Hong Kong (CNN)Spending on prisons and security-related construction in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang doubled between 2016 and 2017 new research has revealed, undermining China’s denial of the existence of mass internment camps.
Up to a million ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have reportedly been detained in the past year inside enormous “re-education camps” in the tightly-controlled province, where former detainees say they were forced to endure intensive “brainwashing” sessions.
The claims, which have been made by activists for months, were confirmed as “broadly accurate” by the UK government in October.