China Calls It Re-education, But Uighur Muslims Say It's 'Unbearable Brutality'

Uighurs are Muslims who trace their roots back thousands of years in Central Asia, most currently living in the Chinese province Xinjiang. The group represents less than 1 percent of China's population, but they have endured what the U.S. calls one of the worst human rights crises of modern times. Nick Schifrin reports on how Communist China has persecuted this religious and cultural minority.

China's Ruthless Crackdown On Its Muslim Population

Crackdown: Muslims make up the majority of China's province of Xinjiang. Following Uyghur protests, China has cracked down on its native Muslim population, with no consideration for Human Rights in its campaign of oppression.

China Bans Muslims from Fasting during Ramadan, Say Uighur Community

Shops and restaurants are being ordered to stay open during
daylight hours - or risk being shut down

THE INDEPENDENT: China has, once again, banned Ramadan in parts of the far western Xinjiang district for Muslim party members, civil servants, students and teachers.

Muslims throughout the district – which is known to have a minority population of Uighurs – have been told not to fast during the Holy Month.

The Uighur leader, Dilxat Raxit, sees the move as China’s attempt to control their Islamic faith and warned that the restrictions would force the Uighur people to resist the rule of the Chinese government even more. » | Aftab Ali | Wednesday, June 17, 2015

China Bans Burqa in Capital of Muslim Region of Xinjiang

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Authorities in Urumqi ban women from wearing the burqa in the wake of a series of deadly clashes and attacks in China's far west

The capital of China's most Muslim region has banned residents from wearing the burqa in "an effort to curb growing extremism".

Women in Urumqi, a city of 3.1 million people in the far western region of Xinjiang, will no longer be allowed to wear the garment, state media announced this week.

"Burqas are not traditional dress for Uighur women, and wearing them in public places is banned in countries such as Belgium and France," Xinhua, China's official news agency, wrote in a brief article about the ban.

Xinjiang is home to the Uighurs, a largely Muslim, Turkic-speaking group as well as a growing number of Han Chinese migrants who have poured into the region which borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. » | Tom Phillips, Shanghai | Tuesday, January 13, 2015

China Bans Religion in Islam-heavy Xinjiang Region

BREITBART: Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang region of the country’s West have banned citizens from practicing religion in any state-owned entities. Because China is a Communist country, the law, which will take effect on January 1, 2015, likely pertains to all property.

Additionally, the Communist Party will dole out heavy fines for religiously-motivated Internet posts that have been determined to "undermine national unity." The penalty for violating the newly established Internet and mobile communications laws could result in a fine as high as $5,000 dollars. “An increasing number of problems involving religious affairs have emerged in Xinjiang,” an official in the Xinjiang People’s Congress was quoted saying in state media. The law specifically mentions that videos showing jihad or holy war may not be viewed or distributed in any manner. Read on and comment » | Jordan Schachtel | Wednesday, December 03, 2014

China Bans Ramadan Fasting in Muslim Province

AL JAZEERA: Students and civil servants in the northwestern Xinjiang province have been ordered to not observe traditional fasting.

Students and civil servants in China's Muslim northwest have been ordered by the state to avoid taking part in traditional fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Statements posted in the past week on websites of schools, government agencies and local party organisations in the Xinjiang region said the ban would protect students' wellbeing and prevent the use of schools and government offices to promote religion, the AP news agency reported on Thursday.

Statements on the websites of local party organisations said members of the officially atheist ruling party should also avoid fasting, although the month of Ramadan, which began at sundown on June 28, is observed by Muslims.

"No teacher can participate in religious activities, instill religious thoughts in students or coerce students into religious activities," said a statement on the website of the "Number 3 Grade School" in Ruoqiang County in Xinjiang. » | Source: Associated Press | Thursday, July 03, 2014

Five Die in Urumqi Protests


WALL STREET JOURNAL:
Read article >>> Gordon Fairclough | Friday, September 04, 2009

China: In Ürümqis Uiguren-Vierteln regiert die Angst
WELT ONLINE: Hunderte Menschen sind nach den Unruhen in der chinesischen Provinz Xinjiang festgenommen worden. Das Schicksal der zumeist uigurischen Männer ist ungewiss, ihnen drohen lange Haftstrafen. Die Uiguren in der Provinzhauptstadt Ürümqi leben ständig in Angst vor neuen Aktionen der Sicherheitskräfte. >>> Von Andrew Jacobs | Mittwoch, 29. Juli 2009

Uiguren: "Demonstrations-Teilnahme ist wie Selbstmord"
DIE PRESSE: Fast 10.000 Menschen seien "in einer Nacht verschwunden", sagt die im Exil lebende Uiguren-Führerin Rebiya Kadeer. Sie wirft China vor, für die blutigen Unruhen in der Provinz Xinjiang verantwortlich zu sein.

