CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 5:00 PM ET
Sabrina Sohail: sabrina@campaignforuyghurs.org
(650) 703-4523
Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) is pleased to extend its warm Ramadan greetings to all Muslims observing this holy month. Ramadan is the most sacred time of the year for Muslims all around the world and its purpose is to observe a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and spiritual growth.
As we celebrate the significance of Ramadan, CFU wishes to raise awareness of the ongoing Uyghur Genocide committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Beijing’s war on Islam. Muslims around the world cherish the month of Ramadan as a time for fasting and prayer, but for the Uyghurs, the entire religion and all aspects of Islam are criminalized. Practices such as fasting, prayer, reading the Holy Quran, and wearing the Hijab or having a beard have been labeled as “religious extremist” acts by the CCP, resulting in lengthy prison sentences for those who engage in these activities.
According to the data in Xinjiang Police Files, a document released by the Victim of Communism’s senior fellow Dr. Adrian Zenz, Tursunjan Abla was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attending an “illegal” religious lecture that promoted core Islamic beliefs such as praying five times a day and not consuming alcohol or cigarettes. Similarly, Ayshemhan Abdulla received a 21-year prison sentence for sending her children to a religious school.
Ramadan is a time of immense suffering for the Uyghurs, who are forced to denounce their faith and forced to submit themselves to the communist Chinese ideology. They are coerced to praise the CCP as the greatest authority rather than god, consume non-halal food and alcohol, and spy on their fellow brothers and sisters. The CCP’s destruction of mosques and Quranic texts, as well as the eradication of Uyghur culture and language, has exacerbated their plight.
Executive Director Rushan Abbas highlighted that “Ramadan should be a time for the Muslim community and human rights activists to come together and demand accountability for China’s genocide against the Uyghurs. We call on all individuals to remember the Uyghurs in their prayers during Ramadan, support their fight for justice by sparking conversations within their communities and governments, abstain from buying goods made with Uyghur forced labor, and take actions to defend their faith by holding the CCP accountable.”
CFU urges governments worldwide to take concrete tangible actions to stop the CCP’s genocide, modern slavery, its war against humanity, and the destabilization of global security.
CFU hopes that this Ramadan will inspire everyone to unite in solidarity with the Uyghur community and demand justice for the atrocities being committed in East Turkistan.
