The prevalence of torture and the lengths to which the Chinese government has gone to cover up its treatment of Muslim minorities are described in comprehensive detail in an Amnesty International report on detention camps in Western China.

Every former camp detainee Amnesty interviewed in the report recounted cruel and degrading treatment, including torture.

As part of an attempt to hide camp conditions from the world, Chinese officials created a massive, nearly week-long bonfire, burning as many documents as could be found from an office overseeing the camps, according to an ex-cadre who spoke to Amnesty and whose identity has been concealed for his safety.

The report also gives a behind the scenes look at the "tours" of the camps that the government gives to international journalists, which are meant to paint the facilities, which Chinese officials call "re-education camps," in a positive light.

The document burning occurred in 2019 following a leak of a trove of official Chinese government documents revealing the high-level organization and planning of the internment camps.

The government cadre who said he attended the burning told Amnesty "it took five or six days to burn everything [in the office].

One former detainee whose identity has been concealed for his safety told Amnesty he and others were coached for days on what to say to foreign journalists and even Chinese government delegations visiting from Beijing who were given camp tours.

Every former detainee Amnesty interviewed was tortured or subjected to other cruel treatment during internment, according to the report.