Irish religious leaders condemn the persecution of Uighur Muslims in China

Over 50 religious leaders across Ireland have condemned the persecution of Uighurs and other Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province in a statement. 

The statement issued by the human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide in August 2020, has been signed by representatives of religious communities from across the island of Ireland.

According to Ireland national television and Radio broadcaster RTE, the statement said that at least a million Uighur and other Muslims in China are incarcerated in prison camps facing starvation, torture, murder, sexual violence, slave labour and forced organ extraction.

"We make a simple call for justice, to investigate these crimes, hold those responsible to account and establish a path towards the restoration of human dignity". They recalled how "after the Holocaust, the world said 'never again'.

"Today, we repeat those words 'never again', all over again. We stand with the Uighurs. We also stand with Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and Christians throughout China who face the worst crackdown on freedom of religion or belief since the cultural revolution," Irish Times quoted the statement. 

There was "a simple call for justice, to investigate these crimes, hold those responsible to account and establish a path towards the restoration of human dignity", the religious leaders concluded.

China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination. 

Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uighurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's brutal crackdown on the ethnic community, according to a report.

(With inputs from ANI)