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Report: China Using Anti-Terror Laws to Crack Down on Muslims
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=CCF3DE:2AB91D3

Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in China say China is suppressing
Islam in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region





Turkic descent Muslim Uighur men pray at 568-year-old Id Kah mosque in
Kashgar(File photo - Sept. 28, 2001)  Two U.S.-based human rights
groups have accused China of using anti-terrorism laws to clamp down
on some eight million Muslim Uighurs in the western region of
Xinjiang.

Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China released a report Tuesday
saying China is suppressing Islam in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region, as a way of controlling Uighur nationalism.

Beijing says it is fighting a separatist movement in Xinjiang that
engages in terrorism.

But the rights groups' report dismisses the government's claims,
saying Uighurs face harassment, arrest, torture and even execution for
practicing their religion.

Human Rights Watch says the report is based on previously undisclosed
Communist Party and government documents, as well as local
regulations, official newspaper accounts, and interviews conducted in
Xinjiang.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.


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