Die im Exil lebende Uiguren-Führerin Rebiya Kadeer hat China vorgeworfen, während der blutigen Unruhen in der Nordwest-Provinz Xinjiang tausende Menschen verschleppt zu haben. Fast 10.000 Menschen seien "in einer Nacht verschwunden", sagte die in den USA lebende Kadeer am Mittwoch in Japan auf einer Pressekonferenz: "Sollten sie tot sein, was ist mit ihnen geschehen?" Die chinesische Regierung versuche, die muslimische Minderheit der Uiguren "zu zerstören", sagte die 62-Jährige. >>> Ag | Mittwoch, 29. Juli 2009

Guantanamo Row May Halt Queen’s Visit to Bermuda
Photo: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: THE Foreign Office is threatening to cancel a state visit by the Queen to Bermuda after a row with the island over its “unacceptable” decision to give sanctuary to four former inmates of Guantanamo Bay.

The boycott is being considered after Bermuda infuriated David Miliband, the foreign secretary, by allowing the four men, all Chinese Muslim Uighurs, to stay on what is an overseas British territory.

The move followed a secret deal struck between Washington and the Bermudans. It was carried out without consulting Britain or the island’s governor.

Miliband protested to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, about the pact. He told her the move was “invalid” because it breached Bermuda’s constitution, under which the UK has control over the island’s foreign and security policy.

The Uighurs are Muslim separatists from Xinjiang province. They had fled to Afghanistan in 2001 to escape Chinese oppression and were detained after they went to Pakistan.

Their arrival in Bermuda last month sparked an angry response from Sir Richard Gozney, the island’s governor. He summoned Ewart Brown, the Bermudan prime minister, for a dressing down. >>> David Leppard | Sunday, July 19, 2009

Al-Qaeda Vows Revenge on China after Riots
TIMES ONLINE: Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network has taken up the cause of China’s Muslim Uighur minority with a pledge to attack Chinese workers in northwestern Africa in retaliation for mistreatment by Beijing of its largest Muslim minority.

Al-Qaeda's Algerian-based offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has issued the call for vengeance, according to the South China Morning Post, which quoted an intelligence report from the London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt.

It would be the first time that bin Laden’s organisation has threatened China or its interests — underlying the risks Beijing faces as it expands its economic investments overseas.

The assessment by Sterling Assynt warned that the threat should be taken seriously and said: “Although AQIM appear to be the first arm of al-Qaeda to officially state they will target Chinese interests, others are likely to follow."

The unrest in China’s westernmost Xinjiang region last week in which 184 people died — most of them Han Chinese killed by Uighurs — has elicited sympathy in much of the Muslim world for the minority Uighurs who face tight controls on their religious practices and discrimination in the workplace.

The report said: “The general situation of China's Muslims has resonated amongst the global jihadist community. There is an increasing amount of chatter . . . among jihadists who claim they want to see action against China. Some of these individuals have been actively seeking information on China's interests in the Muslim world, which they could use for targeting purposes."

The report is based on information from people who have seen the instruction from AQIM, the agency said. >>> Jane Macartney in Beijing | Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Chinese Police Kill Two Uighur Men as Ethnic Unrest Flares
TIMES ONLINE: Chinese police today shot dead two Uighur men and wounded a third in the first official report of the use of firearms to quell unrest in the western, mainly Muslim region where a riot last week left 184 people dead.

Frightened residents of Urumqi ran into their homes and shops, slamming the doors, as police waved their guns and shouted. Reinforcements were rushed into the city, backed by armoured personnel carriers.

Officials said that officers opened fire after they were attacked as they tried to prevent three men from assaulting another with knives and rods.

"Police shot and killed two suspected lawbreakers and injured one suspected lawbreaker using legal means," said a statement released by the government of the capital of China’s westernmost region of Xinjiang.

State radio said that the two men who died were members of the ethnic Uighur minority. A third Uighur was wounded. >>> Jane Macartney in Beijing | Monday, July 13, 2009

Die Diktatur der Mehrheit: In China werden Minderheiten systematisch schikaniert
NZZ am Sonntag: Die Aufstände der Uiguren stören Pekings Wunschbild der harmonischen Gesellschaft. Für viele Han-Chinesen sind Minderheiten minderwertig.

