Washington
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) recently released a weekly brief highlighting increased global condemnation of China’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims. New reports and advocacy efforts have exposed China’s intensifying campaign of cultural and religious repression in East Turkistan. According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), since 2014, over 1,000 religious leaders, including imams and teachers, have been imprisoned or disappeared. Notable cases include Kazakh imam Erjan Quwash sentenced to 21 years and Uyghur imam Dadihan sentenced to 20 years. The brief also reported the death of 96-year-old Imam Abidin Damollam in prison.
USCIRF noted the targeting of Uyghur women like Tursungul Ghopur and Heyrinisa Memet, imprisoned for teaching religion and culture, as part of Beijing’s “sinicisation” policy aimed at erasing Uyghur identity. UN human rights experts expressed deep concern over China’s criminalization of Uyghur cultural expression, highlighting the imprisonment of songwriter Yaxia’er Xiaohelaiti and a life sentence for scholar Rahile Dawut. They warned this repression could amount to crimes against humanity and urged Beijing to disclose the fate of missing individuals and end enforced assimilation.
On the 70th anniversary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the WUC and MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk hosted a roundtable at the European Parliament to reveal decades of Chinese oppression. WUC leaders demanded international accountability. Human Rights Watch condemned China’s new “Ethnic Unity” law as a formal plan for cultural erasure. WUC Executive Chair Rushan Abbas joined global advocates at the “Faith Under Siege” conference, calling for united efforts to defend religious freedom and resist China’s systematic repression of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other faith groups.