China forces Chinese Muslims to eat pork
Two years have passed since Sayragul Sautbay’s release from a re-education camp in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, yet the memories of the humiliation and violence she endured while detained still haunt her, causing nightmares and flashbacks. Sautbay, a medical doctor and educator now residing in Sweden, recently authored a book recounting her harrowing experience, which included witnessing beatings, alleged sexual abuse, and forced sterilization.
In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, she shed further light on the indignities imposed on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, such as the forced consumption of pork, a meat strictly forbidden in Islam. Sautbay revealed that every Friday, they were compelled to eat pork, deliberately chosen as a day sacred to Muslims, and refusing this mandate resulted in severe punishment.
This policy was intentionally designed to shame and burden Muslim detainees with guilt, leaving Sautbay feeling like a different person and enveloped in darkness every time she consumed the forbidden meat. The testimonies from Sautbay and others provide insights into China’s efforts to suppress cultural and religious beliefs of the predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang, employing extensive surveillance and, since around 2017, establishing a network of camps under the guise of countering “extremism.”
This is part of an article of AL Jazeera