confirms what families and rights groups have said for years: China is relying on long-term prison systems to keep Uighurs under control, using the law as a weapon of repression. Used to be.
Under international criticism, Chinese authorities announced in 2019 the closure of short-lived, extra-judicial detention camps where Uighurs were dumped without charge. However, although concentrated in the camps, thousands of Uighurs still remain in prison for years or even decades on what experts say are false charges of terrorism.
Uighur farmer daily wager Was known to be a soft-spoken, family-loving man with three children and had little interest in religion. So his cousin Mihrigul Musa was shocked to learn that Tohti had been imprisoned for five years for “religious extremism”.
“I never thought he would be arrested,” said Moses, who now lives in exile in Norway. “If you saw him, you’d feel the same way. He’s so honest.”
From the list, Moses learns that Tohti’s younger brother, Ablikim Tohti, had also been sentenced to seven years in prison for “gathering the masses to disturb the social order”. Tohti’s neighbour, a farmer named Nurmemet Dout, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the same charge as well as “raising fights and causing trouble”.
Konasher County is characteristic of rural southern Xinjiang, and is home to over 267,000 people. The list shows that prison sentences across the county ranged from two to 25 years, with an average of nine years. While those on the list were mostly arrested in 2017, according to Uighurs in exile, their sentences are so long that the vast majority will still be in prison.
Those swept away came from all walks of life, and included men, women, young and old. They had only one thing in common: they were all Uyghurs.
Experts say this clearly shows that people were targeted for being only Uighurs – a conclusion that was vehemently denied by Chinese officials. Xinjiang spokeswoman Elijan Anayat said the sentence was carried out in accordance with the law.
“We will never specifically target specific regions, ethnic groups, religions, Uighurs,” Anayat said. “We will never do the good wrong, nor give up the bad.”
The list was obtained from an undisclosed source by Xinjiang scholar Jean Bunin, who described himself as a member of the Han Chinese majority of China “contrary to the policies of the Chinese government in Xinjiang.” It was passed to AP by Abduveli Ayup, an exiled Uyghur linguist in Norway.
The AP substantiated this through interviews with eight Uighurs who identified the 194 people on the list, as well as legal notices, recordings of phone calls with Chinese authorities and checking addresses, birthdays and identification numbers.
The list does not include people with specific criminal charges such as murder or theft. Instead, it focuses on crimes related to terrorism, religious extremism, or vague charges traditionally used against political dissidents, such as “raising quarrels and inciting trouble.” This means that the true number of people in prison is almost certainly higher.
But even at a conservative estimate, Konasher County’s incarceration rate is 10 times higher than that of the United States, one of the world’s leading jailers, according to Justice Department data. This is 30 times higher than that of China as a whole, according to state data from 2013, the last time such figures were released.
Darren Baylor, an expert in Xinjiang’s mass confinement system, said most of the arrests were arbitrary and outside the law, with people detained for having relatives abroad or downloading certain cell phone applications.
“It’s really remarkable,” Baylor said. “Nowhere else have we seen entire populations of people described as terrorists or as terrorists.”
The action kicked into high gear in 2017, following stabbings and bombings by a small handful of Uyghur militants. The Chinese government defended mass detention as both legitimate and necessary to combat terrorism.
In 2019, Xinjiang officials announced the closure of short-term detention camps, and said all of whom they described as “trainees” had “graduated”. facilities.
But prisons remain. Xinjiang began a prison-building spree along with the action, and even as the camps closed, the prisons expanded. At least some of the camp sites were turned into prison centers.
Jeremy Daum, a criminal law expert at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center, said China is using the law “as a fig leaf of legitimacy” to stifle international criticism about the capture of Uighurs.
Experts say the covert nature of the charges against those in prison is a red flag. Although China makes legal records easily accessible otherwise, about 90% of criminal records in Xinjiang are not public. The handful that have leaked show people being accused of “terrorism,” such as warning coworkers against watching porn and swearing or praying in prison.
Uighur exile Abduweli Ayup, who gave the list to the AP, has closely documented the ongoing repression of his community. But this list particularly impressed her: on her were neighbors, a cousin, a high school teacher.
“I had fallen,” said Ayup. “I had told other people’s stories…. And now I am telling my own story since childhood.
Adil Tursun, a widely acclaimed teacher, was the only one at Tokzak’s high school who could teach Chinese to Uyghur students. He was a Communist Party member, and every year his students had the best chemistry test scores in the city.
The names of Tursun and others on the list had no meaning for Ayup as he was considered a model Uyghur.
“Names of crimes, spreading extremist ideas, separatism…these allegations are absurd.
A list obtained and partially verified by AP 10,000. cites names of more than Uighurs jailed in Konasher County alone, one of dozens in the Southern xinjiang, In recent years, China has taken brutal crackdowns on the largely Muslim minority of Uighurs, in what it describes as a war on terror.
