‘We don’t let them go to the toilet and we do not give them food’: Whistleblower describes torture of Uyghurs in camps
A Chinese defector has revealed to Sky News how Uyghur detainees are transported in their hundreds on packed prison trains, along with details of torture and deaths inside re-education centres in Xinjiang.
The man, who says he served as a police officer in Xinjiang and asked only to be identified by the name Jiang, told Sky News of the grim conditions on board the trains.
“We gather them together, put hoods on their head, two people handcuffed together, to prevent them from escaping,” he told Sky News.
Jiang said freight trains were used to transport Uyghurs who had travelled to other parts of China back to Xinjiang
Jiang said that freight trains were used to transport Uyghurs who had travelled to other parts of China back to Xinjiang.
Some 500 detainees would be transported at a time from freight stations, with more than 100 prisoners to each carriage, he said. Two policemen would be assigned to each prisoner.
“During the train transportation we do not give them food,” he said.
“Only bottle caps are allowed to be used for drinking water.
“They are only allowed bottle caps to drink water – to moisten their lips.
“To keep order, we don’t let them go to the toilet.
“They reach their destinations in two days. They reach Xinjiang.”
Uyghurs are allegedly trampled on inside the centres
Drone footage released in 2019 showed apparently Uyghur prisoners being unloaded from a train – blindfolded and shackled, their heads shaved.
Jiang said that the video most likely showed prisoners being transferred from various detention centres to a larger central facility, because of their different uniforms.
Jiang told Sky News he had served as a soldier before working as a detective in a local Public Security Bureau.
He provided extensive documentation of his credentials, including pictures, videos, police graduation and registration certificates, and other official documents. The specific details he alleged are impossible to verify.
A whistleblower says that this video most likely showed prisoners being transferred from various detention centres to a larger central facility
Sky News asked the Chinese government for comment on Jiang’s allegations but did not receive a response before publication.
It has previously described accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang as “the lie of the century” and insisted that people in Xinjiang live happy lives.
Jiang’s testimony contradicts that. Evidence from those who worked for the Chinese state in Xinjiang is extremely rare.
Drone footage released in 2019 showed apparently Uyghur prisoners being unloaded from a train – blindfolded and shackled, their heads shaved
He described the brutal tactics used by police and camp guards.
“In cases related to politics, jeopardising the regime, cases involving overthrowing the regime – you’re allowed to beat people,” he told Sky News. “It’s ok, to make them turn in other people’s names.”
“You use various methods to put pressure; two people use sticks to weigh down their legs; tie him up and trample their arm; shackle their hands, pour cold water – put a water pipe into their mouth and tie them up,” he added.
“How to say, under this kind of management in the re-education centre, beating somebody to death, for sure, it happens.”
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June: Uyghur torture victim: I was chained for 4 months
“If accidents occur, it’s normal that some people die. That’s just how you get used to saying it. Please do not blame me.
“They don’t see ordinary people as human beings. They do things that you don’t do to human beings.”
Jiang said he usually worked in criminal investigation departments elsewhere in China but was dispatched to Xinjiang as part of an “Aid Xinjiang” programme which involved tens of thousands of armed police and ordinary officers being transferred to the region.
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June: How China is erasing Uyghur cemeteries
He told Sky News that Xinjiang “was in a state of wartime control” when he was posted there in 2018.
“When I got there, more than 900,000 people had already been detained for numerous petty reasons like saying something wrong. They had been sent to the re-education centres to be controlled.”
“We detained them on orders from the superiors. Not on any evidence. What kind of evidence can we have? What kind of evidence does this need?”
Jiang said that people in Xinjiang lived under constant surveillance
He said that people in Xinjiang lived under constant surveillance, physically and digitally.
Grounds for suspicion and detention included differing opinions on the government, appealing to higher authorities for help, or even not selling alcohol and cigarettes, he said – all could be considered “ideological issues” justifying re-education.
