If the student still does not follow the instructions and continues to widen the disorder, escapes, or attempts to take possession of a police weapon, the armed People’s Police are allowed to shoot him to death.
Such instructions have been given to the police by the Chinese authorities. By “students,” the authorities mean Uighurs in an institution that China calls a “vocational school.”
In reality, those “students” are prisoners.
Instructions to shoot people fleeing escape are part of a large-scale information leak that provides new insight into China’s practice of repressing the Muslim minority in western Xinjiang Province.
The data leak has been studied by several international media together. Finland’s foreign news delivery and MOT delivery have been included in Finland.
The leak contains thousands of arrest images taken by police as well as detailed information about Uighurs compiled in police records. For the first time, the material contains uncensored images from inside the camps. In addition, the data show that the orders for the oppression of the Uighurs come from the Chinese leadership.
is publishing snapshots of material arrests as they illustrate the scale of the crackdown on Chinese Uighurs. As a general rule, does not publish the personal data or facial images of detainees as such in order to protect them.
DATA LEAKAGE MATERIAL CONFIRMS previous estimates suggest that China has transferred from one to two million Uighurs to detention centers, prisons and camps in Xinjiang.
This is what the Chinese researcher who was the first to seize the material says Adrian Zenz.
“We’ve never seen such diverse footage and other material that shows the camps and how they are guarded,” says Zenz.
China calls the camps “retraining centers,” where religious extremism, among other things, is eradicated.
The leak documents tell us everything but volunteering. For example, the authorities instructed police officers to transport “students” from one institution to another:
430 sets of handcuffs, leg chains and hoods are prepared in advance, all students to be transferred must be triple-equipped. Each escort must have a minimum of two security guards or one officer and one security guard.
An international group of journalists asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the material. The questionnaire was answered by a representative of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, who did not answer the questions directly.
– Xinjiang is fundamentally a response to violent terrorism, radicalization and separatism, not human rights or religion, Liu Penguy says in an email to a group of journalists.
According to him, false information about the situation in Xinjiang has been spread for years.
China has in the past sought to erode the credibility of scientist Zenz and has put him on a sanctions list.
DAUGHTER AND BROTHERS, fathers and wives. The leak contains about 5,000 photographs taken by police in Xinjiang. Nearly 3,000 of these people had been arrested, according to researcher Zenz.
The leak data contains the names and personal identification numbers of almost 30,000 detainees.
An international group of journalists has reached out to several Uighurs who had fled Xinjiang abroad, who have identified a leak of information from photographs of their loved ones. For example, the British broadcaster BBC interviewed Abdurahman Hasaniawho now lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Hasan recognized his wife from the published photos. publishes a picture of his wife without censorship with the permission of Hasan. Hasan believes opening the situation in public can help his wife.
Police records show the wife was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2018. The sentence is based on “illegal assembly of troops and disturbance of public order.”
– Good creator, what kind of news. He didn’t even have much to do with anyone but his family. How is she supposed to be assembling troops, her husband told the BBC.
Disruption of social order is mentioned in the leak data for several people. It is a common criminal term in China for people who have been targeted by the state.
Only a very small number of detainees have committed ordinary offenses such as property or violent crimes.
Instead, police have recorded the reasons for the arrests as, among other things, the use of a beard, a scarf or even a lack of music at a wedding party. According to police, they are signs of Muslim extremism.
The official name of the alarm system is the integrated sharing platform.
It is a database created by China into which authorities enter data on Uighurs. The algorithm behind the system screens unreliable people based on the data and alerts them to the police.
Therefore, China is working to retrain even very young people to “think healthier.”
The leaked documents tell of a 15-year-old girl who was alerted by the system in 2018, among other things.
The reason for the arrest is the connection to a previous criminal case. It is the girl’s mother who was sentenced to six years in prison for “practicing religion and extremism.”
The case of a young girl is an example of how China has created a kind of arrest vending machine: the arrest of one family member raises suspicions of unreliability for other family members as well.
According to police documents, the girl was placed in an industrial park in the Konasheher area, which houses a “vocational retraining center.”
