Uyghurs Under 65 Now Banned From Daily Prayers Required by Their Faith

Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang region are forbidding practice by ethnic Uyghurs of the daily prayers required of observant Muslims, allowing only those 65 years of age and older to fulfill their religious obligations, sources say. The move further tightens restrictions on Islamic practice that has already seen restrictions placed on the annual Ramadan fast and the banning of religious instruction for Uyghur children under 18, who are also barred from entering mosques.

Enacted in 2017, the ban on the daily prayer called namaz has been reported in three separate jurisdictions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and is being enforced by village police officers who enter private homes to command compliance, sources said.

Those found in violation of the rules are reported to local authorities and face penalties including possible incarceration in Xinjiang’s network of political re-education camps, where as many as 1.8 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims accused of “religious extremism” and of harboring “politically incorrect ideas” have been held since 2017.

Read more