Chinese President Xi Says 'Happiness' In Xinjiang On The Rise Despite The Presence Of Hundreds Of Detention Camps

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attends the third central symposium on work related to Xinjiang, in Beijing, capital of China. The symposium was held on Friday and Saturday in Beijing. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

ABC News Online: Chinese President Xi Jinping defends Xinjiang detention network, claiming 'happiness' is on the rise

Chinese President Xi Jinping said levels of happiness among all ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang are rising and that China plans to keep teaching its residents a "correct" outlook on China, Xinhua news agency reported.

The comments come after a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which found China's network of secret detention facilities appears to be expanding in Xinjiang.

China has come under scrutiny over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims and claims of alleged forced labour abuses in Xinjiang, where the United Nations cites credible reports that 1 million Muslims held in camps have been put to work.

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WNU Editor: Yup, everyone is happy .... China builds nearly 400 camps for Muslim Uighur minority - report (Jerusalem Post). This news report reminds me of one of my father's stories on what he had to go through during the Ukraine famine of 1932-1933. Everyone in his classroom was hungry, but they had pledge their thanks to Stalin every morning for feeding them and keeping them well fed.

More News On Chinese President Xi Saying 'Happiness' In Xinjiang On The Rise

Xi Focus: Xi stresses building Xinjiang featuring socialism with Chinese characteristics in new era -- Xinhua
China's Xi says 'happiness' in Xinjiang on the rise, will keep teaching 'correct' outlook -- Reuters
China's President Xi says Xinjiang policies 'completely correct' amid growing international criticism -- CNN
Xi Jinping defends ‘totally correct’ Xinjiang policies despite growing human rights concerns -- SCMP
Xi Says China Will Continue Efforts to Assimilate Muslims in Xinjiang -- WSJ
Xi: China's Xinjiang policies 'perfectly right' -- NHK News

The Blanked Out Parts On China's Baidu Mapping Platform Is Telling The World Where Its Prisons And Internment Camps Are In Xinjiang

A masked tile on Baidu Maps. Baidu / Via map.baidu.com

Buzz Feed News: Blanked-Out Spots On China's Maps Helped Us Uncover Xinjiang's Camps

China's Baidu blanked out parts of its mapping platform. We used those locations to find a network of buildings bearing the hallmarks of prisons and internment camps in Xinjiang. Here's how we did it.

In the summer of 2018, as it became even harder for journalists to work effectively in Xinjiang, a far-western region of China, we started to look at how we could use satellite imagery to investigate the camps where Uighurs and other Muslim minorities were being detained. At the time we began, it was believed that there were around 1,200 camps in existence, while only several dozen had been found. We wanted to try to find the rest.

Our breakthrough came when we noticed that there was some sort of issue with satellite imagery tiles loading in the vicinity of one of the known camps while using the Chinese mapping platform Baidu Maps. The satellite imagery was old, but otherwise fine when zoomed out — but at a certain point, plain light gray tiles would appear over the camp location. They disappeared as you zoomed in further, while the satellite imagery was replaced by the standard gray reference tiles, which showed features such as building outlines and roads.

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WNU Editor: After reading this article and thinking of the sheer scale of these camps. There has to be more than a million Uighurs in these camps.

China Has Destroyed 100 Uighur Gravesites In The Western Xinjiang Region

Daily Mail: 'I have no idea where my father's remains are': Poet describes shock of finding out family member's grave has been flattened after satellite images reveal more than 100 Uighur graveyards have been demolished by Chinese authorities

* Poet Aziz Isa Elkun, who lives in north London, fled China's far western Xinjiang region nearly 30 years ago
* He has only been able to view his father's tomb in Xayar County on Google Maps as he is not able to return
* But when he went to look at the grave last year, a new satellite image showed that it had been destroyed
* Dozens of cemeteries have been destroyed in northwest region amid crackdown on Muslim Uighur minority

A poet has described his shock at finding out the graveyard in which his father's remains were kept has been flattened - as it's revealed more than 100 Uighur graveyards have been demolished by Chinese authorities.

