Six Uyghur Christians arrested

Minority people (such as those pictured above) are often persecuted in China. (Photo: ChinaAid)

ChinaAid

(Urumqi, Xinjiang—Sept. 3, 2019) Six Christians of Uyghur descent have been imprisoned in China’s northwestern Xinjiang recently among growing concerns that the Chinese government is unfairly targeting Uyghur people.

The Christians are all charged with illegal preaching, gathering, and spreading of harmful books charge. Mehmet Abdulla has been sentenced to seven years in prison, and Huji Abdurehim, received a five-year sentence. Maimaiti Yimingjiang is also imprisoned for five years, as is a man only identified as Brother Adil. A Christian doctor, whose last name is Rakhman, is also serving a five-year prison term, and Adil Jan has received a seven-year jail verdict.

Many of these Christians are recent converts, and all are from the largely Muslim Uyghur people group. In the past few years, China has conducted a concentrated campaign to suppress Xinjiang’s ethnic minorities. Authorities have been seizing ethnic minority people on account of their race or religion and placing them in a network of prison camps, officially termed “re-education centers.” The Chinese government claims that these camps curb terrorism and provides vocational training for the inmates, but many firsthand accounts report torture, starvation, suspected rape, brainwashing, and other forms of rampant abuse. In recent months, several reports of camp inmates being forced to work long hours at factories have arisen. Prisoners who pledge their allegiance to the Communist Party are often treated better than those who do not.