According to a spokesman for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, certain foreign media outlets like The New York Times and the Australian Broadcasting Corp have violated press ethics by fabricating and distorting reports about the region.
The Beijing-based Global Times quoted the spokesman as saying that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists recently published an article showcasing the “personal experiences” of supposed “victims” such as Mirigul Tursun and Shaylagul Sawutbay. These individuals claimed to have been severely mistreated in a “concentration camp,” with some “detainees” allegedly being hung on walls and restricted to only two minutes to use the bathroom. Furthermore, the article suggested that at least nine female detainees had died due to terrible environmental and medical conditions.
However, the spokesman asserted that the education and training centers in Xinjiang are actually schools. They were established in accordance with the law for individuals who had engaged in terrorist or extremist activities that did not qualify as serious crimes or pose a real danger resulting in actual harm. The spokesperson emphasized that these centers were never “concentration camps” and that Mirigul, who is from the Uygur ethnic group, had never attended any center. Additionally, the spokesman stated that Mirigul’s claim about her younger brother being abused in the training center, leading to his death, was a falsehood.