Aziz Isa Elkun, who lives in north London, has told of how he has 'no idea' where his father's remains are after China began destroying burial grounds where generations of Uighur families have been laid to rest.

He fled China's far western Xinjiang region nearly 30 years ago and has only been able to view his father's tomb in Xayar County on Google Maps after he was told he should not return to the country.

But when he went to look at the grave last year, a new satellite image showed that it had been completely destroyed alongside all the other tombs in the graveyard.

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WNU Editor: Can anyone say cultural genocide.

China Destroying Records After Leaks On Uighur Camps

A watchtower on a high-security facility near what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region Photograph:( AFP )

The Independent: China races to destroy records after leaks reveal information on Uighur Muslim detention camps

At least one million have been detained, according to estimates

A Chinese local government is deleting data and destroying documents after classified papers were leaked offering information on its mass detention camps for Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities, according to four people in contact with government employees there.

They claimed regional officials in Xinjiang province are also tightening controls on information and have held high-level meetings following the leaks.

Top officials deliberated how to respond in meetings at the Chinese Communist Party's regional headquarters in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, some of the people said.

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More News On China Destroying Records After Leaks On Uighur Camps

AP Exclusive: China tightens up on info after Xinjiang leaks -- AP
China is covering up evidence of its mass Muslim detention camps by destroying documents and data in response to classified information leaks, sources claim -- Daily Mail
China deletes data, destroys documents after leaks on Uighur camps -- The Age

Secret Documents Detail The Workings Of China’s Mass Detention Camps (Update)

BBC: Data leak reveals how China 'brainwashes' Uighurs in prison camps

Leaked documents detail for the first time China's systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a network of high-security prison camps.

The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training.

But official documents, seen by BBC Panorama, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated and punished.

China's UK ambassador dismissed the documents as fake news.

The leak was made to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has worked with 17 media partners, including BBC Panorama and The Guardian newspaper in the UK.

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WNU Editor: China has responded .... China's response to the leaked Xinjiang camp cables (The Guardian). There is also a face to the person who is responsible for these mass detentions .... The man behind China’s detention of 1 million Muslims (AP).

More News On China’s Mass Detention Camps

Mass surveillance system flags Uighurs for detention camps -- AP
The China Cables: Leak reveals the scale of Beijing's repressive control over Xinjiang -- ABC News Online
China’s Internment Camps Ruled by Secrecy and Spying, New Leak Shows -- The New York Times
Secret documents detail inner workings of China’s mass detention camps for minorities -- The Washington Post
China: Extreme brainwashing at Uighur prison camps exposed in new leak -- DW
Revealed: China's network of high-security jails where a MILLION Muslims are held and brainwashed are exposed in leaked documents -- Daily Mail
Chinese official revealed as playing key role in mass detentions of Uighur Muslims -- FOX News
Secret documents reveal systematic plan to detain and indoctrinate Muslim minority in western China -- CBC
Leaked Chinese documents show how hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims are brainwashed in concentration camps -- Business Insider
Secret papers reveal workings of China’s Xinjiang detention camps -- Al Jazeera

Report: China Is Detaining Uygurs In Nearly 500 Camps And Prisons

A watchtower and high-security facility near what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim minorities are detained, near Hotan in Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

SCMP/AFP: China detaining Uygurs in nearly 500 camps and prisons, researchers say

* Activist group gives geographic coordinates of facilities in Xinjiang, many of which had not been identified before
* It says there could be ‘far greater numbers’ than the one million people usually cited as held

Uygur activists say they have documented nearly 500 camps and prisons run by China to detain members of their ethnic group, alleging that Beijing could be holding far more than the commonly cited figure of one million people.

The East Turkestan National Awakening Movement, a Washington-based group that seeks independence for the mostly Muslim region known to China as Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, gave the geographic coordinates of 182 suspected “concentration camps” where Uygurs are allegedly pressured to renounce their culture.

Researching imagery from Google Earth, the group said it also spotted 209 suspected prisons and 74 suspected labour camps for which it would share details later.

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WNU Editor: I am now reading reports that almost 3 million Uighurs are currently being detained. 

