Islam’s holy month of Ramadan brings “extreme suffering, widespread surveillance and relentless repression” for the majority Muslim population of East Turkestan, occupied by Chinese communists, Uyghur activists and others say. Experts told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Tuesday.
Ramadan, a month in which most Muslims partake in daytime fasting, observe a stricter prayer schedule and host nightly religious observances, began in most parts of the world on Monday. Although the Chinese Communist Party officially recognizes the presence of Islam in the territories it controls, it has waged a campaign to “sinicize” Islam, erasing any aspect of the faith that is incompatible with communist atheism. and forcing imams and other religious leaders to promote Islam. party agenda. China similarly suppresses four other religions that are legal in the country: Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
For Ramadan, “sinicization” means banning most public displays indicating that Ramadan is ongoing.The Communist Party officially Banned Civil servants, teachers and other prominent members of the community in East Turkestan have broken their Ramadan fast. By 2019, the Chinese Communist Party had labeled fasting during Ramadan a “sign of extremism” and those suspected of fasting could be placed on a terrorist watchlist or sent to concentration camps. It means.
The repression of Islam is most brutal in China’s East Turkestan, where genocidal dictator Xi Jinping began enacting far-reaching policies in 2017 to wipe out the region’s indigenous Turkic people. The Communist Party has always violently repressed Uyghurs and others, but Mr. Xi has escalated the scale of abuse by building sprawling concentration camps, where indigenous people are subjected to indoctrination, torture, gang rape, and slavery. ing. The report also shows that China is involved in trafficking in the organs of concentration camp prisoners and openly selling them online as slaves.
In this image from a video, she looks at documents at her home in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Monday, June 15, after being forcibly sterilized to give birth to her third child after being released from a Xinjiang concentration camp. Zumret Dawut, a Uyghur from the Xinjiang region in western China, received the award. 2020. (Nathan Elgren, File/AP)
Persecution directly targets Muslims. Mr. Xi has ordered the destruction of historic mosques, cemeteries and other sites of cultural significance. In a particularly disturbing episode in 2020, the Chinese government replaced a demolished Uyghur mosque in Atush, East Turkistan, with a public toilet.
Just before the start of Ramadan, during the “second session” of the state parliament last week, the head of the Communist Party of East Turkistan claimed that it was “inevitable” that Islam would “sinicize” to accommodate communism. The National People’s Congress (NPC), a federal legislative body, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an “advisory body” made up of well-connected elites, meet once a year to implement legislation led by Xi. The amendment has been approved.
“Everyone knows that Xinjiang’s Islam needs to be sinicized. This is an inevitable trend,” said Ma Xingrui, head of the Xinjiang Communist Party. declared last week. China calls East Turkestan by its Mandarin name, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Uyghur activists and human rights leaders denounced the declaration as essentially calling for the “eradication of Islam.”
“China has a history of hostility towards Islam and has targeted the religious beliefs of the Uighur people,” said Turguncan Alawidin, a member of the East Turkestan Scholars Union. Said RFA for article published Tuesday. “Chinese authorities appear to have accepted that gaining compliance requires erasing the religious beliefs of the Uyghurs. They are therefore actively suppressing Islam.”
Rushan Abbas, head of advocacy group Campaign for Uyghur, told RFA that Ramadan is “synonymous with extreme suffering, rampant surveillance and relentless repression.”
“This year, the situation has been further agitated by Ma Xingrui’s bold statements that the sinicization of Islam in East Turkestan is inevitable,” she added.
Campaign for Uighurs issued On Monday, it called for action to defend the rights of Muslims in the region and condemned Ma’s comments as suggestive of the “Chinese Communist Party.” [Chinese Communist Party] It will continue its genocide of Uyghurs and its relentless war against religion. ”
On April 23, 2021, a guard tower stands on the outer wall of Urumqi No. 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, western China. China’s discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority ethnic groups in western Xinjiang may constitute a crime. The United Nations Human Rights Office said in a long-awaited report released on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, that it was a treason against humanity. (Mark Schiefelbein, File/Associated Press)
The World Uyghur Congress, the global advocacy group for the East Turkestan people, releases a statement at the start of Ramadan reminding the world of the “unique challenges” Uyghur Muslims face in observing the holy month. did.
“As they seek to observe this sacred month, many are subject to repressive policies and restrictions on their religious practices. Despite these obstacles, Uyghur communities continue to support their We remain resilient, drawing strength from our faith and the support of allies around the world,” the group said in a statement. read. “Although Uyghurs are restricted from observing the holy month of Ramadan, join us in offering dua and good deeds for the Uyghurs of East Turkestan.”
