China Authorities Arrested Uyghur Woman For Teaching Islam And Quran

Maisah

January 11, 2022

China Authorities Arrested Uyghur Woman For Teaching Islam And Quran

TOPSHOT – A demonstrator wearing a mask painted with the colours of the flag of East Turkestan and a hand bearing the colours of the Chinese flag attends a protest of supporters of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and Turkish nationalists to denounce China’s treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims during a deadly riot in July 2009 in Urumqi, in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, on July 5, 2018. – Nearly 200 people died during a series of violent riots that broke out on July 5, 2009 over several days in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China, between Uyghurs and Han people. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

An Uyghur woman is reportedly abducted from her home in China’s Xinjiang region in the middle of the night around four years ago. She was later sentenced to 14 years in prison for teaching Islam to children in her neighbourhood and hiding a copy of the Quran.

The poor woman is a 57-year-old native of the Manas (Manasi) area in the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang named Hasiyet Ehmet. She has not been heard since Chinese officials abducted her in May 2017.

Hasiyet’s case was first reported by RFA (Radio Free Asia) then prompted a relevant source to tell RFA’S Uyghur Service that the Chinese authorities had sentenced the poor woman to 14 years in prison, seven years for teaching the Quran and giving religious lessons to local children, and seven more years for hiding two copies of the Holy Quran when the police began to confiscate religious books from residents of Manas District.

A source reports that officers from police station No. 3 in the District had stormed into Hasiyet’s house in the middle of the night, forced her to wear a black hood over her head, and completely ignored her plea to put different clothing or take her medicine before taking her away.

Manas regional court officials have confirmed the 14-year sentence in prison to Hasiyet Ehmet.

In 2009, nine years before her arrest, Hasiyet’s spouse was convicted of “separatism” charges and sentenced to life in prison.

Hasiyet had stopped teaching two years before her arrest due to health problems and refrained from attending public events. However, the authorities still arrested and sentenced her.

For the past years, Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have tortured many of China’s Uyghur Muslims as part of a campaign to monitor, control and assimilate members of the Islamic community in an effort to stop religious extremism and terrorist activities.

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Maisah

Maisah is a Muslimah and journalist for The Islamic Information based in Indonesia. Studying Law at Maritime University of Raja Ali Haji. She believes in the power of words and hopes that her articles will positively impact all of her readers.