NBC Looks Inside China’s Detention Camps

NBC: Inside Chinese camps thought to be detaining a million Muslim Uighurs

“Our center is to prevent terrorism thoughts from happening,” the director of one of the centers tells NBC News.

MOYU COUNTY, China — In a classroom in far western China, a dozen adults wearing white lab coats sit at a long table, textbooks on animal husbandry open in front of them.

The din of chickens and geese and a bucolic mural of cows belie the fact that the students are in one of a vast network of camps in Xinjiang, a region that is home to more than 10 million Muslim Uighurs.

Around 10 percent of the Uighur population of Xinjiang is locked up, according to the U.S. government and human rights organizations. The Chinese Communist Party maintains these centers are a crucial part of its effort to counter terror, extremism and separatism.

Bu’ayixiemu Abulizi, director of the Moyu County Vocational Education and Training Center in Hotan Prefecture in the southwestern corner of Xinjiang, made it clear the role of the centers is to change the minds and thoughts of those who are forced to live there.

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WNU Editor: Even though this entire NBC visit was staged by the Chinese, the Chinese are still openly admitting that their goal is to wipe out the Uighur's culture/religion/and language.

Videos Emerge Of Hundreds Of Blindfolded And Shackled Uighur Muslim Prisoners In China

FOX News: Hundreds of shackled, blindfolded prisoners in China purportedly seen in online videos: report

Videos purportedly showing hundreds of prisoners in China with their heads shaved, their hands bound behind their back and blindfolds over their faces that were posted online earlier this week appears to be authentic.

The videos, posted anonymously on Twitter and YouTube Tuesday, appears to show hundreds of prisoners believed to be from China’s minority Uighur Muslims, Sky News reported.

The footage shows the men sitting in lines on the floor or being moved by guards at a station in the city of Korla in Xinjian, northwest China.

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WNU Editor: There are more videos in the above FOX News report. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

More News On The Emergence Of Videos Showing Hundreds Of Blindfolded And Shackled Uighur Muslim Prisoners In China

Video showing hundreds of shackled, blindfolded prisoners in China is 'genuine' -- SKY News
Video showing hundreds of shackled, blindfolded prisoners in China is 'genuine' -- SKY News
Chilling video shows Chinese police transferring hundreds of blindfolded, shackled prisoners -- News.com.au

China Declares It Has Totally Released Most Of The Estimated 1 Million Muslims Held In Internment Camps

Photo: China says Uyghrs are undergoing "re-education" and vocational training. (Reuters: Thomas Peter)

CNN: China's top Uyghur official claims most detainees have left Xinjiang camps

A senior Chinese official has alleged that authorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang have released most detainees held in government internment camps, but refused to be drawn on how many people remained in the mass detention program.

During a rare press conference in Beijing Tuesday, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Chairman Shohrat Zakir, fiercely defended the controversial camps into which the United States State Department has said up to two million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been held against their will in the past two years.

Speaking to reporters, Zakir, the country's top Uyghur official, described the camps as being "hugely positive" for the region. "I don't know how it's become such an international focus. It's probably due to unbalanced information," he said.

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More News On China Declaring It Has Totally Released Most Of The Estimated 1 Million Muslims Held In Internment Camps

China: Most people in Xinjiang camps reintegrated to society -- AP
China says most people in Xinjiang camps have 'returned to society' -- Reuters
China says 'most' inmates in Xinjiang camps are out -- AFP
China Says Most Muslims Have Been Released From Camps. Others Say: Prove It. -- The New York Times
China: Most people in Xinjiang camps have 'returned to society' -- Al Jazeera
China Abruptly Announces It’s Totally Released Most of the Estimated 1 Million Muslims Held in Internment Camps - Slate

Saudi Arabia, Russia And 35 Other Countries Express Support For China's Treatment Of Uighur Muslims In Xinjiang

Photo: China says Uyghrs are undergoing "re-education" and vocational training. (Reuters: Thomas Peter)

ABC News Online: Saudi Arabia, Russia express support for China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang

Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China's policies in its western region of Xinjiang, in contrast to strong Western criticism.