Die Woche in Urumqi endete schlimmer, als sie begonnen hatte. Viele Moscheen, in denen die Uiguren gewöhnlich zum Freitagsgebet zusammenkommen, blieben diesmal geschlossen. Damit wollten die Behörden neue Proteste verhindern, nachdem am vergangenen Sonntag bei ethnischen Unruhen nach Regierungsangaben mehr als 180 Personen getötet und 1080 verletzt worden waren. Die Botschaft war klar: Chinas Regierung weist den Uiguren die Alleinschuld für den Gewaltausbruch zu und sucht die Ursachen in deren muslimischer Religion.

Für die Uiguren kommt die Schliessung der Moscheen einer kollektiven Brandmarkung als Terroristen gleich, woran auch die Tatsache nichts ändert, dass im letzten Moment einige Gotteshäuser geöffnet wurden. Wer vor einer Woche noch skeptisch war, als beim Freitagsgebet Gerüchte über die Misshandlung uigurischer Wanderarbeiter in Südchina die Runde machten, kann nun kaum anders, als zu glauben, dass die Uiguren von Chinas Han-Mehrheit nichts Gutes zu erwarten haben. >>> Bernhard Bartsch, Peking | Sonntag, 12. Juli 2009

China Tightens Security in Xinjiang

China Riots: 140 Killed and 816 Injured
THE TELEGRAPH: At least 140 people have been killed in rioting in the capital of China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Riots erupt in Muslim area of China
The government has blamed exiled Muslim separatists for the area's worst case of ethnic unrest in years.

Hundreds of rioters have been arrested, the official Xinhua news agency reported, after rock-throwing Uighurs took to the streets of the regional capital on Sunday, some burning and smashing vehicles and confronting ranks of anti-riot police.

Urumqi residents were unable to access the internet on Monday, several said. "The city is basically under martial law," accordinding to Yang Jin, a dried fruit merchant.

The unrest underscores the volatile ethnic tensions that have accompanied China's growing economic and political stake in its western frontiers. >>> | Monday, July 06, 2009

Wary of Islam. China Tightens a Vise of Rules
THE NEW YORK TIMES: KHOTAN, China — The grand mosque that draws thousands of Muslims each week in this oasis town has all the usual trappings of piety: dusty wool carpets on which to kneel in prayer, a row of turbans and skullcaps for men without headwear, a wall niche facing the holy city of Mecca in the Arabian desert.

But large signs posted by the front door list edicts that are more Communist Party decrees than Koranic doctrines.

The imam’s sermon at Friday Prayer must run no longer than a half-hour, the rules say. Prayer in public areas outside the mosque is forbidden. Residents of Khotan are not allowed to worship at mosques outside of town.

One rule on the wall says that government workers and nonreligious people may not be “forced” to attend services at the mosque — a generous wording of a law that prohibits government workers and Communist Party members from going at all.

“Of course this makes people angry,” said a teacher in the mosque courtyard, who would give only a partial name, Muhammad, for fear of government retribution. “Excitable people think the government is wrong in what it does. They say that government officials who are Muslims should also be allowed to pray.”

To be a practicing Muslim in the vast autonomous region of northwestern China called Xinjiang is to live under an intricate series of laws and regulations intended to control the spread and practice of Islam, the predominant religion among the Uighurs, a Turkic people uneasy with Chinese rule.

The edicts touch on every facet of a Muslim’s way of life. Official versions of the Koran are the only legal ones. Imams may not teach the Koran in private, and studying Arabic is allowed only at special government schools.

Two of Islam’s five pillars — the sacred fasting month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca called the hajj — are also carefully controlled. Students and government workers are compelled to eat during Ramadan, and the passports of Uighurs have been confiscated across Xinjiang to force them to join government-run hajj tours rather than travel illegally to Mecca on their own.

Government workers are not permitted to practice Islam, which means the slightest sign of devotion, a head scarf on a woman, for example, could lead to a firing.

The Chinese government, which is officially atheist, recognizes five religions — Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Taoism and Buddhism — and tightly regulates their administration and practice. Its oversight in Xinjiang, though, is especially vigilant because it worries about separatist activity in the region.

Some officials contend that insurgent groups in Xinjiang pose one of the biggest security threats to China, and the government says the “three forces” of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism threaten to destabilize the region. But outside scholars of Xinjiang and terrorism experts argue that heavy-handed tactics like the restrictions on Islam will only radicalize more Uighurs. >>> By Edward Wong | October 18, 2008

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