Complicit: Hilton must cancel plans to build hotel on site of bulldozed Uighur mosque in China

As part of its campaign of genocide against its Uighur population, the Chinese government is actively working to wipe out any trace of Uighur culture and history, especially the community's Islamic identity.

By building a Hilton hotel on the site of a mosque demolished by bulldozers in the city of Hotan in Xinjiang Province, the Hilton Corporation is helping China accomplish its genocidal goal.

As Hilton must know by now, China has a long history of severe repression against the Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups living in Xinjiang. The current genocidal crackdown began in 2014 when the Chinese Communist Party launched the "Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism." Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the government imposed harsh restrictions on Islamic religious practice and education.

During the period from 2014 to 2017, the Chinese government expanded its surveillance of Xinjiang's Uighur population. Uighurs were forced to register for new biometric IDs that allowed for easy tracking and control. When the government launched a massive "voluntary" biodata gathering campaign, Uighurs were told that failure to participate would lead to detention. All electronic communication devices had to be registered. In 2015, China passed an anti-terror law that curbed freedom of religion and expression for Uighurs. Predictive policing and AI technologies were used to profile Uighurs.

"To ensure the destruction of the Uighur people, China is pursuing a policy of cultural erasure"

In March 2017, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang passed the "De-extremification" regulations, which banned the wearing of face veils, "irregular" beards, and traditional Muslim names. These regulations legally paved the way for the deportations.

In April 2017, China began detaining thousands of Uighurs and sending them to what it calls "counter-extremism training centres" and "education and transformation training centres," which in reality are concentration camps.

A 2021 Amnesty International report includes first-hand testimonies from 55 former detainees. They describe the appalling human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that take place in these camps. Detainees are forced to take "classes" that teach them about the "evils of Islam" and the greatness of China, communism, and Xi Jinping.

The Uighur slaves of the supply chain: The story of Xinjiang's cotton industry https://t.co/zQUesctl1P

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) May 21, 2021

They are punished for speaking their native tongue and practising their religion. They are subjected to brutal physical and psychological torture. Women are subjected to forced sterilisation and rape.

Outside of the concentration camps, Uighurs in Xinjiang continue to face severe restrictions on their freedom of movement and freedom of religion, according to a 2020 US State Department report. Islamic practice is tightly controlled. Uighurs are subjected to forced labour in factories and cotton fields. China has imposed strict birth control regulations that threaten to reduce the Uighur population by millions. Forced sterilisations and abortions occur outside the camps as well.

To ensure the destruction of the Uighur people, China is pursuing a policy of cultural erasure. Mosques and shrines have been targeted, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimates that 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang have been destroyed or damaged since 2017. Of those 16,000, ASPI estimates that 8,500 have been demolished outright. Thirty per cent of shrines and other Islamic sacred sites have been demolished since 2017, and others have been damaged or altered.

As part of their investigation of plans to build a Hampton in Hotan, The Telegraph visited locations around Xinjiang where mosques once stood. In Hotan, a parking lot and a grassy knoll with communist propaganda signs were among the things that replaced mosques. In Kashgar, a public toilet was built over the site of a demolished mosque.

"Destroying a people's cultural heritage and history makes it easier to destroy the people themselves"

Mosques that are not outright demolished are often stripped of Islamic and Uighur symbols. This was the case at the Id Kah Mosque, China's largest, where a Uighur language plaque was removed from the entrance and Islamic designs scraped from the walls. Domes and minarets have been removed as "un-Chinese."

Destroying a people's cultural heritage and history makes it easier to destroy the people themselves. This is the ultimate objective of China's mosque and shrine demolition campaign in Xinjiang. They seek to uproot the Uighurs from their ancestral lands and to strip them of their identity.

If the Hilton Corporation goes ahead with the building of a Hampton hotel on the site of a demolished mosque, they will be assisting the Chinese government in its campaign of cultural erasure against the Uighurs. To assist in the erasure of the Uighurs is to assist in their genocide.

Now is the time for people of conscience to speak up.

Sign this petition to tell the Hilton Corporation to suspend its plans to build the Hotan Hampton. Call out other corporations that collaborate in the Uighur genocide and hold them accountable for their actions. It is imperative that we keep drawing attention to China's crimes against humanity and anyone complicit in them.

Hilton has a unique opportunity to take a stand against tyranny and genocide - and the corporation must take it. Failing that, people of conscience must take a stand against Hilton.

This article was originally published by CAIR, and is cross-posted here with their permission.