Norway based Uighur advocacy and aid organization Uyghur Hjelp has said that Uighur Muslim Imams in China’s Xinjiang province have become the most vulnerable to persecution due to Beijing’s crackdown on Uighur Muslims.
Abduweli Ayup, the founder of Uyghur Hjelp has reportedly said that the targeting of Imams is not a surprising as they have the potential to organize and mobilize Uighurs Muslims in large numbers.
It is said that Chinese authorities have detained more than 518 Uighur Muslim figures and Imams since 2016 and many of those who were trained and employed by Beijing have now been sentenced to long imprisonment while some of them have died in internment camps.
Abdurkerim Memet, one of the detained Imams was sent to 10 years in prison 2017. The 61 year old Imam was employed by Beijing to lead the prayers at a mosque in Yengisar in Kashgar, located in southern part of Xinjiang. Her daughter who lives in Saudi Arabia didn’t know of this until she got to know through a local contact in Xinjiang.
And it is not just those living within Xinjiang are targeted. Some of the family members living outside the province allege that they have been tricked into coming to Xinjiang based on false promises. Meryemgul Abdulla, a Uighur woman based out of Turkey had told Voice of America that her husband Abduhalik Abdulhak, a religious scholar was enticed by the Chinese saying that they would allow him to construct a museum but was later arrested upon returning to China.
According to UN estimates, more than a million Muslims could be in internment camps. Some observers have alleged that Chinese authorities use religious extremism charges that give a free hand to detain Uighurs. It is said that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to suppress the Uighur identity and culture.