Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 21 Dec 2020, 11:21 pm Print
Image: Wikimedia Commons
London: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has emerged as a key religious figure in the UK who slammed China over the persecution of its Uighur Muslims.
The leader of Britain's Orthodox Jews said he was compelled to comment on the issue.
"The weight of evidence of this persecution of the Uighur Muslim minority in China is overwhelming," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
"Satellite images, leaked documents and survivor testimonies all paint a devastating picture affecting well over one million people." he said.
"Can it be true that, in our modern, sophisticated world, men and women are still beaten if they refuse to renounce their faith?" the religious leader said.
Chief Rabbi Mirvis said in an article in The Guardian newspaper: 'Reflecting upon the deep pain of Jewish persecution throughout the ages, I feel compelled to speak out.'
Rabbi even called for an independent investigation into the matter.
Who are Uighur Muslims?
Uighur (also spelt Uyghur) Muslims are a Turkic minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. It is now widely publicized that their human rights are crushed by China and they were sent to "re-education camps" by the communist regime in Beijing.
The Uighurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
An American representative at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in 2018 that the committee had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China have been held in "re-education camps" by the Chinese authorities.
- Pakistan: Labourers protest against low wages, bad working conditions in Dasu
- Bangladesh: Body of Hindu priest recovered from temple amid rising atrocities faced by minorities
- Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi performs during an online concert without wearing hijab, arrested
- Taliban’s pursuit of ‘Islamic vision’ eroding freedoms in Afghanistan: UN Security Council
- Sixty-eight journalists were killed in 2024, shows latest UNESCO data