Current:Home > ScamsChina is expanding its crackdown on mosques to regions outside Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch says -VisionFunds
China is expanding its crackdown on mosques to regions outside Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch says
View
Date:2025-04-16 18:51:04
The Chinese government has expanded its campaign of closing mosques to regions other than Xinjiang, where for years it has been blamed for persecuting Muslim minorities, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.
Authorities have closed mosques in the northern Ningxia region as well as Gansu province, which are home to large populations of Hui Muslims, as part of a process known officially as “consolidation,” according to the report, which draws on public documents, satellite images and witness testimonies.
Local authorities also have been removing architectural features of mosques to make them look more “Chinese,” part of a campaign by the ruling Communist Party to tighten control over religion and reduce the risk of possible challenges to its rule.
President Xi Jinping in 2016 called for the “Sinicization” of religions, initiating a crackdown that has largely concentrated on the western region of Xinjiang, home to more than 11 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
A United Nations report last year found China may have committed “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang, including through its construction of a network of extrajudicial internment camps believed to have held at least 1 million Uyghurs, Huis, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz.
Chinese authorities have decommissioned, closed down, demolished or converted mosques for secular use in regions outside Xinjiang as part of a campaign aimed at cracking down on religious expression, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately answer faxed questions seeking comment on the report and its official policies toward Muslim minorities.
One of the first known references to “mosque consolidation” appears in an internal party document from April 2018 that was leaked to U.S. media as part of a trove of documents known as the “Xinjiang Papers.” The file instructed state agencies throughout the country to “strengthen the standardized management of the construction, renovation and expansion of Islamic religious venues” and stressed that “there should not be newly built Islamic venues” in order to “compress the overall number (of mosques).”
“The Chinese government is not ‘consolidating’ mosques as it claims, but closing many down in violation of religious freedom,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. “The Chinese government’s closure, destruction and repurposing of mosques is part of a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China.”
In Liaoqiao and Chuankou villages in Ningxia, authorities dismantled the domes and minarets of all seven mosques and razed the main buildings of three of them between 2019 and 2021, according to videos and pictures posted online and corroborated with satellite imagery by the group’s researchers.
Additionally, the ablution hall of one mosque was damaged inside, according to videos obtained by the group.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the changes described in the report.
The policy of “consolidating mosques” was also referenced in a March 2018 document issued by the government of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia. According to the paper, the government wanted to “strictly control the number and scale of religious venues” and called for mosques to adopt “Chinese architecture styles.”
The paper suggested the “integration and combination of mosques” could “solve the problem of too many religious venues.”
In Gansu province, several local governments have detailed efforts to “consolidate” mosques.
In Guanghe County, where the majority of the population is Hui, authorities in 2020 “canceled the registration of 12 mosques, closed down five mosques and improved and consolidated another five,” according to the government’s annual yearbook, referenced in the Human Rights Watch report.
News reports also suggest the Chinese government has closed or altered mosques in other places around the country, occasionally facing public backlash. In May, protesters in Nagu town in southern Yunnan province clashed with police over the planned demolition of a mosque’s dome.
veryGood! (84487)
Related
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- What to know for MLB's final weekend: Magic numbers, wild card tiebreakers, Ohtani 60-60?
- Vance exuded calm during a tense debate stage moment. Can he keep it up when he faces Walz?
- Un parque infantil ayuda a controlar las inundaciones en una histórica ciudad de Nueva Jersey
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- George Clooney and Amal Clooney Reveal What Their Kids Think of Their Fame
- AP PHOTOS: Hurricane Helene inundates the southeastern US
- Michigan’s top court won’t intervene in dispute over public records and teachers
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- Vance exuded calm during a tense debate stage moment. Can he keep it up when he faces Walz?
Ranking
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Helene leaves behind 'overwhelming' destruction in one small Florida town
- Georgia-Alabama leads Top 25 matchups leading seven college football games to watch in Week 5
- Dozens dead and millions without power after Helene’s deadly march across southeastern US
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Shawn Johnson Reveals the Milestone 9-Month-Old Son Bear Hit That Nearly Gave Her a Heart Attack
- How Tigers turned around season to secure first postseason berth since 2014
- Latest talks between Boeing and its striking machinists break off without progress, union says
Recommendation
Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
Shawn Johnson Reveals the Milestone 9-Month-Old Son Bear Hit That Nearly Gave Her a Heart Attack
Daniel Radcliffe Details Meeting Harry Potter Costar Maggie Smith in Moving Tribute
Shohei Ohtani 50-50 home run ball: Auction starts with lawsuit looming
Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
Stephen Amell was focused on 'NCIS' spinoff when he landed 'Suits' gig
King Charles III mourns Maggie Smith after legendary British actress dies at 89
Shawn Johnson Reveals the Milestone 9-Month-Old Son Bear Hit That Nearly Gave Her a Heart Attack