Read the RFA cover of this story in Uighur.
Xinjiang Chinese authorities force Uighurs to work during Ramadan to prevent them from fasting and praying as the Sacred Islamic month required, sources said in the northwest region in China.
Videos circulating on social media platforms last week have shown that Uighurs doing forced mass work during Ramadan. Some worked in fields, while others have done cleaning work.
This decision is one of the many measures of the authorities to prohibit religious practices among around 12 million UGHurs, mainly Muslim who live in the
Muslims are invited to fast between dawn and twilight during Ramadan, which takes place this year from February 28 to March 29.
In most countries, Muslims can do it freely. But in China, the authorities prohibited fasting during the sacred month under the guise of the amplification of religious extremism – even forcing people to send civil servants with video proof that they have lunch during the day.
They also forbidden Uyghurs to come together in mosques to pray on Friday and observe other Muslim holidays.
A video published on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, showed residents of Hotan Tiling in the agricultural fields on the second day of Ramadan.
Other information from a video published on the seventh day of Ramadan said that residents of all Uighur households were to do a collective cleaning.
None of the videos gave details, like where the residents did the work, and no one offered an explanation to explain why it had become necessary to work during Ramadan.
“For 15 days, residents have worked under the direction of village and county governments to clean up home sites and renovate public toilets,” said a staff member who works for the government of the County of Oonsu in the prefecture of Aksu.
The work is good for you
A police officer from a county police station told RFA that some residents were not satisfied to be forced to work during Ramadan, but tried to defend the measure, saying that work was beneficial for them.
“They hope that local authorities would reduce their forced working time and allow them to do their household work,” he said.
A member of the staff of a district committee of the ONSU county said that Uighurs have been working unpaid since the beginning of Ramadan, and that they had to do the cleaning according to the needs or be punished to resist.
“We divided households into two groups, and each group had 10 people, and they all had to perform the expected tasks,” the staff said. “We have not taken any measure against anyone opposing the order of the government.”
Those who refused to do the work would be held in the office of a local setting for 7 to 10 days or taken “in the camps” if their resistance was strong, the staff said, referring to the rehabilitation camps that Beijing built through the Xinjiang.
The Uighurs living in the Gulbagh district of the County Shayar of Aksu cleaned and organized their gardens and their sites, said the policeman.
The Chinese authorities of the prefecture of Aksu oblige Uighur residents to work during Ramadan so that they cannot fast, said a person knowing the situation that requested anonymity for security reasons.
Authorities have also forced Uighur Villagers in the prefecture to attend political study sessions on central Chinese government policies in the Xinjiang without stopping since the start of Ramadan, the person said.
Village executives intentionally hold sessions during sahurthe meal before dawn, or iftarThe meal after sunset during the sacred month. Like studying Xinjiang policies in the central government, the source said.
A police officer from the County of Uchturpan in the prefecture of Aksu said that the goal of forced labor during Ramadan was to observe the Uighurs.
“Our goal by doing this is to explain the policies of our [Chinese] Communist party, educate them and observe their thoughts and feelings, “he said.
If a Uighurs gets up easily, feel weak or do not eat or do not drink while working, it proves that they have thrown a fast and have an ideological problem, he said.
“About 10 people were reluctant to comply with these rules, so we intensified our ideological work on them,” he said.
Translated by RFA UGHUR. Published by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.