Mahmoud Al-Adam
The Chinese crackdown on the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang has been going on for nearly 70 years, but the issue has been forgotten, and it has not received international coverage and attention, as do many of the more powerful and authoritarian issues.
Xinjiang (formerly East Turkestan) is one of China's five autonomous regions. According to Chinese government figures, more than half of the province's population is mainly Muslim, mainly Uighur.
The Uighurs staged several revolutions in the 20th century for independence from the central government in Beijing, most notably the 1944 revolution, which succeeded in declaring the independent East Turkestan state, but was soon annexed by Communist China in 1949.
Since then, they have been subjected to continuous crackdowns by the Beijing government that have affected all aspects of life and have resulted in structural changes including demography, culture, religion, language, and all walks of life.
The region has huge natural resources, mainly coal, natural gas and oil, which fill about 80% of China's needs. The territory of China, which is one-fifth of China's territory, has long been a security concern for Chinese authorities to cross its borders with five Muslim countries.
| Chinese army troops deployed after tension in Xinjiang province 2014 (Getty Images) |
This report highlights the most prominent manifestations of the Chinese crackdown against them:
- Displacement, deportation and tampering with the demographic structure:
Until 1949, the Uighurs represented 80% of the population of the East Turkistan Province. The Chinese authorities exercised various forms of oppression and persecution against Uighurs, displacing hundreds of thousands of them in neighboring countries and regions.
The migration paved the way for the Chinese government to urge Han Chinese to migrate to the region under the banner of openness and peaceful coexistence among nationalities, gradually leading to an increase in Han Chinese population, who now account for 42% of the province's population. 24 million.
- Restrictions on religious freedoms:
In the name of countering terrorism, the authorities in the region impose strict security measures on the population, denying that they are systematically violating the rights of Muslims in the region, saying that they are only cracking down on "extremism" and "separatism" in the region.
According to a ruling party newspaper, the province has amended legislation to allow local authorities to teach and modify the behavior of people affected by extremism in vocational training centers.
The new law allows for the arrest of suspects without legal prosecution, and allows for "ideological education against extremism, psychological treatment and correcting behavior."
According to a report published by Al Jazeera Net, Chinese authorities have closed over the past two decades more than six thousand mosques, and the demobilization of tens of thousands of imams Uighurs.
Racist policies did not stop there. On 28 June 2014, the local administration of Xinyang County published a statement on its website warning Muslims working in institutions and government departments to fast or perform religious duties during the holy month of Ramadan. They also demanded that students and teachers not fast , And compliance with applicable laws within the territory.
This was followed by a decision by the local authority to ban veiled women, bearded men and anyone wearing clothes bearing the symbol of the moon and the star from riding buses on the pretext of enhancing security and peace.
Judicial authorities in Urumqi, the administrative capital, on December 11, 2014, enacted a law banning the wearing of the niqab in public places, as the full-face veils are not traditional garments.
After the decision, security authorities warned all clothing companies in the city, as well as tailors, to make veiled clothes.
The authorities' practices in this regard can be summarized as follows:
Denial of the performance of prayer and religious rituals only in a narrow framework and under observation.
Prevent the circulation of the Koran and religious books.
Forcing them to fast during the day in Ramadaan and forbidding them to fast.
Prevent the use of loudspeakers to raise the adhaan on the pretext of disturbing the population.
Preventing the application of Shari'a provisions in the regulation of personal status, which pertain to marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Banning women's legitimate dress and preventing its manufacture, and banning the beards of men.
The suppression of Islamic monuments, the closure of mosques and the demobilization of imams.
Prohibition of Halal food and forcing them to eat pork in schools and workplaces.
Preventing the carrying of religious symbols such as crescent and star.
Block Arabic characters.
Subjecting educational institutions to Chinese curricula.
Prevent polygamy.
Dissemination of pornography and alcohol shops in Muslim areas.
Birth control according to Chinese laws.
Workers from various regions of China prepare to travel to Xinjiang Muslim Province for work and resettlement to change demographics in the province (Getty Images)
- Restrictions on personal freedoms:
A report issued by the US Congress said that the Chinese authorities are carrying out an "unprecedented" crackdown on minority members, including Uighur Muslims, and authoritarian government methods are causing the country's human rights situation to deteriorate and the report warned that such abuses "may constitute crimes against humanity."
"Taking such measures to prevent and combat terrorism and extremism has really contributed to maintaining social stability in Xinjiang and has provided protection for the livelihoods of all ethnic groups," said a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The Chinese authorities have received strict written commitments from most influential figures in the Uighur community, which recognize full compliance with the government's instructions and indicate that anyone who violates them will put themselves in legal custody.
These practices include:
Prevent foreign contacts from suspected links with opponents abroad.
Narrowing the use of the Internet and means of social communication.
Denial of travel of suspected opponents of dissent.
Prevent the renewal of passports of dissidents abroad.
Continuous monitoring and dissemination of cameras and scanners even in remote villages.
Sampling DNA to facilitate follow-up opponents.
Provide the vehicles with segments that allow tracking of the movement via satellite.
Arrest and subject to investigation into security centers without specific charges.
Discrimination against them in the right to access government jobs.
- Detention camps:
The United Nations said it had received credible reports that some 2 million Uighurs were held in secret Chinese camps in Xinjiang, which the authorities called "political indoctrination camps" or "rehabilitation." The Beijing authorities defended the program, saying it wanted to counter terrorism Through specialized training centers.
Human rights organizations say detentions are arbitrary and often result from harmless acts such as praying or receiving contact from a relative abroad, while the United Nations called for the release of detainees and described the camps as "an area with no rights".
The organizations quoted testimonies that the detainees spent their days in the camps forcibly seeking Chinese propaganda songs such as "Without the Communist Party there will be no new China."
The AFP quoted people who were detained as being jailed for their long beards or wearing hijab, or because they had posted greetings on the Internet during Islamic holidays.
Sophie Richardson, China's director at Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization, said that "the Chinese authorities have severely placed children of some political detainees in Xinjiang in state institutions."
| A government publication on social networking sites shows detainees at a political education camp in Hotan province |
Practices in camps against detainees include:
- Prevent contact with relatives abroad.
- The separation of children from their families in detention, making them vulnerable to moral decay and social corruption.
- Exposing detainees to brainwashing programs and modifying behavior, under the pretext of combating extremist ideas and extremism.
- Detainees are also subjected to various forms of torture, including drowning.
According to official statistics, there are 30 million Muslims in the country, 23 million of them Uighurs, while unofficial reports indicate that the number of Muslims is about 100 million, or about 9.5% of the total population.