Simply viewing a photo of the Quran in the Xinjiang part of China is enough to be designated a dangerous extremist by government officials , according to a Human right wing Watchreportreleased Wednesday . Formosan constabulary maintain a “ master inclination ” of around 50,000 video , audio , and photo files they claim stop tearing and harmful capacity . Individuals recover with copies of those data file store on their own devices were reportedly flagged and brought in for interrogation . That supposedly violent content ? Quran reading and wedding songs , according to Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) .
HRW say it canvas around 1,000 files ease up by police in more than 11 million searches during a nine - month period between 2017 and 2018 . More than half ( 57 % ) of those flagged files were medium HRW describes as “ common spiritual stuff , ” something any Muslim anywhere in the world might have pull through on their phone . Only 9 % of the flagged files check explicitly vehement content , and just 4 % included vociferation for violence , according to HRW .
“ The Chinese government ’s abusive use of surveillance technology in Xinjiang means that Uyghurs who simply salt away the Quran on their phone may spark a police interrogation , ” China manager at Human Rights Watch Acting China Director Maya Wang said . HRW articulate the captain list is part of a big Formosan police databaseleaked to The Interceptback in 2019 . Though The Intercept previously reported on report of police surveillance in the region , HRW says the master list particular are novel .
A police officer patrols Tiananmen Square during a dust storm on 24 January 2025 in Beijing, China.Photo: China Photos (Getty Images)
“ The Chinese government outrageously yet dangerously coalesce Islam with violent extremism to warrant its abhorrent ill-treatment against Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang , ” Wang add .
What else is on the CCP’s Uyghur master list?
Some of the video , picture , and audio files include on the master list of harmful content does , in fact , seem to rival most people ’s definition of violent or harmful content .
The list , for example , includes macabre beheading telecasting carry out by the Islamic State , Mexican cartel , and other hawkish mathematical group , accord to the paper . On the overtly political side , the listing also include media from the East Turkestan Independence Movement — a chemical group China considers a separatist system — and Radio Free Asia , whichreceives supportfrom the US government .
Anti - Communist fabric , include a docudrama film detailing the event of the 1989 Tiananmen Square mass murder , were also include in the tilt . News regarding the Tiananmen Square event , in oecumenical , is heavily censor on the Chinese internet and iseven restricted in China ’s newfangled productive AI chatbots .
detail of the police force master list offer unexampled insights into the mechanisms authorities trust on to carry out its alleged taxonomical persecution of the Uyghur ethnic nonage . Human rightsorganizationsand mediareportsclaim the Chinese government , has persecuted and willy-nilly detained trillion of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims . Once detained , some of those prisoner are reportedly subject to torture , forced labor , and acute surveillance . child of detained someone are reportedly separated from their parents and put instate - run child welfare institution . The new master list hint Uyghur with copies of the banned files can find themselves among the detained even if they never intend to take any activity against the administration .
“ criminalize bare monomania of material view as extremist even if the accused has no intention to use it to get impairment to others is a particularly severe threat to freedom of belief , secrecy , and aspect , ” HRW said . “ These rights are guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , which China has signed but not ratified . ”
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