Jiang drew a distinction between those sentenced to prison and those sent to re-education centres.
“Those who actually contacted other people and planned to rebel, they can be sentenced.
The Chinese government has released videos of Uyghurs singing and dancing in the re-education centres
“But in people in the re-education centres are not severe enough to be sentenced.
“They have problems with their thoughts.”
Jiang also said that prisons and re-education centres both contained factories.
“They do different things which can make money, but nobody wants to do,” he said.
The Chinese government has previously described accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang as ‘the lie of the century’
“If one official says that they need to work nine hours, the head of the re-education centre might think, if I make them work two hours more, I can make more money.”
Jiang left China in 2020. He said he was already disillusioned by Communist rule before he arrived in Xinjiang.
He said: “The leadership says very good things on stage: ‘I’ll serve the people! Let’s do our best!’ But offstage, in reality – corruption. They accept bribes every day, they corrupt state property. It’s reached a degree you can’t imagine.”
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Uyghur tribunal into alleged Chinese genocide
“My values collapsed. One’s values about what is right and what is wrong.
“It’s not betraying the motherland, I’m just against the corrupted class.
“I’m not afraid of the danger. I have seen much life and much death. I have seen many dead people. It’s a way for me to free myself.”
At least 20 people have died after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Afghanistan, the Taliban has said.
The tremor was recorded near the city of Mazar-e Sharif, in the northern Balkh province, at around 12.59am on Monday (8.29pm in the UK).
The Taliban Health Ministry added that 320 were injured, while ministry spokesperson Sharfat Zaman said that the numbers of dead and injured might rise.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) has issued an orange alert on its system of quake impacts, and suggested that “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread”.
A rescuer works following an earthquake at an unidentified location in Afghanistan. Pic: Afghan Red Crescent / Reuters
Previous events at that alert level have required a regional or national level response, according to the USGS’s alert system.
Balkh province spokesperson Haji Zaid added that the earthquake destroyed part of the city’s holy shrine, known as the Blue Mosque.
Soldiers dig up debris after an earthquake in Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan. Pic: Haji Zaid
Damage to the Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif. Pic: Haji Zaid
The United Nations in Afghanistan said on X that it is on the ground assessing needs and delivering aid, and that: “We stand with the affected communities and will provide the necessary support.”
Mazar-e Sharif is the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of around 523,000.
Located on two major active fault lines, Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes: More than 1,400 people were killed and at least 3,250 others injured after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit the country’s eastern regions in September.
That tremor wiped out villages in the Mazar Dara valley, which Sky’s Asia correspondent Cordelia Lynch visited in October.
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October: Boy recalls being rescued from quake – but losing his brother
In 2015, an earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan.
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Four large earthquakes also struck in the Herat province in 2023, each magnitude 6.3. The Taliban said at the time that at least 2,445 people had died.
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A total of 28 people have died following Hurricane Melissa’s rampage across Jamaica, the government has confirmed.
Melissa, one of the strongest storms on record to make landfall in the Caribbean, brought with it winds of up to 185mph when it hit the island earlier this week.
The Red Cross described it as a “disaster of unprecedented catastrophe”.
Melissa ravaged through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
It weakened by the time it reached Cuba on Wednesday morning but still brought devastation – with houses collapsed and roads blocked.
A statement from the government of Jamaica said it was “deeply saddened to confirm 28 fatalities associated with the passage of Hurricane Melissa”.
It went on: “We extend heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and communities mourning their loved ones.”
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The confirmation came as the first British repatriation flight was setting off from the island on Saturday evening local time.
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The flight, chartered by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was for those “unable to leave Jamaica on commercial routes”.
Essential relief supplies are now rolling into some of the hardest hit areas.
Humanitarian aid has arrived and is waiting to be distributed. Pic: AP
The UK government is mobilising an additional £5m in emergency humanitarian funding – on top of £2.5m announced earlier this week – to support the region’s recovery.
