But what is less known is that the Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim minority who live in Western China, are not the only targets. Muslims living all over the country find themselves enduring egregious violations of their rights, including draconian measures such as being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol and to shave their beards or remove their headscarves. They are persecuted for having connections — real or perceived — to Muslim intellectuals abroad, and many are denied passports and the right to travel, including to hajj pilgrimages. State authorities have also been prohibiting the adhan (call to prayers) and removing minarets, even bulldozing some mosques in their entirety.
lørdag 8. mai 2021
The Terrible ‘Sinicization’ of Islam in China
In the past three years, over 1 million Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China have been enduring a systemic, state-run campaign of incarceration and internment in “re-education camps” in one of the world’s worst human rights abuses. The story has begun to receive the coverage it deserves in major media outlets, like in this investigative report updated last month by The New York Times, which shows satellite images of an expansion of these internment camps despite China’s claim that the camps had been shrinking as “reformed” Uyghurs rejoined society.
But what is less known is that the Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim minority who live in Western China, are not the only targets. Muslims living all over the country find themselves enduring egregious violations of their rights, including draconian measures such as being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol and to shave their beards or remove their headscarves. They are persecuted for having connections — real or perceived — to Muslim intellectuals abroad, and many are denied passports and the right to travel, including to hajj pilgrimages. State authorities have also been prohibiting the adhan (call to prayers) and removing minarets, even bulldozing some mosques in their entirety.
But what is less known is that the Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim minority who live in Western China, are not the only targets. Muslims living all over the country find themselves enduring egregious violations of their rights, including draconian measures such as being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol and to shave their beards or remove their headscarves. They are persecuted for having connections — real or perceived — to Muslim intellectuals abroad, and many are denied passports and the right to travel, including to hajj pilgrimages. State authorities have also been prohibiting the adhan (call to prayers) and removing minarets, even bulldozing some mosques in their entirety.
