Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas have been jailed or detained in political “re-education camps” throughout northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Credible sources suggest that some 1.1 million people are or have been detained in the camps, which equates to 10-11 percent of the adult Muslim population of the region.
Uyghurs have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule. RFA’s Uyghur Service recently interviewed several Uyghurs who shared details of the abuse they endured while forced to attend political indoctrination sessions, or while detained in extrajudicial prisons and in the re-education camp network.