This new funding will enable the UK to send humanitarian supplies – including more than 3,000 shelter kits and over 1,500 solar-powered lanterns to help those whose homes have been damaged and those without power.
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Jamaica victims left shell-shocked
The UK is working with the World Food Programme and Red Cross, to ensure emergency relief reaches those who need it most.
At least 25 people died in the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goave after the La Digue river burst its banks as a result of the hurricane, according to the town’s mayor Jean Bertrand Subreme.
Ukrainian soldiers encircled by Russian forces in the key eastern city of Pokrovsk have started surrendering, the defence ministry in Moscow claims.
But Ukraine‘s military has pushed back on the report by the TASS state news agency, saying the situation is “difficult and dynamic”.
Kyiv has also claimed its positions in some districts of Pokrovsk have improved despite its city being infiltrated by Russian troops.
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Ukraine is increasing its number of assault troops in the area, the 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook.
And Ukrainian troops are also working to cut Moscow’s military logistics routes, it added.
The Russian defence ministry also said its forces defeated a team of Ukrainian special forces that headed to Pokrovsk in a bid to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the city.
‘Footage of Ukrainian troops after surrendering’
It later posted videos of two Ukrainian troops who, it claimed, had surrendered.
The footage showed the men, one dressed in fatigues and the other in a dark green jacket, sat against a wall in a dark room, as they spoke of fierce fighting and encirclement by Russian forces.
The videos’ authenticity could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate public comment from Kyiv on the Russian ministry’s claims.
Ukrainian police officers on patrol in Pokrovsk. File pic: Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously acknowledged that some Russian units had infiltrated the city. But he maintained that Ukraine is tackling them.
He said Russia had deployed 170,000 troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where Pokrovsk is located, in a major offensive to capture the city and claim a big battlefield victory.
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Multiple Russian missiles strike Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia
‘Operation to destroy enemy forces’
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Saturday the situation in Pokrovsk remained “hardest” for Ukrainian forces, who were trying to push Russian troops out.
But he insisted there was no encirclement or blockade as Moscow has claimed.
“A comprehensive operation to destroy and push out enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing. The main burden lies on the shoulders of the units of the armed forces of Ukraine, particularly UAV operators and assault units,” Mr Syrskyi said.
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Why is Pokrovsk important?
One of Moscow’s key aims has been to take all of Ukraine’s industrial heartland of coal-rich Donbas, which comprises of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Kyiv still controls about 10% of Donbas.
Capturing Pokrovsk, which Russian media has dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, and Kostiantynivka to its northeast, would give Moscow a platform to drive north towards the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in Donetsk – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
‘Key Russian fuel pipeline struck’
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence, known as HUR, has said its forces have hit an important fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army.
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Dramatic drone rescue in Ukraine’s kill zone
In a statement on Telegram, HUR said the operation late on Friday was a “serious blow” to Russia’s military logistics.
HUR said its forces struck the Koltsevoy pipeline, which is 250 miles long and supplies the Russian army with gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.
The operation, which targeted infrastructure near Ramensky district, destroyed all three fuel lines, HUR said.
The pipeline was capable of transporting up to three million tonnes of jet fuel, 2.8 million tonnes of diesel and 1.6 million tonnes of gasoline annually, HUR said.
Russia ‘targets gas production site’
Also overnight, Russia launched an attack on a gas production site in Poltava, in central Ukraine.
A fire broke out, the local administration said, but no injuries were reported.
Kyiv condemns ‘nuclear terrorism’
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned Russian strikes this week on substations powering some of its nuclear plants.
It accused Russia of carrying out “targeted strikes on such substations” which “bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism”.
Elsewhere, a civilian died and 15 more were injured on Saturday morning after Russia struck the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine with a ballistic Iskander missile, local official Vitaliy Kim said.
A child was among those hurt in the strike, he added.
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