A person from the Uyghur minority community has been detained by Chinese authorities for the third time after spending eight years of imprisonment.
Arkin Iminjan, who earned a living by doing carpentry work and cooking, was earlier imprisoned for six years on sensitive charges of disrupting public order and attempting to divide the country for having "illegal materials" on his cell phone, Radio Free Asia reported citing Arkin's former schoolmate.
In 2017, Arkin was once again detained for another two years and sent to the detention camp in Xinjiang set up by the Chinese government as a part of atrocities on the Uyghur community "because he was a former prisoner".
"Arkin was complaining that he had been in prison for six years without a reason and was still trying to get compensation from the government," Arkin's former classmate told Radio Free Asia.
"While he was attempting to do so, he was detained again. He was taken away from his home for '15-day study' and released exactly two years later," the classmate added.
Now Arkin has been detained for the third time on September 1. The Chinese authorities placed a black hood over his head and whisked him away to a police station, the former classmate was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia.
Arkin belongs to Jaghistay township where about 20 per cent of the Uyghur population has been detained since 2017, Arkin's former classmate said.
The Uyghurs are facing discrimination in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) under Beijing's rule, as authorities tried to assimilate the ethnic group by restricting religious practices and the use of the Uyghur language.
China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention camps since 2017, RFA reported.
Beijing has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and subjecting them to abuse including forced labour.
( With inputs from ANI )
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