Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on February 7, that ethnic Uyghurs held in political “re-education camps” in northwest China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been sent to prisons in Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and that officials in the XUAR and Heilongjiang had confirmed the reports came in the same month that XUAR chairman Shohrat Zakir confirmed to China’s official Xinhua news agency the existence of the camps, calling them an effective tool to protect the country from terrorism and provide vocational training for Uyghurs. RFA said officials in Shaanxi province and Gansu province confirmed on February 7, that Uyghur and other Muslim detainees from XUAR had been sent to prisons there. They were, however, unable to provide specific numbers or dates for when they had been transferred. An official at the Cuijiagou prison, in Shaanxi’s Tongchuan city confirmed to RFA that the prison has Uyghur detainees. Similarly a Gansu Provincial Prison Administration official confirmed that detainees from the XUAR are being held in a prison in Baiyin city. He said “They are not here because they committed certain crimes, but for a special reason, and they are under particularly heavy security. For example, they are not permitted to meet with their relatives or acquaintances.” A website launched by the Italian research center CESNUR claimed that Cuijiagou prison holds around 3,000 Uyghurs.
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