Chinese authorities have denied a request to visit Xinjiang by Germany’s human rights delegation. The delegation wanted to investigate the existence of mass detention centers in the Xinjiang region where members of the Uyghur community are being tortured and brainwashed into renouncing their faith and way of life.
Uyghur persecution in Xinjiang
“I am shocked by reports of the treatment of the Turkic Uyghur minority, more than one million of whom are estimated to be imprisoned in internment camps in Xinjiang,” Dr. Barbel Kofler, German Human Rights Commissioner, said in a statement (South China Morning Post). She also added that Germany would continue requesting Chinese authorities for access to Xinjiang.
The Chinese Communist Party has always tried to argue that the detention centers are just “vocational training centers” where Uyghurs are imparted the necessary skills to get a job and live a comfortable life. However, almost all first-hand accounts that have come out of Xinjiang repeatedly state that millions of people are put through prison-like conditions and forced to accept the communist ideology as supreme to their religion.
The Chinese Communist Party is claiming that its detention centers for Uyghur Muslims, who are targeted to erode their faith, are vocational training centers. (Image: via Flickr)
Men are forced to shave off their beards. Mosques are often demolished. Reciting prayers in traditional Arabic is banned. One Uyghur woman, Mihirgul Tursun, who escaped China and is currently settled in the U.S., recently testified before the U.S. Congress about the horrible conditions the people in the detention centers were forced to go through. During her period at the camp, several detainees died.
However, what is even more shocking is the claim that the CCP is harvesting organs from the Uyghurs. The rumor started spreading in Chinese social media after a photo of a priority lane sign at the Kashgar Airport in Xinjiang went viral. The priority lane states “Special Passengers, Human Organ Exportation Lane.”
“[This is] a lane that must be kept open for the speedy transportation of recently extracted organs for implants. The sign is so explicit that when the photo first went viral, many people thought it was a fake. However, when Japanese travelers landed at Kashgar Airport in January this year, they confirmed that it was real and took photos themselves,” according to The Liberty Web.
Parallels with Falun Gong persecution
The ongoing mistreatment of Uyghur Muslims has very close parallels to the persecution of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party.
In the last decades of the 20th century, the spiritual practice of Falun Gong exploded in popularity in China. Reports of miraculous cures resulting from the practice began circulating, attracting millions of followers. This irked the CCP, which saw the practice as threatening its power and “social order.”
Eventually, the Chinese regime started persecuting the practitioners of Falun Gong. Just as with the Uyghurs, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners continue to be put in jail and tortured. The regime also harvests the organs of the followers.
At the recently concluded G-20 meeting in Argentina, supporters of Falun Gong hosted a peaceful demonstration against the Chinese government’s persecution. They were, however, faced with opposition from a pro-Chinese group. The police also cracked down on the demonstrators, arresting several people after requests from the Chinese Consulate.
“In China, our fellow practitioners are persecuted. They are tortured. Their organs are harvested. It’s genocide! We are here for them. We are asking to stop this persecution,” Sebastian Arcusin, one of the arrested practitioners, said to The Epoch Times.
The Falun Dafa Association in Argentina responded to the incident by stating that they had a right to hold a peaceful demonstration and would take legal action against those responsible for the crackdown.
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