China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and 22 ambassadors signed a letter to the UN Human Rights Council this week criticising its policies.

Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan called upon China to "refrain from the arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of movement of Uyghurs, and other Muslim and minority communities in Xinjiang".

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WNU Editor: The silence from the Muslim community worldwide on what is happening to Muslims in Xinjiang is quite a sight to see.

More News On 37 Countries Expressing Support For China's Treatment Of Uighur Muslims

Saudi Arabia and Russia among 37 states backing China's Xinjiang policy -- Reuters
37 countries defend China over Xinjiang in UN letter -- AFP
Uyghur: Saudi Arabia and Russia among 37 states backing China’s policy -- Middle East Monitor
Nigeria, 36 countries defend China over Xinjiang in UN letter -- Vanguard

22 Countries Issue A Joint Statement Condemning China's Mass Detention Of Uighurs And Other Minorities

CNN: 22 countries sign letter calling on China to close Xinjiang Uyghur camps

Hong Kong (CNN)More than 20 countries, including Japan and the United Kingdom, have issued a joint statement condemning China's mass detention of Uyghur and other minorities in the country's Xinjiang region.

In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, the group of 22 nations urged China to end its "mass arbitrary detentions and related violations" and called on Beijing to allow UN experts to access the region.

The letter marks the first major collective international challenge to China's ongoing policy in the far western border region, where experts estimate up to 2 million people have been detained in vast re-education style camps.

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WNU Editor: China's response is typical .... China blasts 22-nation letter criticizing Xinjiang policies (AP).

More News On 22 Countries Issuing A Joint Statement Condemning China's Mass Detention Of Uighurs And Other Minorities

At UN body, 22 nations urge China to end Xinjiang detentions -- AP
Exclusive: West, Japan rebuke China at U.N. for detention of Uighurs -- Reuters
More than 20 ambassadors condemn China's treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang -- The Guardian/AFP
Western UN envoys condemn China's Muslim 're-education' camps -- DW
Nearly two dozen countries unite at UN to condemn China’s mass detention of one million Muslims for first time -- The Independent
In a first, 22 nations condemned China’s repression of Uigher Muslims. Without the U.S. -- Washington Post
22 UN Ambassadors Condemn Chinese Treatment of Uighurs -- VOA
UN: Unprecedented Joint Call for China to End Xinjiang Abuses -- Human Rights Watch

U.S. Government: China Putting Minority Muslims In 'Concentration Camps'

Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre, under construction in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo

Reuters: China putting minority Muslims in 'concentration camps,' U.S. says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States accused China on Friday of putting well more than a million minority Muslims in “concentration camps,” in some of the strongest U.S. condemnation to date of what it calls Beijing’s mass detention of mostly Muslim Uighur minority and other Muslim groups.

The comments by Randall Schriver, who leads Asia policy at the U.S. Defense Department, are likely to increase tension with Beijing, which is sensitive to international criticism and describes the sites as vocational education training centres aimed at stemming the threat of Islamic extremism.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. and the international community need to do more.A lot more.

China Continues To Destroy Historical Muslim Sites

1/6 My interpretation of the demolition of significant mosques (part or whole) in Xinjiang, based on @shawnwzhang 's gathering of satellite evidence: https://t.co/BekCNCnoj0 @XJscholars

— James Millward (@JimMillward) April 24, 2019

Business Insider: Before-and-after photos show how China is destroying historical sites to monitor and intimidate its Muslim minority

* China is waging an unprecedented crackdown on a Muslim minority called the Uighurs, who live in the country's western frontier region, Xinjiang.
* Muslims have for centuries settled in the region, sometimes referred to as East Turkestan.
* As part of its crackdown, which has seen the installation of facial-recognition cameras and seemingly arbitrary detentions, China's government has also destroyed traditional Uighur architecture including mosques and large parts of an ancient city called Kashgar.
* Before-and-after images show the extent of some of the destruction of these historical locations.

China is installing a 21st-century police state in its western frontier of Xinjiang, which is home to the Uighurs, a majority-Muslim ethnic minority.

