China’s Uighurs reportedly released after ‘graduating vocational training’

This appeared in The Millennial Source

On Monday, December 9, Chinese government chairman of the country’s western Xinjiang region, Shohrat Zakir, claimed that all detainees in this region have been released after “graduating reeducation.” Zakir, told reporters at a press conference that the detainees who were held in the “vocation training centers” for Muslim citizens have completed their course. “With the help of the government, they have realized stable employment and they have improved their quality of life,” said Zakir, who is of Uighur descent.

Zakir added that in future, the training at the vocation training centers would be based on “independent will” and people would have “the freedom to come and go” according to a statement given to Reuters. The chairman did not provide a figure detailing the number of detainees who have been released.

Previous figures of detainees

There are several reports on how many people had been previously detained in the reeducation camps in Xinjiang.

In November this year, a Washington-based group called the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM) stated it had assessed images from Google Earth and found 182 suspected…