Shocking Satellite Images reveal China is Destroying Uighur Family Graveyards

More Chinese disrespect for minority communities. More cultural heritage groups need to call China out. Dozens of cemeteries have been destroyed in Xinjiang in north-west China in two years, investigation finds (AFP Satellite images reveal China is destroying Muslim graveyards where generations of Uighur families are buried 9 October 2019):

China is destroying burial grounds where generations of Uighur families have been laid to rest, leaving behind human bones and broken tombs in what activists call an effort to eradicate the ethnic group's identity in Xinjiang. In just two years, dozens of cemeteries have been destroyed in the northwest region, according to an AFP investigation with satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance. Some of the graveyards have been turned into car parks and even playgrounds, as the pictures show. Others were cleared with little care. In Shayar county, AFP journalists saw unearthed human bones left discarded in three sites. In other sites, tombs that were reduced to mounds of bricks lay scattered in cleared tracts of land. The images appeared as Xinjiang authorities this week claimed their officials were carrying out 'normal' tasks after shocking footage purported to show hundreds of shackled and blindfolded Muslim prisoners being transferred.

Officials claim urban development and the 'standardisation' of old graves are the reasons for the bulldozing But Uighurs say the mass destruction is part of a state crackdown to control every element of their lives An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps.

Shocking 'before and after' photos here.