Amnesty asks China to end ‘brainwashing’ Muslims in Xinjiang

Amnesty International (AI) in a report on Monday urged the Chinese government to end the “brainwashing” of one million Muslims held in “re-education” camps in the Xinjiang Uighur region.

In the past year, the government has intensified its campaign of mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation against the region’s Uighurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, said the report.

The campaign prohibits any display of religious and cultural affiliation, including growing an “abnormal” beard, wearing a veil or head scarf, regular prayer, fasting or avoidance of alcohol, or possessing books or articles about Islam or Uighur culture as Chinese authorities consider them “extremist” behaviour, reports Efe news.

It is estimated currently nearly one million Muslims are being held by the authorities in re-education camps, without the right to trial, access to lawyers or contact with family members, it said. “The mass detention camps are places of brainwashing, torture and punishment. A simple messaging your family abroad can get you detained highlights how ludicrous, unjustified and completely arbitrary the Chinese authorities’ actions are,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s East Asia Director.

The Chinese government justifies these measures as part of its counter-extremism and counter-terrorism efforts and only releases an individual who "has been transformed".

Meanwhile, Swedish officials said Monday they had temporarily halted the deportation of Uighurs to China due to concerns over the situation there.

“Information from several human rights organisations indicates that the situation for Uighurs has deteriorated” in the western region of Xinjiang, the Swedish Migration Agency said in a statement obtained by AFP.

The decision also concerns “other minorities from Xinjiang who have received expulsion orders,” a spokeswoman for the agency said.