Video: Uyghur prisoners shaved, shackled, and blindfolded
A video widely circulated on social media appears to show several hundred prisoners, presumably Uyghurs, blindfolded and shackled, with shaved heads, being lined up for transportation at a railway station in Korla, Xinjiang
More grim news for Muslims in China. The image above is from a video widely circulated on social media on the weekend that appears to show several hundred prisoners, presumably Uyghurs, blindfolded and shackled, with shaved heads, being lined up for transportation at a railway station in Korla, Xinjiang.
A “European security source” told Sky News that the footage “appears to be genuine.” In addition, cyber security researcher Nathan Ruser posted to Twitter a compelling explanation of how he verified that this video was likely filmed at Korla West Station in late August 2018. Click here to view the location on Google Maps.
4 days ago a video showing 3-400 detainees handcuffed & blindfolded at a train station in Xinjiang was uploaded to YouTube (https://t.co/GpEaZ7YkIK)
In this thread I'll share how I've verified that this video was filmed at 库尔勒西站 (41.8202, 86.0176) on or around August 18th. pic.twitter.com/hr5xd8nahM— Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000) September 21, 2019
Update, July 20, 2020: The video has again gone viral on the internet, and even been shown in front of the Chinese ambassador to the U.K., who had trouble explaining what was happening. Nathan Ruser re-analyzed the visual clues in satellite data to conclude that the video was taken in late April 2019. He also emphasized, separately, that the video was “not covertly filmed by an activist or something, it was filmed as routine surveilence of the transfer and obtained from a server it was uploaded to.”
“A crackdown on Islam is spreading across China,” says the New York Times, describing the growing restrictions on expressions of Islamic faith on the Hui, a Muslim ethnic group that has so far escaped the mass internment policies that are being applied to the Uyghurs. On the same topic, the Washington Post has published: ‘Boiling us like frogs’: China’s clampdown on Muslims creeps into the heartland, finds new targets.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Sunday, per Al Jazeera: “I want to make clear that China’s repressive campaign in Xinjiang is not about terrorism. It’s about China’s attempt to erase its own citizens. We call on all countries to resist China’s demands to repatriate the Uyghurs.”
