Chinese authorities in East Turkistan detained a 52-year-old ethnic Kazakh man for allegedly reciting the Quran verse at a Muslim wedding. The arrested man, identified as Kusman Rehim, is a citizen of Xinjiang’s Jimsar area. He was detained on July 14 according to Bekzat Maksutkhan, the leader of the Atajurt rights organisation located in Kazakhstan. However, the news came into the limelight on August 28.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the move was considered a continuation of the so-called “strike hard” campaign to crackdown on racial and religious minorities in the communist country.
Bilal, the younger brother of Kusman, who resides in Kazakhstan, emphasised that the family had not yet received any official notification or information regarding the accusations made against Kusman.
Kusman Rehim is also accused of reciting the Quran in people’s homes during Eid Al-Adha between June 27 and July 1.
Bilal said, “They just took him away. One of the reasons was that he was doing a Quranic recitation at a Muslim wedding ceremony, which was his job. The second reason was that the police found a Quran at his home,” Bilal was quoted by UCA news.
As per Bilal’s statement, his brother was initially arrested on April 21, freed a month later, and then arrested once again on July 14.
In 2017, communist-run China outlawed Quran readings in public areas.
According to RFA, China began imprisoning large numbers of Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in “re-education” centers throughout Xinjiang during the same time.
An estimated one million Muslims, predominantly Uyghurs, are held in secret detention facilities in Xinjiang where they are subjected to severe mistreatment, including executions, rape, forced labour, forced sterilisation, and forced abortions.
As per Chinese law, Quran should recited only by an imam who has been designated by the government. It is prohibited for people to discuss the holy book on their own, RFA reported.
In 2022, a UN delegation investigated China’s mistreatment of Muslim minorities in its Xinjiang region and found credible evidence of torture and sexual assault, including rape, at detention centers in the region.
Although the study stopped short of calling China’s acts against the Uyghurs genocide, it suggested that there may have been ‘crimes against humanity’.
China vehemently refuted these allegations and asserted that tightening security in Xinjiang was a component of routine counter-insurgency measures that forbid insult and abuse.
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