tonight, the hunt for the missing. >> do we have any sign of them behind us yet? >> 1 million chinese citizens disappear. families torn apart. . >> all i've heard from him is son, they're taking me. >> because of their religion. >> you ask them to kill you? >> yes, please. >> now rare access inside the camps, pulling back the curtain on a carefully orchestrated show. "nightline," vanished, will be right back.

"nightline," vanished, continues. here now, bob woodruff. >> all i heard from him is, "son, they're taking me." >> reporter: with those final words, kuzzat's father is vanished without a trace. he's one of the missing. the lost. the taken. kuzzat's father one of a million chinese citizens who have disappeared. so, i went halfway around the world to figure out what's happening, and found two worlds, full of truth and lies. >> any sign of them behind us yet? they're back now. the chinese government accused of sending people to modern day internment camps. condemned for the crime of being muslim.

>> chinese officials deny it, insisting this is about preventing terrorism. it is >> do you consider this torture? >> torture. >> we were granted a rare tour, >> is it possible you could give us -- is it possible you could -- >> next time, next time. >> we quickly discovered. cops are right behind us a lot of people don't want us to find the answers. there's guys running at us right now. we began our search here, in america's capital, where kuzzat spends his life in a kind of limbo. the 35-year-old lives in virginia working as a computer science teacher. coming home to play with his four children every night. at the same time, wondering where his own father may be. >> he send me message from wechat, voice he said, "son,

they are taking me." he was pretty nervous from his voice. >> did he say who was taking him? >> police are taking me. son, they're taking me. >> that message left more than a year ago -- he has not heard from his father since. >> this -- he was a pretty tough guy. i'm not sure that he's -- he can survive the concentration camp. but i don't know where he is. >> kuzzat and his family come from xinjiang, a province in far western china. they are uighur, a large ethnic minority group. more than 11 million uighurs live in china alone, and they are mostly muslim. they have more in common with the people of central asia, and turkey than they do with their fellow chinese citizens in the east. now, xinjiang is also where experts say the chinese government has built those internment camps. >> they want to erase us from the land. >> reporter: there are very few images of the camps.

and a few alleged cell phone videos and photos leaked to activists. sophie is with human rights watch. how can we find out what's happening? >> we have managed to talk to people who have gotten out. >> reporter: in an effort to get answers, we travel to kazakhstan, a former part of the soviet union which borders the area. we meet a man whose office is flooded with requests for help. most have lost families, siblings or children across the board. that's your mother, what happened to her? [ speaking in foreign

>> reporter: this is shocking to most people in the world that this is going on. >> it is just ethnic cleansing. it's genocide. >> reporter: the chinese call these camps vocational centers, but when i asked secretary of state mike pompeo he said this. >> these are trull truly internment camps. and when the world finds out, we will all regret. >> reporter: the uighur's area is crucial. experts say government policies encouraging them to move west created tension. >> they were dispossessed of their land. in many ways they were excluded from participating in new economies. >> reporter: china blamed groups for an increase in violence and it gave the government a target.

>> they were seen as potential terrorists. >> reporter: i first started covering the conflict this is this region several years ago. driving here you can see there are police officers everywhere, in fact, put your camera down. put your camera down. by 2014, china began building the camps. is there torture? >> yes. >> reporter: what kind? >> physical torture. all of the people who are being detained in these facilities are being subjected to degradation and humiliation of a kind that would break just about anyone. >> reporter: in kazakhstan, several men demonstrate the severe postures they say they were forced to hold for hours. some telling us that guards used iron armor to keep them in place. the day after we met, we came back to his office to interview a woman who was confined in three different camps, then given a job in a factory making gloves for pennies on the

dollar. [ speaking in foreign language ] she could not leave. so for all that time, she was separated from her 5-year-old daughter. >> reporter: for two years you didn't see your mom? [ speaking in foreign language ] >> unbeknownst to us, at the same time we are doing this interview, drama is unfolding out in the hallway. are those police? >> police have made their way into the building.

