Torture inflicted on Uyghurs in Xinjiang revealed by Chinese detective in exile

The former Chinese detective turned whistleblower has revealed rare details on what he described as a systematic campaign of torture against ethnic Uyghurs in the region's detention camp system, claims China has denied for years.

In a three-hour interview with CNN, he revealed horrific details about the torture tactics used by Chinese forces against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

The interview was conducted in Europe, where he is now in exile.

A former Chinese police investigator told CNN, "We seized (them) all forcibly overnight."

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"You had to arrest these hundreds of individuals if there were hundreds of people in one county in this region."

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"Kick them, beat them (until they're) bruised and swollen," Jiang said, recalling how he and his colleagues used to interrogate detainees in police detention centres. "Until they kneel on the floor crying."

Jiang said that during his time in Xinjiang, every new inmate, including men, women, and children as young as 14, was assaulted during the interrogation process.

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According to the former investigator, the tactics included shackling individuals to a metal or wooden "tiger chair" (chairs meant to immobilise suspects), hanging them from the ceiling, sexual assault, electrocutions, and waterboarding.

According to CNN, inmates were frequently forced to stay awake for days and denied food and water.

"Everyone uses different methods. Some even use a wrecking bar, or iron chains with locks, " Jiang said. "Police would step on the suspect's face and tell him to confess."

The suspects were accused of terror offenses, said Jiang, but he believes that "none" of the hundreds of prisoners he was involved in arresting had committed a crime.

"They are ordinary people," he said.

CNN is unable to independently verify Jiang's accusations, but some elements of his recollections ring true for two Uyghur victims CNN spoke with for this investigation.

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More than 50 former camp detainees also spoke to Amnesty International for a 160-page study titled "'Like We Were Enemies in a War': China's Mass Internment, Torture, and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang," which was released in June.

Since 2017, up to 2 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been incarcerated in Xinjiang detention camps, according to the US State Department.

According to the study, China claims the camps are vocational and geared at combatting terrorism and separatism, and has frequently refuted charges of human rights violations in the region.

Jiang claimed he was "disappointed" with the Chinese Communist Party even before his experience in Xinjiang because of rising levels of corruption.

(With inputs from agencies)