World News | Chinese police use spies to ensure Uyghur Muslims don’t fast during Ramzan: report

Beijing [China]ANI April 13: Chinese police have been using spies to ensure Uyghur Muslims do not fast during Ramadan.

Radio Free Asia quoted a police officer in a region near Turpan in the eastern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region as saying that the spies that Chinese officials called “ears” came from ordinary citizens, police officers and members of neighborhood committees.

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“We have a lot of agents,” the officer said in an interview with Radio Free Asia.

According to news reports, China began banning Muslims in Xinjiang from fasting during Ramzan in 2017, when authorities began arbitrarily detaining Uyghurs in “re-education” camps to weaken Uyghur culture, language, and religion.

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Restrictions announced by Chinese authorities will be partially eased in 2021 and 2022, allowing people over 65 to fast and police even reducing the number of home searches and street patrols. Radio Free Asia quoted a political official from the Turpan Public Security Bureau as saying that this year the Chinese government has banned all people from fasting, regardless of age, gender or occupation.

During the first week of the Ramzan festival, Chinese authorities summoned 56 Uyghur residents and former detainees for questioning about their activities, saying 54 of them Man breaks the law by fasting.

Neither he nor another officer at the station would discuss what happened to those found breaking the law, according to news reports. Radio Free Asia quoted officials as saying that the police station in Turpan hired two to three spies from each village to monitor those who had been interrogated and detained for fasting during Ramzan and those released from prison.

“Our ‘ears’ come from three areas—ordinary residents, police and neighborhood committees,” said a policeman from an area near Turpan. Because of the language barrier, they recruited Uyghurs to spy on other Uyghurs, she said. She further said, “In my work unit, there are 70-80 Uyghur policemen who either directly act as ‘ears’ or lead other civilians to ‘ear’.”

The Turpan City Bazaar Police Station specially recruited two or three “ears”, meaning spies, to monitor the activities of residents during the Ramzan period. According to Radio Free Asia, a policeman said that there were even four or five spies in some villages.

Police will investigate violators of previous fasting during Ramzan as well as those who organize fasting events, a police officer said.

A staff member of the Turpan District Public Security Bureau said that the authorities arranged spies inside the police to check whether the Uyghur police were fasting from morning till night. So far, they haven’t found any fasting officials, according to news reports, she said.

According to a policeman from a police station in Turpan City, this year’s policy includes house searches, street patrols, and mosque searches. Authorities have been questioning Uyghur Muslim families to check whether they get up before dawn to eat and eat together after sunset. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)