China tags Uyghurs as ‘violent extremists’ for possession of the Quran

BEIJING: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities spy on the phones of ethnic Uyghurs, a minority, predominately Muslim Turkic-speaking population in the Xinjiang Province, to identify content that the government deems radical, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch, The Organisation for World Peace (OWP) reported.

Even owning a copy of the Quran can result in a police probe against the person, according to the 50,000 multimedia files that are used as a guide to flag information as encouraging extremism. This list, which is used by the CCP government, includes not only “violent and terrorist” material like video, photos, and audio created by terrorist organisations like ISIL, but also any material from groups calling for the identity and self-determination of the minority Muslim Uyghur population in the Xinjiang province.

This list specifically targets material about the Tiananmen Square Massacre, readings from the Quran, religious hymns, and a travel show called “On the Road” that was filmed in Syria, according to Human Rights Watch’s metadata analysis, according to OWP.

OWP quoted Al Jazeera, stating that the list that Human Rights Watch examined is a portion of 52 GB of material taken from a Xinjian police database and released to Intercept in 2019.

Human Rights Watch claims that the Chinese police have ordered Xinjiang province citizens to download the Jingwang Weishi app, which enables law enforcement to check the contents of people’s phones.

Chinese police conducted 11.2 million searches on the phones of more than 1 million residents, and HRW examined 1000 files from those searches and discovered that 57 per cent of the content identified as radical was just religious content.

Human Rights Watch’s recent revelation has confirmed to the world community the severity of the religious persecution suffered by Muslim minorities in China and the urgent need to look into the government’s violent crackdown on minority groups in the far-western province of Xinjiang, as per a report published in OWP.

The CCP authorities have denied any claims of mistreatment, asserting that the US and the West are peddling an anti-China narrative, while also resorting to harassing activists and preventing the UNHCR from publishing a report on this issue, according to the CFR. This is despite the fact that China has been the target of growing international criticism and protests regarding its crackdown on Uyghurs.

In general, the CCP governments have been under pressure from the international community for many years, but to little avail. Due to their economic links and reliance on China, many nations, including some of China’s Muslim allies like Pakistan, have been reluctant to criticise China’s atrocities.

Human Rights Watch’s report has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Chinese authorities target anyone who merely tries to practise their religion. This is a serious issue that the international community needs to confront China into changing its attitude toward its minorities, reported OWP. (ANI)

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