Dubai hosting secret Chinese jail for Uyghurs and dissidents, alleges former detainee

A woman has reportedly claimed that she was held in a Chinese-run detention site in Dubai along with Uyghurs, in what is believed to be the first evidence that China is operating secret jails overseas.

Wu Huan, 26, said she was taken from a hotel in the Emirati city in late May and held by Chinese officials at a villa that had been converted into a jail, according to the Associated Press. She spent eight days in the three-floor building, during which she saw or heard two other prisoners who were both Uyghurs, it reported.

Detention sites known as “black jails” are common in China, and hold people who generally have not been charged in secret for days or months in run-down hostels, disused government offices and other locations.

However, Ms Wu’s story is thought to be the first one suggesting that Beijing is operating such a facility outside its borders.

It also suggests China is using its international influence to detain citizens such as dissidents, Uyghurs and other people it wants to bring back from overseas.

Originally published at https://www.telegraph.co.uk on August 16, 2021.