Uyghur | Muslim Uyghurs are enduring a genuine human tragedy that words can barely describe, reaching its peak with reports of human organs being extracted from detainees in internment camps while they are still alive, then marketed as “halal” organs, finding demand among “Muslim” buyers seeking human spare parts on the black market.
So who are the Uyghurs, and how did their story become a mirror reflecting the humiliation, ignorance, decline, and weakness that have befallen us? How did it become an image of what our condition has turned into?
Uyghurs: The Forgotten Tragedy
The Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group from Central Asia, numbering around 13 million. They live in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China, previously known as East Turkestan, before it was occupied and forcibly annexed by China in 1949.
China has committed unimaginable racist and repressive violations against this minority. In addition to attempting to alter the region’s demographic structure by settling non Muslim “Han” Chinese, who now make up more than 40% of the population, Beijing has besieged the indigenous population, deprived them of a dignified life, and forced them to adopt Chinese lifestyles.
It demolished mosques, confiscated Qur’ans, persecuted religious practices, banned fasting, forced people to drink alcohol, and prohibited Islamic names. It even forced Muslim women to marry non Muslims. More than one million informants were deployed to monitor their every movement, down to punishing those who failed to watch state television programmes.
The Chinese government subjected all 13 million residents of Xinjiang to mass arbitrary detention, forced political indoctrination, restricted movement and religious persecution. Over one million people were placed in “re-education” and political training camps.
This all contradicts an article in China’s own constitution stating that every citizen has “freedom of belief” and that the state protects ordinary citizens’ religious practices.
The regime’s abuses escalated so severely that the stench of its crimes reached the world, prompting 22 states, mostly Western and non Muslim, to propose a UN resolution condemning the violations. Shockingly, 12 “Muslim” countries, all members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, responded with statements effectively endorsing China’s actions against their Muslim brothers, offering the regime a clean bill of health.
Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Instead of joining the many governments that condemn the abuses against Muslims in Xinjiang, dozens of Muslim majority countries have chosen to support Beijing’s ugly narrative and help whitewash its human rights record.”
In March 2019, foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation met in Abu Dhabi and not only ignored the Uyghur plight, but praised China for its supposed “care” for Muslim citizens and expressed eagerness for greater cooperation.
Uyghur Organs for Sale on the Black Market
The latest leak about the horrors inflicted on Uyghur Muslims came in an investigative report by journalist C.J. Werleman, published recently on Medium.
It revealed terrifying incidents and shocking testimonies surpassing any fabricated horror film: organs are being removed from some Uyghur detainees while they are still alive, then sold on the black market, with high demand, especially among wealthy “Muslims” who market the organs as “halal”.
Uyghur surgeon Enver Tohti, a witness to these crimes, said: “I was summoned to remove a liver and two kidneys from the body of an executed prisoner. It turned out he was not dead — they had deliberately shot him in the right side of the chest to render him unconscious without killing him, giving me time to extract his organs without anaesthesia.”
According to the Uyghur doctor, demand for Uyghur organs exceeds supply due to the marketing that labels them as “halal”, and because many buyers believe this claim. Why wouldn’t they? These organs come from people who were martyred for speaking the truth, holding onto tawhid, tortured to death for adhering to their faith and seeking their rights.
Unsurprisingly, among the most eager buyers of these “monotheists’ organs” are those who belong to “the land of tawhid”, proudly raising its banner in “halal entertainment venues”.
How can any Muslim not investigate the source of an organ he will place in his body to replace a damaged one?
Is it not “better” — in their logic — if the organ is from a Muslim brother, rather than an unknown source that might be from a Maoist, a Marxist, an atheist, or perhaps a child of illicit birth?
They are “halal organs”, and that magical word is enough to resolve any religious concern. It is the protective shield against “innovation, shirk and misguidance”. And in the end, our valiant “sheikhs” have the final say and the decisive fatwa.
“Halal organs”, supposedly from Uyghur Muslims, or perhaps from other Muslims elsewhere.
Some may come from a homeless child abducted one evening, or from a starving man selling his organs for food or medicine, or from a prisoner of conscience tortured to death, dissected, then buried in haste after certain parts were removed.
Others may come from a patient who entered a hospital ward and never left intact, where the appendix is often removed along with other organs.
Do not worry, wealthy “Muslims”: most organs available on the black market are “halal”, from Muslims like you, but oppressed, tortured and impoverished.
Rejoice and be at peace, gentlemen: we are the world’s largest producer of “authentic, pure, believing human spare parts”, exactly what your “chosen, purified bodies” require.
What wickedness is this? What madness? What stupidity?
Source: Al Jazeera + Global Newspapers
