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Chinese state media deny reports about detention of Uighurs China accused of rapid campaign to take Muslim children from their families
(about 1 hour later)
A Chinese state media outlet has called overseas reports on China’s mass detainment of Uighur Muslims in internment camps “fake news” and published in-depth denials of eight “rumours” on the 10th anniversary of the Urumqi riots. “Despite China’s efforts to tell what is really happening in Xinjiang, some western media and politicians insist on making and spreading fake news,” said an editorial in the Global Times, a tabloid run by the official newspaper of the Chinese communist party the People’s Daily. China is reportedly separating Muslim children from their families, religion and language, and is engaged in a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools for them.
Beijing has faced increasing criticism for its treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority ethnic group living in Xinjiang, a far western region of China. An estimated 1 million Muslims are currently held in detention camps in Xinjiang as part of a sweeping crackdown on the rights of the minority group. The attempts to “remove children from their roots” exists in parallel to Beijing’s ongoing detention of an estimated 1 million Uighur adults from the western Xinjiang region in camps and sweeping crackdown on the rights of the minority group, the BBC reported.
“I don’t know who is looking after them,” one mother told the BBC, pointing to a picture of her three young daughters. “There is no contact at all.”The BBC says its investigation is based on publicly available documents, and backed up by dozens of interviews with family members living overseas. In 60 separate interviews parents and other relatives gave details of the disappearance of more than 100 children in Xinjiang, all of them Uighurs – members of the region’s largest and mostly Muslim ethnic group.
“I heard that they’ve been taken to an orphanage,” another woman said, holding a photograph of her four children.
Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phonesChinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phones
The authorities dispute this and call the camps “vocational training centres”, saying those detained within them are taught language, culture and vocational skills. In one township alone more than 400 children have lost one or more parents to either the camps or prison, it reports.
The editorial in the Global Times addressed treatment of Uighurs and the riots in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in 2009 in which at least 140 people were killed and 828 injured. Many Uighurs say the riots precipitated the increasing oppression of Muslims in the region. A Chinese state media outlet called overseas reports on China’s mass detainment of Uighur Muslims in internment camps “fake news” and published detailed denials of eight “rumours”, on the 10th anniversary of the Urumqi riots, in which at least 140 people were killed and 828 injured. Many Uighurs say the riots precipitated the increasing oppression of Muslims in the region.
“Despite China’s efforts to tell what is really happening in Xinjiang, some western media and politicians insist on making and spreading fake news,” said an editorial in the Global Times, a tabloid run by the official newspaper of the Chinese communist party the People’s Daily.
The denials contradicts well-documented evidence from media outlets and researchers. China initially denied the existence of the camps in Xinjiang, which is home to about 12 million Muslims. But last year, it began rebranding them as “free vocational training”, claiming those detained within them are taught language, culture and vocational skills.
The editorial, published just after midnight, denies that Uighurs are being targeted and mistreated, that the state is looking to wipe out their history and culture, and that they were sent to “vocational training centres” for being Muslim. It also denied there were a million people being held at these centres, said the camps were there for “counter-terrorism and deradicalisation efforts”, and the centres existed to “nip terrorist activities in the bud”.
'If you enter a camp, you never come out': inside China's war on Islam'If you enter a camp, you never come out': inside China's war on Islam
The editorial published just after midnight denies that Uighurs are being targeted and mistreated, that the state is looking to wipe out their history and culture, and that they were sent to “vocational training centres”, for being Muslim. It also denied there were a million people being held as these centres, and said the camps were there for “counter terrorism and de-radicalisation efforts,” and the centres exist to “nip terrorist activities in the bud.” An earlier BBC report showed a teacher describing inmates as “affected by religious extremism”, and saying that the purpose of the camps was “to get rid of their extremist thoughts”.The prominent Uighur author Nurmuhammad Tohti, 70, died after being held in one of the re-education camps. His granddaughter said he had been denied treatment for diabetes and heart disease, and was only released once his medical condition meant he had become incapacitated.
The editorial came as the BBC reported that China was deliberately separating Muslim children from their families and that a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools, where Uighur children are raised whose parents have been detained in the camps, was under way.China has in recent weeks invited media outlets to view these camps, but have tightly controlled their access to the facilities and detainees. The country initially denied the existence of the camps in Xinjiang, which is home to about 12 million Muslims. China has in recent weeks invited media outlets to view these camps, but have tightly controlled their access to the facilities and detainees.
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