XINJIANG: Since 2014, Chinese authorities have arrested 1,046 Muslim Imams belonging to the Xinjiang region, revealed in the report published by Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP).
Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director, said that the arrests of top Muslim Imams in a region where Islam is predominantly the growing religion. He further added that Chinese Authorities are destroying Mosques in other Islamic symbols in the region.
Out of 1,046 arrests, 428 imams were sent to prison, and 202 were sent to concentration camps (also known as reeducation camps). Eighteen Imams have died in the custody of Chinese authorities in concentration camps.
96 of the arrested were sentenced to more than five years in prisons. The reasons on which they were arrested is for “teaching others to pray Salah (Islamic Prayer)”, “Refusal to burn Quran”. “Studying in Egypt” and “Spreading the Faith (Islam)”.
Pakistan, which has amicable relationships with China, hasn’t spoken a single word about the Muslim genocide in China. Some of the government officials have refused to comment.
According to the UHRP, many cases in China go unreported. The majority of the Imams in China have fled the country.
The history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) shows the repression of religion since the inception of its’ power back in 1949. Muslims and Christians have suffered greatly in the region.
Chinese authorities have started the practice of “reeducation” first on the Falun Gong religion, which they had extended to Christians. Now, Muslims are the biggest victims of this practice.
Chinese expert Adrian Zenz while talking confirmed that in the 1950s the reeducation through labour (劳动教养) started practising.
Chinese authorities are bulldozing mosques, including Muslim graveyards, to create playgrounds or residential buildings on these. Millions of Ujygur either fled the country or currently in concentration camps.
The global community have been raising its voice, but no strong actions have been taken yet.
