A senior official from Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday debunked social media rumors that “Uygur people are tortured in Xinjiang,” during a media conference in Urumqi, using facts and photos.
Four rumors that were refuted on Friday involved fake and frightening videos and photos that were used to blind audiences of the real situation in Xinjiang. In fact, those videos and photos that supposedly showed “Uygur people being tortured” had nothing to do with Uygurs or Xinjiang.
“We’ve noticed that even the ‘East Turkistan’ [terrorist group] members who have always been keen to make rumors are worried that too many lies have been told, and that these rumors will be refuted by us sooner or later,” said Guli Abulm, spokesperson of the information office of the Xinjiang regional government.
In an interview with France 24 published on December 31, Alfred Erkin, a member of “East Turkistan” who lives in the US, acknowledged that people have told too many lies about Xinjiang on social media, which could provide fresh ammunition for the Chinese government.
The four rumors refuted on Friday were cited in the France 24 article.
The first involved a video showing three partially clothed men being whipped, claiming they were Uygur people. But it transpired that the video had been filmed in Indonesia in 2017, and the three being beaten had been teenagers accused of theft.
The second utilized a photo, claiming that in it, a “Uygur woman is being tortured.” However, the scene was actually a performed by an actor in Chicago in 2004.
The third was a photo showing a man lying in blood, and it was shown alongside the rumor that Uygur people are being murdered. However, the photo was taken following a car accident in Indonesia, and the “blood” was in reality syrup that had spilled from a truck.
The fourth involved a video showing a reunion between a man, who the video claimed had just been “released from an internment camp,” and his family. But the truth is that this video was recorded in 2019 in Kazakhstan and showed the man reuniting with his family after he had disappeared for 24 hours.
An obscured photo (left) used by hostile forces to show “Uygur people are murdered” is found to be a scene of car accident in Indonesia (right). The “blood” was in reality syrup that had spilled from a truck.
