A former Chinese police officer described the arbitrary mass arrest, internment and torture of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of northwest China in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
The officer, who asked to go by the name Jiang, told CNN that officers brutally beat and sexually tortured Uyghur detainees, both male and female, as young as 14 years old.
Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority concentrated primarily in Xinjiang.
Jiang described officers, including himself, beating and kicking detainees, stepping on detainees’ faces, knocking their heads on radiators, electrocuting their genitals, and ordering them to sexually assault other detainees. The torture is meant to extract confessions from the prisoners. All of the detainees were beaten, Jiang said.
The Chinese government claims to be battling violent extremism in Xinjiang, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson denies charges of genocide, CNN reported. Jiang told CNN that none of the detainees are violent extremists.
Jiang says he worked for the Chinese police for 10 years and received double his normal salary during the three times he was sent to Xinjiang, where he personally arrested hundreds of Uyghurs. A police officer who refused to participate in the arrests would himself be arrested for being a “port of a terrorist organization,” according to Jiang.
The Chinese government denies accusations that it has detained 2 million Uyghurs in a system of internment camps in Xinjiang, CNN reported. (RELATED: Biden And Xi Jinping Agree To Hold Virtual Summit Before End Of Year)
Jiang met CNN in Europe and is keeping his identity a secret to protect his family, but confirmed his identity with photos of his graduating class from police training and training certificates, according to CNN.