The Telegraph
China's Uighur Muslims forced to eat and drink as Ramadan celebrations banned

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China's treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims has drawn protest around the world
China's treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims has drawn protest around the world
Sophia Yan
1 JUNE 2019 • 5:45 PM
For the handful of elderly men inside one of China's largest mosques, the first bow comes not when prayers begin but as they duck through metal detectors.

Lined with facial recognition security cameras both inside and out, Id Kah mosque in Kashgar is under the constant watch of patrolling police officers armed with batons and riot shields.

Ramadan is a quiet, fearful affair in this oasis town on ancient trade routes. Despite mounting international pressure and condemnation, the massive crackdown on the Uighur people and their shrinking culture here shows no signs of abating for the Muslim holy month.

Widespread intimidation - from inside mosques to family homes - mean residents don't dare utter the traditional Islamic greeting, “as-salaam alaikum”, while fasting is also banned, with restaurants forced to stay open.

At schools and local authority offices, “the Chinese government provides water, food – lunch – to force you to drink and eat,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, an advocacy group.

Local officials are increasing checks to people’s homes, too, to make sure they aren’t secretly observing the practice, according to a government notice posted online.

They’ll even “bring gifts to Uighur families – pork,” Mr Isa told The Telegraph. Although Muslims don’t eat the meat, “you cannot refuse it; you have to accept it, and they are monitoring them and eating together.”

Kashgar lies in the heart of Xinjiang, a far-western region in China home to the Uighurs, an ethnic minority of mostly Sunni Muslims. US officials believe up to three million of them have been locked up in internment camps in what amounts to a virtual whitewash of religion and culture.

The city of Kashgar has changed dramatically under the Chinese crackdown
The city of Kashgar has changed dramatically under the Chinese crackdown CREDIT: GUILLAUME PAYEN/GETTY IMAGES
Former detainees interviewed by The Telegraph have recounted horrific torture, being forced to memorise Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and to renounce Islam.

This year's Ramadan is a far cry from ones in the past – tens of thousands used to flock to Id Kah, spilling out into the public square to pray before boisterous celebrations erupted to break the day’s fast.


The old city's saffron-coloured alleys and archways were once so reminiscent of old Kabul that the film, The Kite Runner, was shot here – before the government bulldozed most of it in 2010.

In the corner that remains, Chinese tourists snap photos of Uighur children in the narrow lanes by homes with red signs that deem them “virtuous” households – a government programme that recognises ‘good’ behaviour.

That’s the Kashgar that Beijing wants the world to see, not the internment camps just a few miles away. Even with growing evidence of terrifying abuses inside, China insists the camps are “vocational skills training” centres that reform would-be terrorists.

The Telegraph's efforts to track down and visit these illicit camps were largely scuppered by a near-constant surveillance and obstruction by groups of men watching reporters' every move.

During four days in the city, the reporters were effectively kidnapped twice after nameless voices over the radio instructed taxi drivers to turn around rather than continue to the requested destination.

As a result, the Telegraph navigated nearly 50 miles on foot, eventually reaching a vast internment camp with at least nine yellow and gray buildings and four watchtowers.

There, a dozen minders quickly faked an electricity line repair and surrounded reporters for over an hour to block them from advancing further down the road. “It’s for your safety,” they said. Four separate patrols also forced photographer Giulia Marchi to delete images.

The Telegraph was followed so tightly that it was impossible to conduct interviews in the open. But in snatches of private conversations, Uighurs raised deep concerns without being prompted.

Near one internment camp, our Uighur driver shut off the radio and snuffed out his cigarette, his lively demeanour suddenly subdued. That compound was “much trouble,” he said, making the motion of being handcuffed. Police tracked his vehicle and he never got too close out of fear he’d end up inside.

Another confided he’d been detained for a few days and that his wife remained imprisoned, now for 18 months, leaving him alone to raise their two young children. “I am worried,” he said. “I don’t know for how much longer [she will be held].”

At highway checkpoints, Uighurs are stopped for full body and face scans and vehicle searches. To pass, they must swipe their ID cards at turnstiles, prompting personal details to pop up on screens for officers to monitor, creating a digital trail of their movements.

