Rabat – On Saturday, December 30, Chinese authorities closed three mosques in southwestern where the Hui Muslims live.
South China Morning Post said that the mosques were closed as they were “illegally established and conducted illegal religious education.”
The news outlet added that the shutdown of mosques in Weishan comes after several crackdowns against Muslims against Muslims mosques in Ningxia and Gansu.
Throughout the year, Chinese authorities expanded detention of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
Read Also: China Arrests Muslims in Xinjiang Province for Not Drinking Alcohol
Authorities justified the mass internment by saying that they were simply intended to bring the Muslim Uighur people into a “modern, civilized” world.
In a report that the submitted by the UN, over a million Uighurs are currently detained in what the government calls “re-education camps.”
The Chinese government also imposed legal penalties targeting Muslims in China, a ban on both women wearing headscarves and the religious instruction of children.
The government of the western Chinese province of Xinjiang said that tat any Muslims who think alcohol, cigarettes or dancing are forbidden need to be arrested.
A 2018 report from the Humans Rights Watch stated that the “ government restricts religious practice to five officially recognized religions in officially approved religious premises, and the Chinese government retain control over religious bodies’ personnel appointments, publications, finances, and seminary applications.”
In response, a group of Muslim Uighurs recorded a video to cry for help from scholars, activists and journalists..
“Muslim countries have economic and political interests, that is why official news outlets pay no mind to this case. That is why scholars and organizations must at least deliver this message to all muslims,” a man representing the community said in the video.