The list to emerge with the names of imprisoned Uighurs is the largest to date, reflecting the sheer size of a Chinese government campaign that put an estimated millions or more of people in detention camps and prisons. It also confirms what families and rights groups have said for years: China is relying on long-term prison systems to keep Uighurs under control, using the law as a weapon of repression. Used to be.
Under international criticism, Chinese authorities announced in 2019 the closure of short-lived, extra-judicial detention camps where Uighurs were dumped without charge. However, although concentrated in the camps, thousands of Uighurs still remain in prison for years or even decades on what experts say are false charges of terrorism.
Uighur farmer daily wager Was known to be a soft-spoken, family-loving man with three children and had little interest in religion. So his cousin Mihrigul Musa was shocked to learn that Tohti had been imprisoned for five years for “religious extremism”.
“I never thought he would be arrested,” said Moses, who now lives in exile in Norway. “If you saw him, you’d feel the same way. He’s so honest.”
From the list, Moses learns that Tohti’s younger brother, Ablikim Tohti, had also been sentenced to seven years in prison for “gathering the masses to disturb the social order”. Tohti’s neighbour, a farmer named Nurmemet Dout, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the same charge as well as “raising fights and causing trouble”.
Konasher County is characteristic of rural southern Xinjiang, and is home to over 267,000 people. The list shows that prison sentences across the county ranged from two to 25 years, with an average of nine years. While those on the list were mostly arrested in 2017, according to Uighurs in exile, their sentences are so long that the vast majority will still be in prison.
Those swept away came from all walks of life, and included men, women, young and old. They had only one thing in common: they were all Uyghurs.
Experts say this clearly shows that people were targeted for being only Uighurs – a conclusion that was vehemently denied by Chinese officials. Xinjiang spokeswoman Elijan Anayat said the sentence was carried out in accordance with the law.
“We will never specifically target specific regions, ethnic groups, religions, Uighurs,” Anayat said. “We will never do the good wrong, nor give up the bad.”
The list was obtained from an undisclosed source by Xinjiang scholar Jean Bunin, who described himself as a member of the Han Chinese majority of China “contrary to the policies of the Chinese government in Xinjiang.” It was passed to AP by Abduveli Ayup, an exiled Uyghur linguist in Norway.
The AP substantiated this through interviews with eight Uighurs who identified the 194 people on the list, as well as legal notices, recordings of phone calls with Chinese authorities and checking addresses, birthdays and identification numbers.
The list does not include people with specific criminal charges such as murder or theft. Instead, it focuses on crimes related to terrorism, religious extremism, or vague charges traditionally used against political dissidents, such as “raising quarrels and inciting trouble.” This means that the true number of people in prison is almost certainly higher.
But even at a conservative estimate, Konasher County’s incarceration rate is 10 times higher than that of the United States, one of the world’s leading jailers, according to Justice Department data. This is 30 times higher than that of China as a whole, according to state data from 2013, the last time such figures were released.
Darren Baylor, an expert in Xinjiang’s mass confinement system, said most of the arrests were arbitrary and outside the law, with people detained for having relatives abroad or downloading certain cell phone applications.
“It’s really remarkable,” Baylor said. “Nowhere else have we seen entire populations of people described as terrorists or as terrorists.”
The action kicked into high gear in 2017, following stabbings and bombings by a small handful of Uyghur militants. The Chinese government defended mass detention as both legitimate and necessary to combat terrorism.
In 2019, Xinjiang officials announced the closure of short-term detention camps, and said all of whom they described as “trainees” had “graduated”. facilities.
But prisons remain. Xinjiang began a prison-building spree along with the action, and even as the camps closed, the prisons expanded. At least some of the camp sites were turned into prison centers.
Jeremy Daum, a criminal law expert at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center, said China is using the law “as a fig leaf of legitimacy” to stifle international criticism about the capture of Uighurs.
Experts say the covert nature of the charges against those in prison is a red flag. Although China makes legal records easily accessible otherwise, about 90% of criminal records in Xinjiang are not public. The handful that have leaked show people being accused of “terrorism,” such as warning coworkers against watching porn and swearing or praying in prison.
Uighur exile Abduweli Ayup, who gave the list to the AP, has closely documented the ongoing repression of his community. But this list particularly impressed her: on her were neighbors, a cousin, a high school teacher.
“I had fallen,” said Ayup. “I had told other people’s stories…. And now I am telling my own story since childhood.
Adil Tursun, a widely acclaimed teacher, was the only one at Tokzak’s high school who could teach Chinese to Uyghur students. He was a Communist Party member, and every year his students had the best chemistry test scores in the city.
The names of Tursun and others on the list had no meaning for Ayup as he was considered a model Uyghur.
“Names of crimes, spreading extremist ideas, separatism…these allegations are absurd.