Image: Medium

Faizel Patel – 10/12/2020

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

A Uyghur rights activist says that while the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues, there has been disproportionate reporting on the Uyghur crisis with scant coverage across the globe.

Arslan Hidayat was sharing important updates on Radio Islam on Wednesday about the oppression of Uyghur Muslims by China.

Leaked documents show China is detaining its Uighur Muslim citizens for reasons including being younger than 40 years old or appearing untrustworthy.

According to multiple reports, some Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang have been forced to work for little to no pay in factories and production lines, some of which produce goods for major Western retailers.

Hidayat says the news agenda has largely omitted the Uyghurs issue.

“Recently COVID-19 has been on news every single day, US elections and now talks of the vaccine have really taken the forefront in the news media. But we have to let people know that there is a twenty first century genocide going on, the likes that are almost on par with what happened to the Jews seventy-five years ago. So it should get more media attention.”

Hidayat the Uyghurs are not Chinese and are seen as a threat because China doesn’t see the Muslims as assimilated enough into their society.

“The Uyghurs that have hijab, speak the Uyghur language who are culturally Uyghur simply acting in this way, simply choosing this way of life is deemed to be extremists and seperatists and they think this leads to terrorism. So this is why China is putting these Uyghur into camps, labour camps so that they become Chinese and that they become one and that any sort of Uyghurness or any sort of Islam is knocked out of each of these Uyghurs.”

Hidayat says the Chinese government is profiting of Uyghurs, working them as Uyghur slaves working for some of the biggest and renowned brands in the world.

Listen to the interview with Arslan Hidayat