News Right Now: Crimes and Coercion

November 2022 saw the release of the long awaited and damning report entitled ‘Forced Marriage of Uyghur Women: State Policies for Interethnic Marriages in East Turkistan’, by the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). After examining evidence from policy documents, government-sanctioned profiles and testimonials, accounts from women in the Uyghur diaspora, and Chinese media reports - the report states that the Chinese government is actively involved in carrying out a barbaric campaign of forcing inter-ethnic marriages between Uyghur women and Han men on an unparalleled level.

According to the report, President Xi Jinping’s “new era”, initiative created the “Ethnic Intermarriage Family Forum” with the support of the Communist Party of China, and have forced marriage upon Uyghur women with Han men since 2014. The report claims that forced marriage of Uyghur women in the Xinjiang province has been intensified since 2018. The government has been working on Xi’s main agenda “one nation race” and thus, interethnic marriage is one of the most vigorous tactics of the Chinese government to root out the culture of the Uyghur people and consequently, the community. The report states that this is another tool of genocide and crimes against Uyghur Muslims.

The forced and incentivized marriages in the Uyghur region, coercing interethnic marriage and other gender based-abuse only further the ongoing genocide and crimes against Muslims being committed in East Turkistan. China’s government is unashamedly using vile and oppressive tactics to create the mono culture it seeks. Journalist Samina Mistream’s report quotes that “Xinjiang officials have been offering cash rewards as well as housing and education subsidies, jobs and medical cover to Uyghur women willing to marry Han men – as well as threatening the women that they or their family could end up in internment camps if they refuse. In one instance, officials from Kalasa village in Aksu Prefecture offered 40,000 yuan (£4,750) to two mixed Uyghur-Han couples as part of the village’s “National Unity, One Family” campaign”. There was also documentation regarding annual “ethnic intermarriage awards” in the city of Kashgar which was funded with 20,000 yuan (£2,380).

Likewise in the name of security concerns, the Chinese government has been keeping an eye on the activities of every single Uyghur Muslims for years. Reports claimed that several Uyghur language apps were attacked by Chinese spyware. Reportedly, US-based Cybersecurity found evidence that two strains of spyware linked to Chinese state-backed hacker groups infiltrated several multiple Uyghur-language Android apps. This spyware has been attacking dictionaries, religious apps, maps, WhatsApp and the Telegram accounts of Uyghur Muslims - enabling hackers to collect all personal data including a user’s location, contacts, call logs, text messages and files, as per the report - and even take photos and record calls.

China has proven to the world, beyond doubt, that it will stop at nothing to force the assimilation of Uyghur Muslims into its Han community, in order to erase all Islamic values, practices and any Islamic influence in its future generations. Its program of ethnic cleansing, mass detention and forced indoctrination of the Uyghur Muslims of East Turkestan, has seen the practice on mass, of the forced separation of Uyghur children from their parents and families. A clear crusade to systematically sever the attachment of young Muslims to their Deen and to re-shape their identity. As well as the imprisonment of Uyghur children in state run orphanages, the Chinese regime has also built thousands of ‘bilingual’ kindergartens for this cultural indoctrination of Muslim children. 4,300 of these kindergartens were constructed or renovated in 2017 according to the government. In these institutions, children are taught to ‘love the Motherland’ and that the religion of their parents is abnormal and radical and therefore needs to be eradicated. It is reported that officials often visit these kindergartens and ask the students if their parents read Quranic verses at home or participate in other religious activities – effectively forcing children to spy on their own parents and families.

Additionally, the regime has established thousands of bilingual schools; many of which are boarding schools which Uyghur children are forced to attend, limiting the time that they spend with their families, and transferring control over their upbringing from their Muslim families to the atheist state, which is forcing them to live like non-Muslim Han Chinese. Communist China seizes every opportunity to achieve its aims, even under the pretext of combating the Coronavirus. Last month East Turkestan was shut down and all residential complexes in the city were closed – doors were even welded shut! This is making it impossible for anyone to leave their home.

Additionally, under quarantine, citizens of the city of Ghulja” were prevented from moving freely, and threatened with a ban on returning to their homes if they did. The Uyghur Muslims here live under the threat of arrest, and being shot on sight if they break any of these harsh restrictions – and residents have been deprived of food, drink, medicine and necessary supplies, resulting in the starvation and the death of many men, women and children.

Islam however, has obliged Muslims to protect the honor of women. This can only be successfully achieved via a Khilafah that will grant them their rights and not coerce them into marriage or any act of injustice. The soon to be established Khilafah will rush to defend and avenge our Uyghur sisters and hold the culprits to account. The solution to the injustices carried out against our sisters across the globe is only achievable by implementing our Deen, our shield, and our protector. Establishing a state that truly represents and defends the interests of Islam and the Muslims according to this decreed standard, must be the priority for all Muslims. The Khilafah Rashida (righteous Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood, which the Messenger saws described as the shield and guardian of the Ummah and Deen, It must be clear to us all that this is the only way to support our oppressed Muslim brothers and sisters in China and all over the world.

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