{"id":28783,"date":"2017-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/china-muslims-and-christians-detained-in-xinjiang-3540\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:43:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:43:45","slug":"china-muslims-and-christians-detained-in-xinjiang-3540","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/china-muslims-and-christians-detained-in-xinjiang-3540\/","title":{"rendered":"China: Muslims and Christians detained in Xinjiang"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 18 April, five Christians from Xinjiang Province, China, were jailed for 3-5 years<\/a> for participating in the planning of a Bible study. The sentencing occurred against the backdrop of the detention of dozens of Uyghur Muslims<\/a><\/b> for \u2018illegal religious activities.\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A court in Changji, Xinjiang Province, sentenced the Christians on 18 April, according to reports from China Aid. Yang Zhaocun and Wang Lulu were sentenced to five years in prison; Cheng Yajie was sentenced to four years; while Liu Yan and Zheng Lan were sentenced to three years each. In October 2016, they faced trial on charges of illegal assembly and \u201cgathering a crowd to disturb public order,\u201d after they held a private Christian event at Zheng Lan\u2019s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in Xinjiang Province, 39 Uyghur Muslims were recently arrested after attending lectures by unsanctioned imams, reported Radio Free Asia. While 35 are now in jail, the remaining four \u2014 all of whom are \u201cunofficial imams\u201d and not recognised or sanctioned by the state, have been sent for \u201cpolitical re-education.\u201d Those held in prison have been charged either with listening to \u201cillegal religious sermons\u201d or with inviting others to attend the sermons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been a wider crackdown against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, where restrictions have been placed on the social and cultural practices of Uighur Muslims in the name of national security. Names perceived to be linked to extremism, such as \u201cSaddam\u201d and \u201dMedina<\/a>\u201d, have been banned, and on 1 April 2017, Xinjiang authorities imposed new rules<\/a> prohibiting the wearing of \u2018abnormal\u2019 beards or veils in public places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing restrictions on the religious freedom of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang were highlighted in the annual report<\/a> by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which states that conditions for freedom of religion or belief and related human rights have continued to decline in China, as the authorities continue to target \u201canyone considered a threat to the state, including religious believers, human rights lawyers, and other members of civil society\u201d. The Commission concluded that China should be designated a \u201ccountry of particular concern,\u201d or CPC, under the US\u2019 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide said, \u201cThe recent detention of Muslims and Christians in Xinjiang for \u2018illegal religious activities\u2019 and \u2018disturbing public order\u2019 is an unacceptable breach of the right to freedom of religion or belief. Peaceful religious assembly is not a crime. We agree with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that religious freedom has declined in China over the past year. At the same time, space for civil society has drastically reduced as the authorities seek to bring all kinds of organisation under state control or force them to disband altogether. We call on the Chinese government to respect the right to freedom of religion or belief for all people in China, including ethnic minorities and indigenous people, and to drop charges against those penalised for peacefully gathering for religious meetings.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 18 April, five Christians from Xinjiang Province, China, were jailed for 3-5 years for participating in the planning of a Bible study.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42923,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[131,128],"class_list":["post-28783","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-china","regions-east-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39369,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28783\/revisions\/39369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28783"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=28783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}