A court in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang has sentenced five Muslim clerics to seven years in prison for illegally organizing haj pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the World Uighur Congress said yesterday.
The five Uighur clerics were also charged with illegally providing copies of the Koran at a recent sentencing rally in Xayar County, near Xinjiang’s Aksu City, Dilxat Rexit, the Munich-based spokesman of the congress, said in a statement.
More than 300 people attended the rally organized by the County People’s Court in Xayar, Dilxat Rexit said without giving the date of the event.
The group’s report could not immediately be confirmed.
China’s ruling Communist Party retains control over all religious activity and mosques must register with the state-run Islamic Association and use state-approved copies of the Koran.
It also requires haj pilgrimages to be arranged through approved religious organizations.
In a separate report on Monday, the World Uighur Congress said authorities in Aksu’s Kalpin county had demolished a mosque which refused to hang slogans supporting the Beijing Olympics.
State media said that about 100,000 Chinese people completed pilgrimages to Mecca from 1985 to 2006.
An annual record of 10,000 Chinese Muslims were sent to Saudia Arabia from November 2006 to last January, reports said.
China officially has 21 million Muslims, about half of them from the Hui group that predominates in poor northwestern areas.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS