China's infamous detention camps for Uyghurs uncovered; 18 centres spread across 8 cities

In the latest proof of the Chinese government’s atrocities against the Muslim ethnic minority of Uyghurs, a 20-minute video has been released by a bespectacled young journalist who calls himself Guanguan. The video, which emerged on social media earlier this month, appears to confirm China’s vast network of concentration camps used for the globally criticised clampdown on Uyghurs. The activist shot the video secretly and documented the concentration camps with one of them showing slogans such as “reform through labour.”

Exploring the street in the Chinese city of Urumqi, the activist tried to look like a tourist and according to the video, with English subtitles, he was scared of being spotted by Chinese guards. It is also pertinent to note that foreign journalists are not allowed in remote areas of the Asian country. Therefore, being a Chinese national, Guanguan tried to explore the region which is not often visited by holidaymakers with a hidden camera in his backpack.

While the Chinese Communist Party has dismissed the criticism over the camps and has labelled them as ‘re-education’ centres, the United Nations has estimated around a million Uyghurs are detained in the camps in Xinjiang province. Guanguan, as per the Daily Mail report, was well aware of the fact that he would face terrible punishment if he was caught by police for attempting to uncover the communist regime’s genocidal atrocities that include holding estimated millions of such secretive centres. 

Guan had reportedly cycled around the region two years ago and learnt about the camps along with the banning of the Uyghur language in schools and slave labour. On discovering that foreign journalists were banned from carrying out any sort of investigation, the man decided to return to document the alleged repression. 

Guan visited eight cities, discovered 18 camps

During his high-risk trip in the region, Guan visited eight cities and found at least 18 camps including one massive detention centre of about 1,000 yards, which also had slogans such as ‘Reform Through Labour.’ As per the video and the media report, many were unmarked on maps. However, he managed to film the barbed wire, guard towers, police checkpoints, army barracks and even military vehicles along with signs and walkways inside the huge walls of the camps. 

Following his trip, Guan shared the stunning footage that poses a fresh challenge to China’s communist regime which has long maintained the veil of ‘re-education' centres. He posted the video on YouTube. Daily Mail quoted Lianchao Han, a leading dissident as saying, “This shows how Xinjiang has become the world’s biggest gulag, with an economy based largely on forced labour in a network of mega prisons, detention centres and concentration camps under a regime that relies on terror...This adds to solid and increasing evidence of China’s atrocities.”

What inspired Guan?

The report cited a source saying Guan is thought to be a pseudonym for a Chinese activist studying in Taiwan. He was reportedly inspired by reports on the Buzzfeed news site that used satellite pictures to identify 268 possible internment compounds built since 2017. Guan says in the video, “The only photos published on the website are images of satellite maps. Where are the specific buildings that are marked? What do they look like in real life? What are their surroundings like? With these questions in mind, I went to Xinjiang again.”

He also admitted in the clip that he felt, ‘panic in his heart’ since he knew that he could land himself in the concentration camp himself if caught filming prisons or even processing the video footage of the detention centres. 

Guan’s other findings

While walking around the Xinshi district of Urumqi, the regional capital, he documented scores of surveillance cameras spread among the trees on the pavement. Among other findings, he also spotted red and white striped fortifications on the road and internment centres set behind the metal fences with coiled barbed wire on the top, on left and right. 

While driving past other detention centres which are believed to hold thousands of people behind the high white walls, he found one prison attached to huge factories in the same district. This prison was among the six such establishments sitting close together detected on satellite imagery. Guan said in the clip, “There are many concentration camps, all of which have watchtowers manned by guards.”

He documented entering a park and climbing to the top of a hill to film another detention centre and said, “The building has protruding glass skylights...Presumably, the detainees are only allowed let out from their cells to walk around inside the building.” To further know the insights, Guan even crawled on his belly along a sand berm in a barren area south of the city to show the sprawling new unit. The media outlet stated that the new internment centre in Dabancheng was built to hold at least 10,000 more citizens alongside an existing camp. 

He also travelled to the city of Korla and said that a number of military vehicles show a lot of ‘SS soldiers’ which is Guan’s term for Chinese troops. He filmed two tanks standing in front of the barracks. His final stop, as shown in the video is one hour’s drive from Yanqi, where he spotted another such centre and said, “It is not easy to notice from the road.”

Here's the video:

(IMAGE: AP)