Former prisoner tells his Xinjiang story to UN rights body

GENEVA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A former prisoner in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday told his story to the ongoing 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, saying that in the prison where he served the sentence, there had never been mistreatment of prisoners such as beating, abuse, discrimination, violence or torture.

Naibijiang Turupu, head of Xinjiang Babilu Trading Co., Ltd., told the UN rights body that when he was in the prison, the officers had a heart-to-heart with him regularly and offered him psychological counselling.

"They also bought me textbooks to facilitate my study and exams," he said. "With the support of the prison and the encouragement of the officers, I passed the self-taught examinations and obtained the junior college and undergraduate diplomas in law and translation from Xinjiang University."

He added that because of his good behavior, he received commutations and returned to his hometown three years earlier.

"Thanks to the help of the government, I got a job in a taxi company before I set up my own company, and the business has been growing. I make more than 100,000 yuan (14,533 U.S. dollars) a year, and my whole family is living a happy life," he said.