SHAH ALAM, 18 July: The punishment on Muslims from the Uyghur ethnic group in the province of Xinjiang, China, over the past decades does not commensurate their offence.
Revealing this, the Vice President of the Malaysian Youth Movement (ABIM), Mohammad Raimi Ab Rahim, said that they are jailed for long periods for violating the religious affairs laws set in the republic.
He said that the offence refers to the practice of fasting, praying, Muslim women covering themselves or reading the Quran in public places.
“What is taken into account is not the offence but the violation of the order,” he said in a special interview with Selangor Kini.
Raimi said that most family members of Uyghurs who are imprisoned are not allowed to meet the victim, and in fact there is no defense.
He said that the authorities are made up of the police, the army and the Xinjiang Municipal Council, each playing tug-of-war on the status of victims and pointing fingers at one another.
“The case will be prolonged without anyone knowing what will happen to the victims.
“If a family member makes a complaint, the authorities will answer that the victim has been released. That they are no longer detained or that the case still in under investigation and that they have not obtained proof.
“The response does not help reduce the anguish of victims’ families,” he said.
NS
