Uyghur pop star detained in China

he following article was written and researched by Rachel Harris, teacher of ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London, and leader of the Leverhulme research project, Sounding Islam in China; and Aziz Isa Elkun, London-based Uyghur writer and blogger actively engaged in promoting Uyghur culture and history. The views expressed and research presented in this blog are those of the…

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Why are Muslim Uighurs being sent to ‘re-education’ camps?

The Stream looks at the plight of China’s Uighurs and other stories from social media Uighur ‘re-education’ in China  Thousands of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region have been reportedly detained in so-called re-education camps where they are forced to renounce their cultural and religious identities. The detentions are part of China’s efforts to influence the politics of a…

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Uyghur Man Buried Amid Strict Security After Latest Xinjiang Reeducation Camp Death

Family members of Abdulreshit Seley Hajim buried the 65-year-old Uyghur businessman under the close scrutiny of Chinese security officials this week, nine months after he was put in a political reeducation camp, his brother told RFA’s Uyghur Service. Seley was born in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) city in Xinjiang’s Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture,…

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China’s Ramadan crackdown complete with concentration camps back to haunt Uyghur Muslims

As part of the crackdown, the Chinese government prohibits Uyghur Muslims from following religious practices and they aren’t allowed to observe a fast during the holy month of Ramadan. In fact, government employees are prohibited from fasting and even visiting mosques during Ramadan. By : Vanilla Sharma – International Business Times A Muslim man arrives at the…

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Ethnography of a Surveillance State

Anthropologist Darren Byler chronicles artistic culture in Northwest China amid a massive security crackdown. By Jonathan Hiskes In the last three months, University of Washington anthropology student Darren Byler has spoken about his research to AI developers at Google, business leaders at the Washington State China Relations Council, and journalists at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Beijing.…

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How Should the World Respond to Intensifying Repression in Xinjiang?

Deliberate, systematic human rights abuses are happening in China’s northwest. Reporting and research published in recent weeks shows that the Chinese government is targeting the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region’s roughly 11 million Muslims for “re-education.” Anywhere from several hundred thousand to more than a million people have been or are being held in “centers,” where they have to “disavow their Islamic…

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Moral Hazards and China

Four hundred thousand to one million people in concentration camps. If these estimates are true,  that means that at least one—and perhaps far more—of every ten Uyghur men lives in a re-education camp right now. Those numbers come from an article published by the Associated Press two weeks ago. [1] This week’s Economist lists a similar tally. It goes on to…

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China’s Uyghur Repression

International attention on the question of Xinjiang, the autonomous province in the northwestern corner of China, and the oppression of its native Uyghur population by the Chinese state still lags behind the well-publicized case of Tibet. Yet in the mind of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xinjiang, which many Uyghurs call East Turkistan, now outweighs Tibet as a…

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Interview: ‘I Cannot Express The Pain And Helplessness I Feel’

Nurbiye Nurtay, an ethnic Uyghur Muslim from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), has been living in Malaysia practicing traditional Uyghur medicine for the last three years. She lost contact with her family in Ghulja (Yining) county, in the XUAR’s Ili Kazakh (in Chinese, Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture, nearly a year ago, and only recently discovered…

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China is secretly imprisoning close to 1 million people — but they’ve left 2 big pieces of evidence behind

Hundreds of thousands, and potentially more than one million, people have been caught up in China’s “re-education camps” over the last year. The camps, which operate outside the courts, are designed to indoctrinate ethnic minority Uighurs and force them to reject their religious beliefs. Bids for constructing or renovating these centers, as well as staff…

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Xinjiang Jails Uyghur Civil Servants Over Lack of Enthusiasm For Anti-Extremist Campaigns

Two Uyghur civil servants in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been jailed for failing to send members of their ethnic group to “political re-education camps,” according to sources, as part of a crackdown by authorities on so-called “two-faced” officials. Omerjan Hesen, 34, director of archives for the Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefectural…

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