Terrorist's "prison torture" claim entirely fabricated: Xinjiang official

URUMQI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- In response to a claim of torture during imprisonment made by Maihemuti Taiwaikuli, a native of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a regional official has said Maihemuti Taiwaikuli was never imprisoned.

Maihemuti Taiwaikuli, from Yecheng County, Kashgar Prefecture, began to organize illegal religious activities to spread extremist ideas and provide physical training for terrorists in February 2011, according to police investigations.

He left the country illegally and joined "East Turkistan" organizations in December 2013, after covertly selling his family properties and abandoning his parents, wife and children, said Yalkun Yakup, deputy director of the regional public security department.

He has never been sentenced to prison nor has he studied in a vocational education and training center, said the official.

In fact, Maihemuti Taiwaikuli is a terrorist who has abandoned his family, and is morally corrupt and full of lies, said Yalkun Yakup.