now women in china's so-called
re-education camps have been
systematically raped and tortured
that's according to first-hand accounts
obtained by the bbc
it's estimated more than a million men
and women have been detained in the
camps in china's north
xinjiang region china claims the camps
are re-education centers
to de-radicalize uighurs and other
muslim minorities
our correspondent matthew hill has
spoken to several former detainees and
workers
and you may find some of their accounts
distressing
is reliving a story she can barely bring
herself to tell
she was held at one of xinjiang's
so-called re-education
camps these satellite images show the
site
where tersenai says she was held sharing
a cell with 13 other women
with a bucket for a toilet
and she's haunted by one image masked
men coming down a camp corridor
like this one after midnight we took
them too
they were three men not
one but three
they did whatever evil their mind could
think of
and they didn't spare any part of my
body
fighting it to the extent that it was
disgusting to look at
the us have granted her safe refuge
after investigating her claims
she's waived her right to anonymity and
now feels free to speak out about the
full
extent of the abuse she says she
suffered
they had an electric pattern
i didn't know what it was it was pushed
into my private parts and i was
tormented with electric shocks
it's estimated over a million uyghurs
and other muslims are held in the camps
these never before broadcast pictures
were filmed secretly in a camp under
construction and published by a magazine
on religious liberty
we've interviewed a former guard and
seen his chinese police documents
he's the first ever to come forward and
the risk of him speaking to the bbc is
so great
we've reconstructed the interview with
an actor
jews who were taken inside were locked
in a cell
which called age 16 inmates
there were cameras watching them all the
time
and there were books about xi jinping
they have to study the book and memorize
them in chinese
if they fail the punishment was severe
many former camp inmates flee to
istanbul
some talk of having to choose between
punishment or being complicit
in these crimes
i worked six months as a cleaning worker
for the women
and chinese men would pay money to have
their pick of the pretty
young inmates this was the first time
gulzera has told anyone the full extent
of what she says
she was forced to do
my job is to remove their clothes and
then handcuff them
on their beds so they cannot move
we can't say if the rape is approved by
the camp commanders
or even by those more senior but the
accounts of the many women i've spoken
to include
gang rape in public and are similar in
brutality
the uighur rights group that helped
terse and i get to america
say their full stories don't emerge
until later
survivors of the camps have told of
horrific tortures very often
sexual abuse however is told in less
detail
it's traumatic to remember and women are
often afraid of bringing
shame to their own family members
the chinese government said in a
statement of the xinjiang
camps offered vocational and educational
training
to tackle extremism and terrorism
it did not address directly the
accusations of rape
and torture but it added the chinese
government attaches great importance to
women's
rights lies and absurd accusations
including mass detention do not hold
water
it is very obvious their goal is to
destroy
everyone and everyone knows it
these women are done
much of the testimony of the women like
terse and i have spoken to
is too disturbing to broadcast but it's
important they say
the world knows what's happened to them
matthew hill
bbc news
you can read the bbc's exclusive report
on the uyghurs with more eyewitness
accounts
and analysis on our website just go to
the usual place bbc.com
and it's in the world news china section