It involves installing hundreds of thousands of facial recognition cameras, making Uighurs download software on their phones, and holding at least 1 million Muslims in prison-like detention centers.

Beijing is waging this crackdown partly because it sees Uighurs as a national security threat, and has tried to stoke Islamophobia to justify its controversial policies in the region.

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WNU Editor: This story deserves far more coverage than what it has been receiving.

Hat tip to Robert for this link.

China Destroyed The Uighur's 'Notre Dame' Last Year

where has this mosque gone? Keriya Aitika Mosque. more than 800 year history, disappeared in early 2018 despite selected as Chinese architectural heritage in late 2017. pic.twitter.com/2BnSRe90kr

— Shawn Zhang (@shawnwzhang) April 2, 2019

Rod Dreher, American Conservative: China Destroyed Uighur Notre Dame

We are not making nearly enough noise about the cultural genocide the Beijing government is undertaking in Xinjiang province, against the Uighur Muslims. From scholar Rachel Harris in The Guardian:

After the Cultural Revolution, Uighur and Kazakh Muslims began to reconnect with their faith. They resumed the traditional practices of pilgrimage and festivals at the shrines that lie deep in the Taklamakan desert. They began to learn about Islam in the wider world; people who could afford it travelled to Mecca for the hajj, and they began to rebuild their mosques. As local communities grew richer they invested in bigger and more beautiful mosques; people crowded into them for Friday prayers, and they served as living symbols of community identity and pride.

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WNU Editor:I did not even know about this.

Hat tip to Robert for this story.

Data Leak Exposes Vast Hi-Tech Chnese Surveillance Operation In Xinjiang

The Chinese government has ramped up personal surveillance in Xinjiang over recent years. Photo: AFP

SCMP: China data leak exposes vast hi-tech surveillance operation in Xinjiang

* Dutch researcher says tracking firm left database of personal details unprotected for months

A Chinese surveillance firm is tracking the movements of more than 2.5 million people in the far-western Xinjiang region, according to a data leak flagged by a Dutch internet expert.

An online database containing names, ID card numbers, birth dates and location data was left unprotected for months by Shenzhen-based facial-recognition technology firm SenseNets Technology, according to Victor Gevers, co-founder of non-profit organisation GDI.Foundation, who first noted the vulnerability in a series of social media posts last week.

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WNU Editor: Here is a good article on how extensive China's surveillance operation is throughout the country .... Leave no dark corner (ABC News Online).

Spending A Week In Xinjiang

Vadim Mikhailov, Palladium: A Week In Xinjiang’s Absolute Surveillance State

During a dinner with Chinese friends, I asked the table, “Do you guys have friends in Xinjiang? I’m planning a trip there.” The lively vibe we had enjoyed turned into silence.

“Xinjiang? Don’t go there. It’s too dangerous. There’s all those Uyghurs with knives. Go to Hainan or something, it’s nicer there,” a Chinese friend cautioned.

“No, no, it used to be dangerous, but now it’s super safe. I have family there, they tell me there’s police everywhere now, nothing to worry about. It’s the safest place in China right now,” another friend said. She was trying to encourage me, in her way, but it made me rather uneasy.

I then asked a third friend, who was playing with his phone and not paying that much attention. His lack of investment in the conversation struck me as a sign of impartiality.

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WNU Editor: I have been to almost every province in China but never Xinjiang. Hmmmm .... after reading this story I now have the urge to go.

Amnesty International: Chinese Internment Camps For Uighur And Other Muslim Minorities Are Being Run Like 'Wartime Concentration Camps'

An internment camp in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, where up to one million Uighur Muslims are held for ‘re-education’. REUTERS

The Independent: Chinese 're-education camps' for Uighur Muslims run like 'concentration camps', says Amnesty

‘The scale is scary. We haven't seen in recent Chinese history that there would be such a scale of detaining people in camps in such huge numbers’

Mass re-education camps used to hold Uighur and other Muslim minorities in China are being run like “wartime concentration camps”, Amnesty has said.

