Former inmates of China’s Muslim ‘reeducation’ camps tell of brainwashing, torture

Washington Post ^ | May 17, 2018 | Simon Denyer

[Zhang Fei]

BEIJING — Kayrat Samarkand says his only “crime” was being a Muslim who had visited neighboring Kazakhstan. On that basis alone, he was detained by police, aggressively interrogated for three days, then dispatched in November to a “reeducation camp” in China’s western province of Xinjiang for three months.

There, he faced seemingly endless brainwashing and humiliation, he said in an interview, and was forced to study communist propaganda for hours every day and chant slogans giving thanks and wishing long life to President Xi Jinping.

“Those who disobeyed the rules, refused to be on duty, engaged in fights or were late for studies were placed in handcuffs and ankle cuffs for up to 12 hours,” he said. Further disobedience would result in waterboarding or long periods strapped in agony in a metal contraption known as a “tiger chair,” Samarkand said, a punishment he said he suffered.

Between several hundred thousand and more than 1 million Muslims have been detained in China’s mass “reeducation” camps in the restive province of Xinjiang, Adrian Zenz of the European School of Culture and Theology in Korntal, Germany, said in a report released Tuesday. Zenz is a leading authority on the current crackdown in Xinjiang.

In a region of 21 million people, including 11 million Muslims, the number of those he reports to be detained would be a significant proportion of the population, especially of young adult men.

“China’s pacification drive in Xinjiang is, more than likely, the country’s most intense campaign of coercive social re-engineering since the end of the Cultural Revolution,” Zenz wrote, referring to the chaos unleashed by Mao Zedong in the 1960s.

“The state’s proclaimed ‘war on terror’ in the region is increasingly turning into a war on religion, ethnic languages and other expressions of ethnic identity,” he wrote.

[Blue Jays]

"...you start hearing about..."

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What you observed is precisely what I similarly experienced over the years, FRiend!
If there was a conversation about religion (like how we had to account for food while entertaining clients) my Muslim colleagues would become unhinged about Jewish customers.
When a substantial number viewed September 11th attackers favorably, I knew to never be alone with those coworkers outside the office. They’re nuts.

[ExpatCanuck]

BTW, I noticed your handle is ‘Blue Jays’. Are you a fan? I worked in a corner office overlooking the parade route in Toronto when they won back to back World Series. I’ve long since relocated my business to the USA, but have fond memories. ‘The Terminator’ Tom Henke closing out one of the last game of one of them was a great memory.

[Nothingburger]

That’s a very fine summary, FRiend Guv.

[Czech_Occidentalist]

In general, I agree with you, but I believe there really are some Muslims who are genuinely moderate. For example, I have a CD by Westminster Abbey Choir. One of the boy choristers is Beans Balawi. His name caught my attention and I tried to find some information about him. Beans is his nickname. His real name is Jordan El-Balawi and he has an Arab father and an English mother. It is of course possible that his father is an Arab Christian. I don’t know his father’s first name so we can’t be sure.

But if his father is a Muslim, it is quite remarkable because choristers at Westminster Abbey take part in Christian worship (I know that the Church of England is becoming more and more unorthodox, but that’s a different question).

Then, there are two villages in Poland in which Lipka Tatars, who are Muslims, live (other Lipka Tatars live in Lithuania and Belarus). Lipka Tatars have lived in Poland for several centuries. They are completely civilized. I have read that recently a Turkish imam gave a sermon in a Lipka mosque in which he tried to incite them. They waited for him outside the mosque and punched him. There is an article about the Lipka Tatars on Wikipedia.

So yes, there are some exceptions.

[Blue Jays]

"...are you a fan?..."

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My parents are both longtime bird enthusiasts and I always liked their sharp appearance and scrappy behavior! :-)

[ExpatCanuck]

LOL! We have a cardinal that comes by every morning and spends ten minutes tapping on my home office window. There must be something inside it wants. If the blinds are closed he taps anyways and I open them. He will tap away even with me just a couple of feet away separated only by the glass.

[TBP]

Jihadists? Communists? Who’s worse?

[wastedyears]

Gotta say I don’t feel bad for them.

[Svartalfiar]

Non-stop Gospel preaching, teaching, praise with song and prayer, and demonstrating Christ’s Love to them? (While under strictly-enforced detention, that is)

As Ann Coulter says, “Convert them to Christianity”. This seems a better option than having them recite the Communist slogans reported in the article.

And how do you suppose that will work? Not very many Muslims convert - their religion is extremely do or die. Literally. Converting Muslim adults en masse simply won't work. The only possible way to do that is to get them young, but how do you enforce that? You know the Western world isn't going to be able to force Christianity on them without a ridiculous amount of force that no population would be willing to allow their gov't to use. (But China's doesn't care!)

The only possible way to eliminate the threat with minimal angst would be a crusade-style invasion, with practicing Islam outlawed and sufficient emigration of our populations to begin forcing the local cultures to change.

A large portion of Muslims are inbred, and have been for centuries. Their IQ is not exactly that high (what innovations have come out of the Muslim world, besides new ways to place an IED?), and actually showing them the error of their ways won't work. It needs to be forced on them.

[YogicCowboy]

Yes: Militant Shariah is worse.