Reports accuse China of targeting Uyghur clerics and criminalising Uyghur culture

Munich/Washington, October 3 — The World Uyghur Congress's weekly brief highlighted a new US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) factsheet saying the Chinese Communist Party has imprisoned or disappeared more than 1,000 Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim clerics — including imams and teachers — since 2014; Kazakh imam Erjan Quwash received a 21-year sentence, Uyghur imam Dadihan a 20-year sentence, and 96-year-old Imam Abidin Damollam died in prison while serving a nine-year term. These are the commission's claims, reported here as claims. Separately, UN human rights experts expressed grave concern over the imprisonment of songwriter Yaxia'er Xiaohelaiti (Uigga) and the reported life sentence imposed on scholar Rahile Dawut, warning that such repression of art and academia could amount to crimes against humanity. The brief also cited a C4ADS report, "Monitoring the Frontier," identifying 135 contracts in East Turkistan referencing biometric data collection and 54 surveillance-related contracts involving US-sanctioned company Uniview.

Source: ANI, October 4, 2026. https://www.newspointapp.com/english/world/world-unites-against-chinas-brutal-campaign-to-erase-uyghur-identity-and-faith-aninews/articleshow/14504820bce6d611d6b1c3cdf76f03d4cdaf707a