Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 18 February 2020
Leaked data shows China's Uighurs detained due to religion

BEIJING (AP) — When a Saudi Wahhabi sect and
Chinese government mass conducting illegal religious
detention campaign en- teachings.
gulfed Memtimin Emer's Muhammad called the
native Xinjiang region three charges false. Emer
years ago, the elderly Ui- stopped his preaching,
ghur imam was swept up practiced a moderate
and locked away, along sect of Islam and never
with three of his sons. dreamed of hurting others,
Now, a leaked database let alone stirring up "terror-
exposes in extraordinary ism," Muhammad said.
detail the main reasons for Emer's three sons, too, were
the detentions of Emer, his all thrown in camps for re-
three sons, and hundreds ligious reasons, though
of others in their neighbor- they weren't charged with
hood: Their religion and crimes. It shows their rela-
their family ties. tion to Emer and their reli-
The database profiles the gious background caused
internment of 311 individu- officials to believe they
als with relatives abroad were too dangerous to let
in Karakax County, and out.
lists information on more "His family's religious atmo-
than 2,000 of their relatives, sphere is thick. We recom-
neighbors and friends. mend he (Emer) continue
Each entry includes the training," notes an entry
detainee's name, address, for his youngest son, Emer
national identity number, Memtimin.
detention date and loca- But it wasn't just the reli-
tion, along with a dossier on gious who were detained.
their family, religious and Pharmacist Tohti Himit was
community background, detained in a camp for
the reason for detention, In this Nov. 4, 2017, file photo, Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar having gone multiple times
and a decision on whether in western China's Xinjiang region. to one of 26 "key", mostly
to release them. Associated Press Muslim countries, the da-
Taken as a whole, the da- tabase said. A former em-
tabase offers the fullest targeting religious people community, and does not suspicious a person was ployee said Himit was secu-
view yet into how Chinese and their families, foreign spell out which govern- – even if they hadn't com- lar, keeping his face well-
officials decided who to ministry spokesman Geng ment department issued it mitted any crimes. shaved.
put into and let out of de- Shuang said "this kind of or for whom. The detainees Reasons listed for intern- "He wasn't very pious, he
tention camps, as part of a nonsense is not worth com- listed come from Karakax ment include "minor reli- didn't go to the mosque,"
crackdown that has locked menting on." County, a traditional settle- gious infection," "disturbs said Habibullah, who de-
away more than a million The Chinese government ment on the edge of Xinji- other persons by visiting clined to give his first name
ethnic minorities, most of has said in the past that the ang's Taklamakan desert them without reasons," "rel- out of fear of retribution
them Muslims. detention centers are for where more than 97 per- atives abroad," or "thinking against family still in China.
The database shows that voluntary job training, and cent of its roughly 650,000 is hard to grasp." "I was shocked by how ab-
the state focused on re- that it does not discrimi- residents are Uighur. The list Former student Abdullah surd the reasons for deten-
ligion as a reason for de- nate based on religion. was corroborated through Muhammad described tion were."
tention — not just political China has struggled for de- interviews with former Kara- Emer as one of the most The database says Himit
extremism, as authorities cades to control Xinjiang, kax residents, identity verifi- respected imams in the had gone to a mosque
claim, but ordinary activi- where the native, predomi- cation tools, and other lists region. He fed the hungry, three times in 2008, once to
ties such as praying or at- nantly Muslim Uighurs have and documents. bought coal for the poor, attend his grandfather's fu-
tending a mosque. It shows long resented Beijing's rule. The database shows that and treated the sick with neral. In 2014 he had gone
that people with detained After militants set off bombs cadres compile dossiers on free medicine. to another province to get
relatives are themselves at a train station in Xinji- detainees called the "three But though Emer gave Par- a passport and go abroad.
more likely to end up in a ang's capital in 2014, Presi- circles", encompassing ty-approved sermons, he That, the government con-
camp, criminalizing entire dent Xi Jinping launched a their relatives, community, refused to preach Com- cluded, showed Himit was
families like Emer's in the so-called "People's War on and religious background. munist propaganda, Mu- "dangerous" and needed
process. Terror", turning Xinjiang into The detainees and their hammad said, eventually to "continue training."
"It's very clear that religious a digital police state. families are then classi- running into trouble with Emer is now under house
practice is being targeted," The leak of the database fied by rigid categories. authorities. He was stripped arrest due to health issues,
said Darren Byler, a Univer- follows the release in No- Households are designat- of his position as an imam Muhammad has heard.
sity of Colorado researcher vember of a classified ed as "trustworthy" or "not in 1997. It's unclear where Emer's
studying Xinjiang. "They blueprint. Obtained by the trustworthy". Families have Though he stopped attend- sons are. Though deprived
want to fragment society, International Consortium "light" or "heavy" religious ing religious gatherings, in of his mosque and his right
to pull the families apart of Investigative Journalists, atmospheres, and the da- 2017 authorities detained to teach, Emer had quietly
and make them much which includes the AP, the tabase keeps count of how Emer, now in his eighties, defied the authorities for
more vulnerable to retrain- blueprint shows the camps many relatives of each de- and sentenced him to pris- two decades by staying
ing and reeducation." are in fact forced ideologi- tainee are locked in prison on. The database cites four true to his faith.
The Xinjiang regional gov- cal and behavioral re-edu- or sent to a "training cen- charges in various entries: "He never bowed down
ernment did not respond to cation centers run in secret. ter". "stirring up terrorism", acting to them — and that's why
faxes requesting comment. The database comes from Officials used these cat- as an unauthorized "wild" they wanted to eliminate
Asked whether Xinjiang is sources in the Uighur exile egories to determine how imam, following the strict him," Muhammad said.q