The US says that up to three million Uighurs could detained in Chinese 're-education' camps
The US says that up to three million Uighurs could detained in Chinese 're-education' camps CREDIT: VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP
Beijing has long sought to arrest control of this resource-rich region where decades of government-encouraged migration of the Han – China’s ethnic majority – have fuelled resentment among Uighurs. The biggest outburst erupted in 2009 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, resulting in 200 deaths.

Now, the ruling Communist Party has launched a propaganda campaign about snuffing out "criminal" and "terrorist" activity. All across Xinjiang – meaning "new frontier" – are bright red banners reminding people to fight illegal, "cult" behaviour, listing hotlines to report suspicious activity.

“Love the Party, love the country,” hangs a streamer at one mosque, just above the metal detector. A highway billboard proclaims, “Secretary Xi is linked heart-to-heart with Xinjiang minorities,” referring to Chinese president Xi Jinping.

The government is working to present an image of a happy, peaceful Xinjiang, in efforts to boost tourism and attract investment; this is the linchpin for Mr Xi's Belt and Road initiative.

While the local economy has yet to soar as officials hope – special economic zones and new housing complexes sit empty – the messaging is starting to work.

A retired Han couple said they finally felt safe enough to visit Xinjiang given the strong police presence. “We’ve been here for a week and we haven’t seen any scuffles,” Zuo Xiaofang, from Shanghai, told the Telegraph. “We heard it used to be a mess here.”

“Han and Uighur are a united family!” said a Han Chinese barista in the old city, now turned a garish cultural theme park, where many mosques have shuttered, with Islamic features like onion domes or the crescent moon removed.

It’s all part of a vow Mr Xi made in 2015 to “Sinicise” religion, and Uighur advocates worry about tradition, language and culture – cultivated from centuries as a trading stop on the old Silk Road – being erased.

“‘Sinification’ of Islam means adjusting religion to be comfortable for the Chinese Communist Party,” said Mr Isa. “If Uighurs are thinking, living Chinese, then Uighur culture [will be] all destroyed.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/01/chinas-uighur-muslims-forced-eat-drink-ramadan-celebrations/amp/

Nice

Those terrorists needs to be stop, I'm starting to like China

China wan begin dey collect suicide bombing be dat..

This is going extreme.... it's bad enough you destroy religious prayer houses but to tamper with personal choice of fasting is a new low.

daddytime:
China wan begin dey collect suicide bombing be dat..

No be this year them start am o

E don tey eeee

Binikingdowm:
Nice

Those terrorists needs to be stop, I'm starting to like China

China assault Christians too.




I wish they will restrict thier madness to Muslims
stupid slant eyes bastards.

Esseite:
This is going extreme.... it's bad enough you destroy their prayer houses but to tamper with personal choice of fasting is a new low.

China know what they are doing,leave them alone.Indonosia that has to crush millions of bottles of alcohol because of Muslims.These Asian countries know what they are doing.

They are trying soo hard to preserve themselves and generations to come against jihadist activities in the year's to come.They are only doing their best to prevent a situation they can't control.

Bridget95:
They are trying soo hard to preserve themselves and generations to come against jihadist activities in the year's to come.They are only doing their best to prevent a situation they can't control.

there is something wrong with the Islamic religion. Just Like that Muslim man that wanted kadaria ahmed dead because she allegedly switched religion.

it's true all terrorists 're Muslims

just imagine them bombing a church in sri Lanka. very pathetic set

orion7:
China assault Christians too.




I wish they will restrict thier madness to Muslims
stupid slant eyes bastards.

Do you think Chinese Muslims and Christians don't have slanted eyes?
SMH

Xisnin:

Do you think Chinese Muslims and Christians don't have slanted eyes? SMH

did I say they don't?

orion7:
did I say they don't?

Then you are attacking both the aggressors and the victims.

orion7:
there is something wrong with the Islamic religion. Just Like that Muslim man that wanted kadaria ahmed dead because she allegedly switched religion.

it's true all terrorists 're Muslims

just imagine them bombing a church in sri Lanka. very pathetic set

...
It's not true that all terrorists are Muslims..
We have Christians too that are terrorists...

