China: Big Data Program Targets Xinjiang’s Muslims

(New York, December 9, 2020) – A big data program for policing in China’s Xinjiang region arbitrarily selects Turkic Muslims for possible detention, Human Rights Watch said today. A leaked list of over 2,000 detainees from Aksu prefecture provided to Human Rights Watch is further evidence of China’s use of technology in its repression of the Muslim population.

The big data program, the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) apparently flagged the people on the Aksu List, whom officials then evaluated and sent to “political education” camps in Xinjiang.