Faith leaders from across the world unite to condemn China on Xinjiang as Muslim countries look the other way

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China footage reveals hundreds of blindfolded and shackled prisoners. (Photo courtesy: The Guardian)

(TibetanReview.net, Aug09’20) – In the face of the indifference of the Muslim countries that otherwise vie to be seen as saviours and leaders of the religion, more than 40 faith leaders from across the world have united to condemn China’s brutal repression of its Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. They have demanded a halt to “one of the most egregious human tragedies since the Holocaust: the potential genocide of the Uighurs and other Muslims in China,” reported dailymail.co.uk Aug 9, adding former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was among them.

Rabbi Julia Neuberger and the representative of the Dalai Lama in Europe also lent their weight to a joint statement Aug 8 night that condemned the communist regime in Beijing, asserting that “the clear aim of the Chinese authorities is to eradicate the Uighur identity”.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. (Photo courtesy: AP)

“At least one million Uighur and other Muslims in China are incarcerated in prison camps facing starvation, torture, murder, sexual violence, slave labour and forced organ extraction,” they have said.

“Outside the camps, basic religious freedom is denied.

“Mosques are destroyed, children are separated from their families, and acts as simple as owning a Koran, praying or fasting can result in arrest,” the group was quoted as saying.

The report noted that despite strong evidence that up to a million Uighurs had been held in detention camps over recent years, the Chinese government described such claims as baseless.

The report noted that an academic report in June claimed Beijing had waged a campaign of forced sterilisation or birth control against Uighur women of child-bearing age, prompting calls for the UN to launch an investigation.

The coalition of religious heads have accused world leaders of failing to act and concluded: “After the Holocaust, the world said ‘Never again.’ Today, we repeat those words all over again.”

Only the United States has taken any meaningful step towards pressuring China to let go of the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang, severely criticizing the regime and imposing sanction on its leaders.

Some Muslim countries have in fact expressed support or “understanding” for China’s brutal religious persecution of the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang while others have actively refrained from expressing any criticism of the Chinese government.

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