HOW TO DETAIN Uighurs are then treated in “vocational schools”?
The leakage data provides unprecedented information about this. It shows how discipline works in establishments with a lower security rating than in prisons.
The material includes photographs of, among other things, the detention center, where the police appear to be practicing security measures. According to researcher Adrian Zenz, the photos were taken at a facility located in Xinjiang, Tekes County.
Police officers equipped with wooden rackets stand in the hallway, some of them in riot gear. In one picture, a man pigeons against a wall. A man handcuffed is taken along a corridor, his head is covered with a hood and his ankles are shackled.
Zenz says that such images are the most significant contribution of data leakage. It is also the internal documents of the authorities.
In the documents reviewed by , similar instructions are repeated from one document to another. Among other things, the material contains safety instructions for “vocational schools” that prepare for a disturbance such as a riot or escape.
One of the most eye-catching is the order to shoot the “student” if this causes a disturbance and does not follow the warning.
This instruction is from Konasheher County and is issued to a “vocational school” in the area. According to Zenz, there are indications in the file that the guidelines apply to all similar institutions in the county.
– New evidence completely refutes Beijing’s propaganda. [Ne] absolutely refute the allegations that these are vocational camps rather than boarding schools. Now the evidence clearly shows that they are prison-like facilities run by the police, Zenz says.
According to documents, police officers guarding “students” have, among other things, sniper rifles and machine guns. The premises of the establishments and the goods of the residents are constantly inspected for prohibited articles.
Police are also preparing for the “unstable” behavior of the Uighurs, for example. The Director of the Security Agency instructs as follows:
Second comes the safety of training. In training rooms, tables and chairs, scissors and other equipment must be in place.
“Students” have at least some access to their loved ones, but to a very limited extent.
One document on Konasheher County describes how a “student” can contact a relative. According to the document, the calls are recorded and the authorities in the relative’s home village are informed in advance.
If it is found that the content of the discussions or the mood of the trainee is abnormal, [keskuksen turvallisuudesta vastaavat henkilöt] carry out a risk assessment, investigate the actual situation without delay and take the necessary action.
The leaks also show how leading Chinese officials have spoken very directly about the treatment of Uighurs.
For example, the leader of the Communist Party of Xinjiang Chen Quanguo has talked in 2017 and 2018 about, among other things, how returnees from abroad should be immediately arrested and treated as dangerous criminals. Chen has also said that police are not allowed to shoot to escape or attempt to attack.
CHINESE MASS DETENTIONS IN XINJIANG were at their peak in 2017–2018. Most of the images and instructions in the data leak are from this period.
According to researcher Adrian Zenz, some of the “vocational schools” of the time were later decommissioned. Instead, high-security prisons have even been expanded.
Beijing’s politics are changing, the researcher says.
China has said it has achieved its goal of stabilizing Xinjiang. According to Zenz, China is now working to maintain the police state it has created in the province.
China sees it differently. According to a spokesman who responded to an international group of journalists, there is stability and harmony in Xinjiang today.
– The life of the local population is safe, happy and rewarding, says Liu Penguy of the US Embassy in China.
Where are the thousands of detainees reported by the police leak?
Zenz estimates some of the people have been released in their home areas, but are being closely monitored by the police. Some have been transferred to prisons or forced labor.
At the same time, the Chinese practice of separating parents of Uighur families from their children continues. This has also happened to Abdurahman Hasan, who fled to the Netherlands and was sentenced to years in prison by China.
The couple currently has children aged 6 and 8.
Hasan tells the BBC that he has asked the authorities for information about the children, in vain.
Last year, the children’s aunt posted a picture on a Chinese social media service. Pictured are children playing with a Communist Party official in the park.
– I cried for days after seeing the picture, Hasan says.
He believes relatives were forced to post pictures of the party officer and children.
also interviewed researcher David Tobinia from the University of Sheffield for the story.
What thoughts does this information leak from China evoke in you? The matter is open for discussion until 11 pm on Wednesday, 25 May 2022.
Read more about the new data leak:
‘s previous stuff about Xinjiang: