Activists have found evidence of Chinese authorities tracking Uighurs' cellphone activity in their home region of Xinjiang, which is also known as East Turkestan.
Others say Beijing has demanded the Uighur diaspora hand over personal information, and has threatened their families if they do not. Relatives of China's oppressed Muslim minority are getting blocked online by their own family members, who are terrified to even tell them how bad their lives are
Footage purportedly of a re-education camp for China's Uighur Muslims in Yingye'er, Xinjiang, taken in August 2018. Bitter Winter/YouTube
Chinese authorities say the policies are a counterterrorism strategy, and that placing Uighurs in internment camps is "free vocational training."
Until recently, countries from the Muslim world largely avoided mentioning China's Uighur crackdown. Experts say this was because the countries fear economic retribution from China, and also because many Arab states do not want to draw attention to their own poor human rights records.
The tide may be turning. BUT HOW MUCH IS IT JUST POSTURING, INTENDED AND DESIGNED TO SOUND TOUGH?
Muslim countries previously largely avoided standing up to China over the Uighur crackdown but the tide is turning. Here, Uighurs in Turkey hold up photos and signs demanding the whereabouts of their missing relatives in China.
In September 2018, the federal minister for religion in Pakistan China's closest economic ally in the Muslim world openly criticized Beijing's regulation of Uighur activity, saying that the crackdown actually "increases the chances of an extremist viewpoint growing in reaction."
A month later, Malaysia a major economic ally to China, and home to many ethnic Chinese ignored Beijing's requests to deport a group of Uighurs imprisoned in the country.
[More Posturing?]
In December the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation a consortium of 57 countries which calls itself "the collective voice of the Muslim world" noted in December "disturbing reports" of China's Muslim crackdown. It said it hoped China "would address the legitimate concerns of Muslims around the world." Relations between Turkey and China soured over the past three weeks after Turkey broke its yearslong silence and called the Xinjiang crackdown "a great shame for humanity."
In response, Beijing accused Ankara of "unfairly blaming" it based on "ridiculous lies," and called it "extremely irresponsible."
China on Thursday temporarily shut down its consulate in Izmir, western Turkey in a sign of strained relations between the two countries. While China cited operational reasons, Turkey's pro-government Hurriyet Daily News and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post both linked it to Xinjiang.
An Uighur woman protests in front of policemen at a street on July 7, 2009 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, China. A Uighur woman protests in front of riot police in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in 2009. These riots were one of the deadliest in Chinese history.
In countries where world leaders haven't stood up to China, there have been significant protests. Prominent politicians and religious figures in Indonesia the country with the world's largest Muslim population are urging the government to speak up. It has so far refused to do so, saying it that it didn't "want to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country."
Muslim groups in India and Bangladesh also staged multiple protests over the Uighur detentions this year.
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