Beijing, March 7, 2026
China’s Xinjiang province has experienced a familiar yet disturbing surge in crackdowns by Chinese authorities during Ramadan with over 500 Uyghurs arrested in the Hotan region alone for “illegal religious activities” including private fasting and gatherings, a report said on Saturday.
It added that checkpoints multiplied around mosques, while residents were subjected to random searches for “halal food or religious texts”, creating a climate of constant fear.
According to a report in ‘Impact International’, the ‘Holy Month Siege’ weaponises Ramadan’s spiritual significance, where “reflection and abstinence” were treated as punishable acts by the Chinese authorities.
“Global Alarm rises over Uyghur Arrests in China’s Holy Month Siege. Intensified crackdowns on Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region during Ramadan have triggered widespread international concern, highlighting a pattern of religious suppression and mass arrests,” the report stated.
“These measures, enforced as part of broader state policy, transform the holy month into a period of heightened surveillance and coercion, raising urgent questions about human rights violations on a massive scale. Reports from advocacy groups detail thousands detained for basic religious observances, underscoring the systematic nature of Beijing’s approach to Uyghur communities,” it added.
The report noted that since 2017, China’s policy in Xinjiang included the establishment of extensive internment camps, with estimates suggesting more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities held in facilities officially termed as “vocational training centres”.
“These camps emerged in response to sporadic violence in the region, but critics argue they serve as instruments of cultural assimilation rather than security. The state policy expanded to include pervasive surveillance systems, covering up to 80 per cent of the Uyghur population through facial recognition, AI-driven monitoring, and police checkpoints,” it detailed.
During religious observances like Ramadan, the report said, Chinese authorities escalate restrictions by banning fasting, confiscating prayer materials and using drones to monitor mosques.
“This escalation aligns with a long-term state policy aimed at curbing what Beijing describes as extremism, though independent analysis reveals a deeper intent to erode Islamic practices. By 2026, the infrastructure of control includes repurposed or demolished religious sites, with approximately 16,000 mosques affected since the policy’s inception, representing a profound assault on Uyghur architectural and spiritual heritage,” it mentioned.
Highlighting the escalating repression of Uyghurs by the Chinese authorities, the report further said, “These actions do not occur in isolation but are built on years of infrastructure development, including AI systems that flag religious attire or behaviours. The result is a community under siege, where even silent prayer risks arrest, embodying a state policy that views religious expression as a threat to unity. Human rights advocates have long documented these patterns, emphasising how they erode communal bonds during times meant for unity.”(Agency)
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