Leaked data reveals record levels of Uighur people jailed by China

NEARLY one in 25 people in a county in the Uighur heartland of China has been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges in what is the highest known imprisonment rate in the world, analysis of leaked data shows.

A list obtained and partially verified by the Associated Press cites the names of more than 10,000 Uighurs sent to prison in just Konasheher county alone, one of dozens in southern Xinjiang.

In recent years, China has waged a brutal crackdown on the Uighurs, a largely Muslim minority, which it has described as a war on terror.

The list is the biggest to emerge to date with the names of jailed Uighurs, reflecting the sheer size of a Chinese government campaign that swept an estimated million or more people into internment camps and prisons.

Rights groups have said for years that China is relying on a system of long-term incarceration to keep the Uighurs in check.

Under searing international criticism, Chinese officials announced the closure in 2019 of short-term, extrajudicial internment camps where Uighurs were thrown in without charges.

However, thousands of Uighurs still languish for years or even decades in prison on what experts say are trumped-up charges of terrorism.

Konasheher county is typical of rural southern Xinjiang, and more than 267,000 people live there. The prison sentences across the county were for two to 25 years, with an average of nine years, the list shows.

Experts say it clearly shows people were targeted simply for being Uighur – a conclusion vehemently denied by Chinese authorities.

Xinjiang spokesman Elijan Anayat said sentences were carried out in accordance with the law. “We will never target specific regions, ethnic groups, religions, much less the Uighurs,” Mr Anayat said.

The list was obtained by Xinjiang scholar Gene Bunin from an anonymous source who described themselves as a member of China’s Han Chinese majority “opposed to the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang”.

AP authenticated it through interviews with eight Uighurs who recognised 194 people on the list, as well as legal notices, recordings of phone calls with Chinese officials and checks of personal details.

Konasheher county’s imprisonment rate is more than 10 times higher than that of the US, one of the world’s leading jailers, according to Department of Justice statistics. It is also more than 30 times higher than for China as a whole.