The leak of thousands of photographs stolen by an anonymous external source from the computer files of the Public Security Bureau (OSP) has made it possible for the first time to verify and geolocate re-education centers in the Xinjiang region, in western China, home to the Uyghur ethnic minority.
This intrusion into Chinese police networks has given rise to the international investigation
The Xinjiang Police Archives
, in which EL PAÍS has participated along with 13 other media outlets.
More information
Eight Keys to Understanding the 'Xinjiang Police Files' Investigation
Through the registration of the information contained in the files that accompany the photographs, the metadata, the analysis of the informative elements of the images and their verification with free-use tools such as Google Earth, it has been possible to prove the existence of the re-education center Tekes County, Illi Kazakh Prefecture.
Photographs contained in the leak show the mistreatment of inmates and the maximum security system to which they are subjected in these confinement facilities.
The Xinjiang police archives
also contain thousands of mug shots of inmates at two re-education centers in Konasheher County.
This video shows the location and transformation of these two camps in the framework of the systematic repression campaign against the Uyghur population launched in 2017.
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