China Uighurs: Xinjiang 'legalises' Muslim internment camps

China Uighurs:Xinjiang'legalises' Muslim internment camps

China's western Xinjiang region has written internment camps for Muslim Uighurs into law amid growing international concern over large-scale disappearances there.

Xinjiang says the camps will tackle extremism through "ideological transformation".

Rights groups say detainees are made to swear loyalty to President Xi Jinping and criticise or renounce their faith.

In August, China denied allegations that it had locked up a million people.

But officials attending a UN human rights meeting admitted that Uighurs "deceived by religious extremism" were undergoing re-education and resettlement.

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What does the Chinese legislation say?

Xinjiang has seen cycles of violence and crackdowns for years. China accuses Islamist militants and separatists of orchestrating the trouble.

It says examples of behaviour that could lead to detention include expanding the concept of halal - which means permissible in Islam - to areas of life outside diet, refusing to watch state TV and listen to state radio and preventing children from receiving state education

China says its network of detention centres will also teach Mandarin Chinese, legal concepts and provide vocational training.

Rights groups have criticised the move. Sophie Richardson from Human Rights Watch said the "words on paper outlining grotesque, vast human rights abuses don't deserve the term 'law'".

Is China cracking down on Islam?

China is also launching a wider campaign against Islamic practices across Xinjiang. It wants to stop the use of halal products that are not food.

One newspaper said the use of the term halal to describe items such as toothpaste blurred the line between religious and secular life and made people prey to religious extremism.

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On Monday Communist Party leaders in the regional capital Urumqi led cadres in swearing an oath to fight the "pan-halal trend", AFP reported.

New regulations also make it clear that Muslim women are banned from wearing veils.

Communist party members and bureaucrats have been told to speak Mandarin Chinese in public and not local languages.

What are the camps like?