China intensifies crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang, a report says
China has intensified a crackdown on Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims with mass arrests and detentions ahead of the national congress of the Chinese Community Party (CCP), says a report.
Over the past few weeks, law enforcers in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture have carried out a series of arrests of Muslims in preparation for the 20th National Congress of the CCP which begins in Beijing on Oct. 16, reported Bitter Winter, a magazine covering human rights and religious liberty.
Among the dozens of detainees are religious figures and imams who had been arrested and released in the past years.
The crackdown comes as the authorities are implementing a new system of political re-education. It involves the detention of inmates for 15 days who are released for a short period and then detained again after 15 days.
The authorities arrested several well-known mosque imams and their co-workers in 2018 and handed them lengthy jail terms, from 18-23 years. They have been all members of the Chinese Islamic Association, a state supervisory body for followers of Islam in China.
The crackdown continues despite China facing global ire for its brutal persecution of the Turkic-origin-Uyghur and other minorities in the region.
Former UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, who visited China this year, released a report on Aug. 30, which accused China of committing serious human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
