‘Uyghurs have no food, only bottlecaps to moisten lips’: Ex-Chinese cop

According to a Chinese whistleblower who claims to be a former police officer, hundreds of Uyghur Muslims are forced to travel in crowded prison trains and undergo torture at ‘re-education centers’ in Xinjiang province. In an article published by the British news channel Sky News, the defector charged that the Uyghurs were transported by freight trains from other parts of the country to Xinjiang.

Having only bottle caps and no food to moisten lips, about 500 ethnic minorities are transported at a time from freight stations, with more than 100 passengers per carriage, according to the former law enforcer. ‘We gathered them, had them wear hoods, and handcuffed two victims together so that they could not escape,’ the man, who wanted to be known only as Jiang, was quoted as saying. ‘We don’t allow them to go to the restroom to keep order. They reach their destinations in two days. They reach Xinjiang,’ he added.

Jiang also discussed drone footage that appeared to show Uyghur prisoners getting off the train with their heads shaved and blindfolded. Because of the different uniforms of the detainees, he said the clipping likely showed people transferred between various detention facilities. Jiang worked as a detective after serving in the military at a local public safety bureau. When confronted with the allegations during a news conference in Beijing, the Chinese government denied them. ‘The revelations of the ‘alleged local policeman’ couldn’t happen, the Xinjiang government spokesperson said.

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‘Police in China act in accordance with the relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Police must protect the rights of each suspect and cannot torture people to force them to make a statement. The things said by the man, that officials did not let them go to the toilet and that they had no water to drink, are false,’ Elijan Anayat, the spokesperson, was quoted as saying in the report. To date, China has refuted all reports concerning human rights abuses in Xinjiang, calling them ‘the lie of the century’. According to Jiang, the authorities do not see ordinary people as human beings. He said that they did things that you don’t do to people.