down the corridor, they are collecting bilash's files. the man himself nowhere to be seen. now we're kind of walking down the stairs quickly to get out. we really had no idea what they are looking for. hopefully they are not doing this for the chinese. a call from bilash's wife confirms what we fear. bilash has been arrested. this cell phone video shot in the hotel room where he was apparently taken into custody, showing blood on the bathroom floor. >> he said that his life is in danger. >> in the weeks that followed, his wife confirms he's being held in another city on house arrest and charged with inciting ethnic hatred. >> i really think that china is standing behind his arrest because china really don't want to know about these concentration camps. >> she and their children are left to fend for themselves >> it feels like i am sitting in a small boat with my two

children and in the middle of the huge ocean. i have to help him. i have to protect my children's father. >> now that our connection with bilash is severed, we head toward china. we drive to the border town of khorgos, where we're told many people leaving xinjiang cross over. to get there, we have to pass through gates and security checkpoints. all right, we are going through security right now to head to the direction of china. a lot of cameras everywhere. >> behind these two towers is chinese side. >> they're so sensitive about pointing the camera at china from this side of kazakhstan, just paranoia. so we can see the chinese guards right there, the chinese police. china in red, kazakhstan in blue. but it didn't take long before chinese police run out to stop us. these chinese police just came running. now they demanded our passports

and so we're just walking away and see if we can get away with this. they were this close. up next, we make it inside china. two very different journeys, as we try to visit those detention centers. we find out what the chinese do and don't want you to see. do we have any sign of them behind us yet? t geico making it easy to switch and save hundreds? oh yeah, sure. um. you don't know my name, do you? (laughs nervously) of course i know your name. i just get you mixed up with the other guy. what's his name? what's your name? switch to geico®. you could save 15% or more on car insurance. could you just tell me? i want this to be over.

it's how we care for our cancer patients- like job. when he was diagnosed with cancer, his team at ctca created a personalized care plan to treat his cancer and side effects. so job could continue to work and stay strong for his family. this is how we inspire hope. this is how we heal. we love you, daddy. good night. i love you guys. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. nyquifor your worst cold andrful relieflu symptoms,ca. on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. w...that keep us active every day.... like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... ...with centrum® multigummies. so you can be unstoppable.

now improved! better tasting! feed your cells today. ♪ ♪

alright, so this is how you are gonna say:wn. you'll get the best deal of the year on xfinity tv and internet! and you even get this. mike, you're on balloons. sarah, you're gonna high five everybody. ben, you're gonna be wowing them with your dance moves. don't miss the xfinity best deal of the year. now that's simple, easy, awesome. get amazing tv and internet during our best deal of the year! with huge savings of $600 over two years. plus a speed upgrade to 400 megs, free for 2 years. and ask about even more savings with xfinity mobile. click, call, or visit a store today.

"nightline," vanished, continues. >> the government official is following us around the car, so we can't go anywhere. in china, everyone is under surveillance - even us. obviously, we can't get out of the car. don't think they would be happy about that. we are on the hunt for china's

now-infamous "re-education centers," places the united states government calls "internment camps," and what others call "concentration camps. kuzzat altay believes his missing father was forced into one of those prison-like compounds for china's muslim citizens, where there is no communication, no freedom, and no escape. >> i mean nobody can say anything. even if somebody has the information, if they speak out, they're gonna be taken. >> the effort to keep china's muslim population in these centers, and keep journalists out is real. well, we've arrived. see what we can find." we come to china with a plan, two trips, two uniquely different experiences. it's taken more than a year for china to grant us a place on one of its "chaperoned" tours of the camps. our producer gerry wagschal will take that spot. and i would try to see if i could find some of these centers on my own, and get inside, a

difficult mission without government sanction. for me and my team, xinjiang high tech security caught us immediately. these facial recognition checkpoints just steps from baggage claim. we got about 50 yards off the plane when we got taken by the police into a little room. by the time we make it out, our "guides" are waiting. they're really government escorts. here, life happens under the government's eye. no matter where we go, walking down a street, shopping in a bazaar, cameras are watching. so, we wake up this morning and right outside the hotel are the same two officials that were by our side all day yesterday. they're now demanding the next move we make. they accompany us again. are they're going to come with us or just set this up? the two women. everywhere we went, by foot. qu nali? where are we going? or by car. they constantly took pictures of us.

sometimes we could not videotape them. earlier this year beijing released a study justifying what they call the "people's war on terror." they claim they have arrested 13,000 terrorists since 2014. and because of their methods, beijing says there have been no terror attacks inside china in three years. the government sponsored tour our producer is on begins on that note, at a museum exhibit dedicated to terror attacks. in fact, for a tour that promised to visit these "vocational centers," it would take four days before our team actually set foot in one. officials eventually brings the tour to two centers. neither one looks anything like those austere photos of prison like compounds, tall walls, topped with barbed wire and guard towers. instead, these places hold up the illusion of a small college

