HUMAN RIGHTS “Eradicating Ideological Viruses” China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims WATCH “Eradicating Ideological Viruses” China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims Copyright © 2018 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-36567 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org SEPTEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-1-6231-36567 “Eradicating Ideological Viruses” China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims Map .................................................................................................................................... i Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 7 I. Overview of Human Rights in Xinjiang ............................................................................ 10 Turkic Muslims in China .......................................................................................................... 10 The Strike Hard Campaign: A Loyalty Drive .............................................................................. 11 Tech-Enabled Surveillance and Security State ................................................................... 15 Restrictions on Freedom of Religion .................................................................................. 18 Response to Terrorism? ................................................................................................... 20 International Aspects of the Strike Hard Campaign ........................................................... 25 II. Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Mistreatment in Detention Centers and Political Education Camps .............................................................................................................. 27 Abuses during Police Interrogations ....................................................................................... 28 Lack of Due Process ........................................................................................................ 28 Torture and Ill-Treatment .................................................................................................. 30 Abuses in Detention Centers ................................................................................................... 31 Detention Without Charge ................................................................................................ 31 Torture and Ill-Treatment in Detention Centers .................................................................. 33 Abuses in Political Education Camps ...................................................................................... 35 Political Indoctrination ..................................................................................................... 37 Lack of Due Process ......................................................................................................... 42 Deaths in Custody, Torture, and Mistreatment .................................................................. 47 III. Everyday Repression in Xinjiang .................................................................................. 57 Restrictions on Freedom of Movement .................................................................................... 57 Restrictions on Access to Passports .................................................................................. 61 Political Indoctrination .......................................................................................................... 64 Heightened Religious Restrictions ........................................................................................... 71 Mass Surveillance .................................................................................................................. 74 IV. Strike Hard Campaign’s Impact Abroad ........................................................................ 83 Divided Families ..................................................................................................................... 83 Restricting Private Communications with People Outside China .............................................. 87 Pressure to Return to China and to Provide Personal Information ............................................ 88 V. Applicable Legal Standards .......................................................................................... 94 Right to Liberty ...................................................................................................................... 94 Non-Discrimination Guarantees for National Minority Groups .................................................. 95 Freedom of Thought, Expression, and Religion ....................................................................... 96 Freedom of Movement ............................................................................................................ 97 Rights to Privacy and to Bodily Integrity.................................................................................. 98 Prohibitions against Torture and other Ill-Treatment .............................................................. 100 Arbitrary and Unlawful Interference in Family Life .................................................................. 101 VI. Recommendations .................................................................................................... 102 To the Government of the People’s Republic of China ............................................................ 102 To the National People’s Congress Standing Committee ........................................................ 103 To the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional People’s Congress .......................................... 103 To the Government of Kazakhstan ......................................................................................... 104 To the Government of Turkey ................................................................................................. 104 To Concerned Governments .................................................................................................. 104 To Chinese and International Companies Operating in Xinjiang ............................................. 105 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... 106 Appendix I: Letter to Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo .......................................... 107 Appendix II: Letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdurakhmanov ... 111 Response Email from Minister’s Office (Unofficial Translation) ............................................... 115 Map i HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2018 Summary The training has only one purpose: to learn laws and regulations…to eradicate from the mind thoughts about religious extremism and violent terrorism, and to cure ideological diseases. If the education is not going well, we will continue to provide free education, until the students achieve satisfactory results and graduate smoothly. —Speech by Chinese Communist Youth League Xinjiang Branch, March 2017 [W]hat they want is to force us to assimilate, to identify with the country, such that, in the future, the idea of Uyghur will be in name only, but without its meaning. —Tohti, who left Xinjiang in 2017, March 2018 The Chinese government has long carried out repressive policies against the Turkic Muslim peoples in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China. These efforts have been dramatically scaled up since late 2016, when Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo relocated from the Tibet Autonomous Region to assume leadership of Xinjiang. This report presents new evidence of the Chinese government’s mass arbitrary detention, torture, and mistreatment of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang and details the systemic and increasingly pervasive controls on daily life there. These rampant abuses violate fundamental rights to freedom of expression, religion, and privacy, and protections from torture and unfair trials. More broadly, governmental controls over day-to-day life in Xinjiang primarily affect ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities, in violation of international law’s prohibitions against discrimination. This report is primarily based on interviews with 58 former residents of Xinjiang, including 5 former detainees and 38 relatives of detainees. Among the interviewees, 19 people had left Xinjiang since January 2017. Interviewees come from all 14 prefectures in Xinjiang. In May 2014, China launched its “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” (ѕহᢃ ᳤ࠫ࣋ ᙆ⍫ࣘу亩㹼ࣘ) in Xinjiang. Since then, the number