BEIJING: The Chinese government, as a report suggests, has built a network of reeducation camps along with an unescapable system of surveillance to monitor and mollify the Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.
A report published on New York Times said China is now turning to an older, harsher method of control by filling prisons in the Xinjiang, a region in northwest China, which has, as the report suggests, has experienced a record surge in arrests, trials as well as prison sentences of the minorities in the last two years.
Courts in the region of Xinjiang have sentenced, in 2017 and 2018, a total of 230,000 people to prison or other punishments – a move which is significantly higher than in any other period on record in some decades.
According to the report, Xinjiang courts sentenced almost 87,000 defendants during 2017 alone. This is 10 times higher than in the previous year.
It further said that arrests in the region increased eightfold and prosecutions by fivefold.
Prisoners also face abuses and hard labor in overcrowded, isolated facilities, according to the report.
Shawn Zhang, a law graduate in Canada has identified through an analysis of satellite images from 23 sites of possible prisons in Xinjiang, has studied the region’s security buildup, and has revealed heavily guarded detention facilities.
The prisons featured tall watchtowers, multiple walls and fences, and guard buildings with access to the walls. (Agencies)
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