An annual report by a Uyghur advocacy group revealed ongoing persecution in China’s far-western Xinjiang province, with an estimated 1 in 26 Uyghurs jailed, accounting for a third of China’s prison population, 3.5 times the world’s highest rate of imprisonment.
A new Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) report indicates that Uyghurs, Turkic and other non-Han peoples in the Uyghur Region account for more than a third (34 per cent) of China’s estimated prison population, despite making up only one per cent of China’s overall population. When accounting for the total regional population, the Uyghur region has the highest prison rate in the world at an estimated 2,234 per 100,000.
A UHRP Insights column by Ben Carrdus, UHRP Senior Researcher, and Peter Irwin, UHRP Associate Director for Research & Advocacy suggests that Uyghurs, Turkic and other non-Han peoples in the region are imprisoned at a rate of 3,814 people per 100,000.
In comparison, Han people throughout China are estimated to be imprisoned at a rate of 80 per 100,000. In other words, Uyghurs and other non-Han people in the Uyghur Region are estimated to be imprisoned at just over 47 times the rate of Han people.
“The actual situation in Xinjiang may even be worse, said UHRP senior researcher Ben Carrdus, who wrote the report.”
The findings are based on information from Xinjiang High People’s Procuratorate annual reports, which prosecutes criminal defendants, as well as data from the website of China’s Ministry of Justice. The report estimates that a total of 578,500 Uyghurs or other Turkic people were in jail as of 2022.
The report indicates that Uyghurs experience higher death rates in prison than other ethnic groups in China, though death penalty figures are not publicly available because they are considered a state secret.
The UHRP believes Uyghurs receive severe sentences, such as at least 10 years in prison for minor actions like studying the Quran or teaching it to children, so that the rate of death sentences among them may be higher.
The situation of Uyghur persecution in China is deeply concerning and has drawn international attention. The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority group primarily located in the Xinjiang region of China. Reports and testimonies from various sources, including human rights organisations, indicate widespread human rights abuses and repression targeting the Uyghur population.