Up to one million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities have been arbitrarily detained in internment camps in the far-west Xinjiang region, according to human rights groups and a UN panel.

China maintains that it is detaining people guilty of minor crimes, and has sent them to “vocational centres” and that inmates are “grateful” to be there.

But Uighur activists have estimated up to 3 million people have been detained in the camps, Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, told The Independent.

Read more ....

Update: China’s Detention Camps for Muslims Turn to Forced Labor (MSN/New York Times)

WNU Editor: If it was any other country Western governments would be imposing sanctions and downgrading political ties right about now. But so far .... nothing.

Western Envoys Seek Meeting On Xinjiang Concerns

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) Party Secretary Chen Quanguo attends a group discussion session on the second day of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Reuters: Exclusive: In rare coordinated move, Western envoys seek meeting on Xinjiang concerns

BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of 15 Western ambassadors in Beijing, spearheaded by Canada, are seeking a meeting with the top official in China’s restive, heavily Muslim Xinjiang region for an explanation of alleged rights abuses against ethnic Uighurs.

The envoys are making their request in a letter to Chen Quanguo, Xinjiang’s Communist Party boss, according to a copy of a draft letter seen by Reuters.

The move represents unusually broad, coordinated action by a group of countries over a human rights issue in China, and illustrates the mounting backlash Beijing is facing over its crackdown in the western region.

Beijing has faced an outcry from activists, academics, foreign governments and U.N. rights experts over mass detentions and strict surveillance of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and other Muslim groups who call Xinjiang home.

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WNU Editor: I can easily predict what is going to happen next. After a few delays a senior Chinese foreign official (maybe the top official in Xinjiang province .... maybe not) will meet these Western ambassadors in a conference room. These ambassadors will voice their concerns (with a stern look), the Chinese official and his entourage will nod their heads with a serious look but acknowledging nothing. A letter or letters will be given to this Chinese official, who will take them under advisement. And after the ambassadors have left, everything will be filed away.

Satellite Images Expose China's Vast Network Of Secret Re-Education Camps

A show of military force in front of Uighurs in Xinjiang. Reuters

Mark Doman, Stephen Hutcheon, Dylan Welch and Kyle Taylor, ABC News Online: China’s frontier of fear

Satellite imagery captured over a remote and highly volatile region of western China lifts the lid on the size and spread of internment camps used to indoctrinate vast numbers of the region’s Muslim population.

An investigation by ABC News using new research collated by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) think tank, identifies and documents the expansion of 28 detention camps that are part of a massive program of subjugation in the region of Xinjiang.

Analysis of the data shows that since the start of 2017, the 28 facilities have expanded their footprint by more than 2 million square metres. In the past three months alone, they’ve grown by 700,000 square metres - that’s about the size of 35 Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

The nominally autonomous province is home to about 14 million Chinese citizens belonging to mainly Muslim ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Turkic-speaking Uighur (pronounced WEE-ger) people.

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WNU Editor: Bottom line. These camps are huge, and there are many of them.

A Look Inside China's Internment Camps For For China's Uighurs

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

BBC: China's hidden camps

What's happened to the vanished Uighurs of Xinjiang?

* China is accused of locking up hundreds of thousands of Muslims without trial in its western region of Xinjiang.
* The government denies the claims, saying people willingly attend special “vocational schools” which combat “terrorism and religious extremism”.
* Now a BBC investigation has found important new evidence of the reality.

On 12 July 2015 a satellite swung over the rolling deserts and oasis cities of China's vast far west.

One of the images it captured that day just shows a patch of empty, untouched, ashen-grey sand.

It seems an unlikely place to start an investigation into one of the most pressing human rights concerns of our age.

But less than three years later, on 22 April 2018, a satellite photo of that same piece of desert showed something new.

A massive, highly secure compound had materialised.

It is enclosed with a 2km-long exterior wall punctuated by 16 guard towers.

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WNU Editor: The AFP has a disturbing report on what is happening in these camps .... Inside China's internment camps: tear gas, Tasers and textbooks (AFP). More here .... Inside China's internment camps: Tear gas, Tasers and textbooks (Al Jazeera).