Habib Siddiqui

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The New York Times reported on Saturday (Dec. 28) that nearly 500,000 Uyghur children in Xinjiang had been spirited to state-run facilities after being taken from their families. Based on a planning document published by the Chinese Ministry of Education, children as young as eight years old are being put in state-run boarding schools by Chinese authorities to erase their Muslim values and beliefs. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) argues that the schools serve as a way to fight poverty and that the government has improved Uyghur children's access to education. The document also said that CCP Secretary General Xi Jinping (習近平) deems education as an important tool in fully eradicating violent extremism as well as governing Xinjiang. It added that the new generation of secular Uyghur youth would be given the privilege of cultivating their patriotism and love for the party. According to The New York Times , approximately 497,000 elementary and junior high stude...

China urged to disclose location of Uyghur academic Tashpolat Tiyip GENEVA (26 December 2019) - UN human rights experts* have expressed alarm at the situation of Mr. Tashpolat Tiyip, a Chinese academic of Uyghur origin and former president of Xinjiang University, who is in detention at an unknown location in China.  Mr. Tiyip's whereabouts have been unknown since he was detained in 2017 while travelling to a conference in Germany. He has been reported to have been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve after being convicted in camera on charges of separatism. "The Chinese authorities have indicated to us that Mr. Tiyip is being tried on corruption charges, that a lawyer has been hired by his relatives, and that he has not been sentenced to death," said the experts. "Information that Mr. Tiyip is not sentenced to death, if it is confirmed, is welcome news." The experts reiterate their recommendation that information about his current place of deten...

By Habib Siddiqui On Friday, December 27, 2019, a resolution titled “Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar” was passed with an overwhelming majority of votes during the 74th session of UN General Assembly at its 52nd resumed meeting, held at the UN headquarters in New York. This resolution follows the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar report (dated 22 October 2019) that declared Myanmar is failing in its obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent, investigate and enact effective legislation criminalizing and punishing genocide. One may recall that recently the Republic of The Gambia, as Chair of the OIC Ad Hoc Ministerial Committee on Accountability for Human Rights Violations against the Rohingya, has filed a legal case in the International Court of Justice against Myanmar for violating its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The OIC has also reiterated its call on th...

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) Press Release: 30 December 2019 UN to Myanmar: Stop the Violence ARNO welcomes the United Nations General Assembly Resolution condemning violence against the Rohingya. On December 27, 2019 the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of a Resolution which condemns Myanmar’s human rights abuses against ...

Muslim communities have faced quite the Islamophobic decade. 2019-12-30 12:48 By Mariam Nabbout   We live in a world of inexplicable paradoxes, on a planet where nations call for tolerance and coexistence but turn their heads away from blatant abuses of these exact concepts.  Communities of different faiths and backgrounds across the world continue to be subjected to grave injustices that are being exposed on a daily basis.  In the past decade, it has become evident that an increasing number of Muslim communities are being targeted in specific.  From Myanmar's Rohingya to Muslims in China, India, Ethiopia, and even Europe and the U.S., those who adhere to the Islamic faith have been experiencing one brutal crackdown after the other.  Here is a closer look at how the violent  attacks on Muslim communities have intensified over the past 10 years:  1. Myanmar's Rohingya Photo Credit: Leyal Khalife Source: Facebook/leyal....