campus. more than one thousand uighurs from their 20's to 40's are here. the accommodations, dorms with basic bunk beds, ten people per room. the cafeteria straight out of a public school. >> the state itself in its own internal documents calls these centers as places that brainwash the people inside of them. >> the "students" we talk to give eerily similar soundbites. [ speaking if foreign language ] >> nobody goes to these facilities on a voluntary basis and there's no application process. my research has shown that these camps are being modified prior to the visits. satellite images before and after show that several months before visits are permitted, watchtowers and other security

features such as metal fencing were removed from these camps. >> our producer gerry presses to get a more authentic experience. >> no, i want to just ask you right now, can you take us to some other places? is it possible you could take us to --- is it possible -- >> next time, next time. >> ultimately, the guides won't alter the itinerary, saying we can always apply to come back to the other centers on another visit. that highly orchestrated trip, far from the reality camp survivor mihrigul tursun remembers. she says what she saw inside the camps will haunt her forever. >> we cannot go outside. we cannot sleep full. we cannot eat full food. we cannot take shower, even cannot wash our face, drink water, no have. >> mihrigul is in the u.s. now with her two young children, applying for asylum. she tells us she was imprisoned on three separate occasions. she is one of only a few camp survivors who have made it to the west, and dared to go public. >> i said, "just kill me.

please kill me." >> reporter: she even testified before congress. i just say, "please, kill me." >> you asked them to kill you. >> yes, please. i just said, "please." >> you would rather die than just keep going through this? >> yes. >> the chinese government says mihrigul is a liar. while officials admit she did spend time in detention, they claim she was released after less than a month. mihrigul stands by her story. given the secrecy surrounding the camps, it's impossible to confirm the details 100 percent on either side. >> it's difficult to find out what's going on in those camps intentionally, because the chinese government doesn't want you to know what's taking place. >> during my "unauthorized" trip, we want to locate the three camps where gulzira, the mom we met in kazakhstan, was forced to live, and the factory where she worked. here we've got this map, where this factory would be, where gulzira auelkan had worked. it's right over the top of

those, beyond those buildings that are under construction, but we can't go there because this government official's with us. follows us everywhere with a car. they're back now." it was only on our flight back to beijing, as we were climbing to altitude, that we catch a fleeting glimpse of the alleged camps where gulzira claimed she was detained. the price for speaking about the camps is high. serikzhan bilash, the lawyer turned activist arrested during our trip to kazakhstan, spent months under arrest, facing up to seven years in prison. he was unexpectedly released this august after pleading gu the trade-off for his freedom, seven years of silence. >> we cannot rest until governments act! back in washington, kuzzat is one of nearly four hundred people at a rally in freedom plaza. >> eight days from now is my

father's 67 years old birthday. all i want is call him to say happy birthday father. that is all i want. >> multiple times we went to checkpoints. it was 15 times they stopped us. the swat teams checked for our equipment. >> there were three different cameras that had to be erased of pictures that we took. >> yes, i'm very happy for you sir. you're alive. you are american citizen. >> so you think that if we were -- if we were uighurs ourselves we would not be sitting here right now on this earth. >> no, no. absolutely, you'll be -- >> in the camp at least? >> -- yeah. we can say people are disappearing. >> abc news reached out to the chinese government with a four page letter. the response was short and pointed -- i can tell you clearly that none of the claims listed in the questionnaire corresponds with facts. no rumors and lies will hold water in front of truth. kuzzat says if that's really true, then it should be easy for the chinese to provide proof

that his dad is alive, proof he does not have. >> i see him in my dream, once in a while. that's the only place that i can see him. man 1: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2: ...with humira. woman 3: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage and clear skin in many adults. humira is the nuoriatic art. announcer: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb,

hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. man 3: ask your rheumatologist about humira. woman 4: go to mypsaproof.com to see proof in action. just between us, cleaning with a mop and bucket is such a hassle. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and it's awesome. it's an all-in-one that absorbs dirt and grime deep inside. and it helps prevent streaks and haze. stop cleaning. start swiffering introducing a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard.

to the wait did frowe just win-ners. prouders everyone uses their phone differently. that's why xfinity mobile let's you design your own data. now you can share it between lines. mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. it's a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill.

plus get $250 back when you buy a new samsung note. click, call or visit a store today.

>> this summer, the chinese government said the people in their "vocational centers" can leave at the appropriate time, adding that many already have. the u.s. state department said there is no evidence to support that claim, and are demanding u.n. inspections.

has been excellent. they really appreciate the military family and it really shows. with all that usaa offers why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're always going to take care of us. it was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. it was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say "oh we can't beat usaa" we're the webber family. we're the tenney's we're the hayles, and we're usaa members for life. ♪ get your usaa auto insurance quote today.