World Uyghur Congress, 30 May 2018

Following the passage of China’s draconian “Anti-Terror” Law in 2016, more specific measures were written and passed for East Turkistan targeting Uyghurs. The law describes “extremism” as the cause of terrorism but fails to provide a definition of what this means in practice. Extremism may simply include wearing religious clothing or encouraging others to join religious activities. The measures allow for broad interpretation and has already led to the arrest of Uyghurs for peaceful religious practice.

The Uyghur Human Rights Project set out a number of its concerns following the passage of the implementation measures:

• The regional implementation guidelines do nothing to resolve the issue of the counter-terrorism legislation’s broad and vague definition of terrorism.
• The law describes “extremism,” specifically religious extremism, as the cause of terrorism but provide no definition of what constitutes religious extremism.  The guidelines forbid ‘instigating, encouraging or enticing a minor to participate in religious activities,” the wearing of clothing that “advocates extremism” and make specific reference to Islamic practice by forbidding “distortion of the concept of halal.”  UHRP is concerned that this will give license to the authorities to infringe upon peaceful religious practices.
• The guidelines forbid “spreading rumors” and “distorting sensitive cases,” making or reproducing materials with “extremist content” and allows the authorities to restrict gatherings and the activities of various organizations, which may be used to control any objective reporting on incidents as well as constituting a restriction on the right to free expression.