Binikingdowm:
Nice

Those terrorists needs to be stop, I'm starting to like China

..
If the same treatment is melted out to u Christians,u cry persecution..
Here u are, sounding soo happy...

China is an islamophobic country.may almighty ALLAH protect the Muslims in China

Believe Western media at your own peril

China should feed them well, those terrorist are trying to kill themselves with hunger

Chinko no get joy at all!

You must assimilate by fire, by force. They want to “sinicize” Islam.

You just have to give the devil his due. These communists are efficient.

Uyi168:
... It's not true that all terrorists are Muslims.. We have Christians too that are terrorists...

like ?

I have a feeling China plans to eradicate religion entirely.....

orion7:
like ?

..
Breton Harrison Tarrant..
Robert Doggart..
James Charles kopp..
Scot Philip Roeder..
Eric Rudolph..
Etc..

Uyi168:
..
Breton Harrison Tarrant..
Robert Doggart..
James Charles kopp..
Scot Philip Roeder..
Eric Rudolph..
Etc..

so anenih the thief

buhari

mouth

common criminals

and other serial killers 're terrorists ?

lol. pls

Uyi168:
...
It's not true that all terrorists are Muslims..
We have Christians too that are terrorists...

There is no Christian terrorist anywhere in the world.

Gerraway from here you ignoramus!!!

you just listed the names of some atheists!!!

give us proof that they terrorized in the name of Jesus in the same way moslems terrorize in the name of Allah!!

Uyi168:
..
Breton Harrison Tarrant..
Robert Doggart..
James Charles kopp..
Scot Philip Roeder..
Eric Rudolph..
Etc..

I also strongly think that we biafrans have to ask China for help in getting ourselves separated from the moslem northerners and oyorubas!!!

people that close down private businesses of restauranteurs whenever they are observing their "ramadan" do not deserve to have we Christians living in the same country with them!!!

wetin concern us with una "fasting"?!!!

China is dishing to them exactly what the moslems dish to other religions in countries where moslems are the majority!!!

the international interventionist invaders are soon coming to the shiithole to tear zoogeria to pieces and we, the great easterners, are SOO gone from the shiithole ASAP, AMEN!!!

soulpeppersoup:


There is no Christian terrorist anywhere in the world.

and these ones what are they......

https://hillreporter.com/20-examples-of-christian-terrorism-in-modern-times-25537

China is the world best country when it comes to dealing with terrorist. THEY DON'T PLAY

gerraway from here you nincompoop!!!

show us proof of where these fools committed their crimes in the name of Jesus just as moslems shout allahuakbar before they blow up people!!!

trying to be clever by half!!!

effing terrorist atheist like you!!!

get lost!!!

Seetto:

and these ones what are they......

https://hillreporter.com/20-examples-of-christian-terrorism-in-modern-times-25537

MONIKERREVEALER:
Gerraway from here you ignoramus!!!

you just listed the names of some atheists!!!

give us proof that they terrorized in the name of Jesus in the same way moslems terrorize in the name of Allah!!

...
Guy,u Mumu sha..
I doubt if u even bother to go through those names...
Please, endeavor to go through those names before quoting me next time..

orion7:


so anenih the thief

buhari

mouth

common criminals

and other serial killers 're terrorists ?

lol. pls

....
Nor lie,u didnt go through those names..

MONIKERREVEALER:
I also strongly think that we biafrans have to ask China for help in getting ourselves separated from the moslem northerners and oyorubas!!!

people that close down private businesses of restauranteurs whenever they are observing their "ramadan" do not deserve to have we Christians living in the same country with them!!!

wetin concern us with una "fasting"?!!!

China is dishing to them exactly what the moslems dish to other religions in countries where moslems are the majority!!!

the international interventionist invaders are soon coming to the shiithole to tear zoogeria to pieces and we, the great easterners, are SOO gone from the shiithole ASAP, AMEN!!!

..
You'll be very foolish If u think China gives a fvck about Christians..
They suppress all religions...