Source: www.jubileecampaign.org
Date: March 7, 2020
In light of the recent outbreak of the incredibly contagious and life-threatening coronavirus (COVOID-19), religious prisoners around the world are facing questions regarding their health and disproportionately high susceptibility to the disease.
Kuzzat Altay (middle) explains the ongoing repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang on behalf of Jubilee Campaign at the UN Human Rights Council Geneva.
In the Uyghur "re-education" camps across Xinjiang, overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions, combined with the utter lack of medical supplies, leave millions of Uyghur detainees vulnerable to the increasingly widespread disease. As stated by The Guardian, "The World Uyghur Conress (WUC)...said it was very concerned that if measures were not taken to further limit the spread of the virus, it could rapidly infect large numbers of people in Xinjiang." Over a dozen coronavirus cases in Xinjiang have been confirmed; however, the Chinese government remains secretive regarding whether these cases occurred in these detention centers.
"Overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions...leave millions of Uyghur detainees vulnerable to the increasingly widespread disease..."
However, the threat faced by Uyghurs also extends beyond prison walls. Millions of Uyghurs residing in Xinjiang are forced by officials to remain quarantined in their home, and are not provided food or allowed to leave their homes to stock up on supplies for preparation. Numerous videos of the dangerous situation released by Uyghur Human Rights Project have shed light on the concerning reality. In one of these videos, a Uyghur man explains he had no choice but to leave his home in search of food. "What should I do, bite into a building?" he asks the person questioning his activities. Another disturbing video displays a man lamenting how he, his wife, and his children are starving while being confined to their homes. He then shows his desperation and distress by repeatedly banging his head into a pole.
Uighur protest
Photo credit: Malcom Brown, Creative Commons Licence.
Another country that is increasingly reporting coronavirus cases is the Islamic Republic of Iran, coincidentally a nation where repressed religious minorities are unjustly imprisoned. However, unlike China, where Uyghurs are detained with almost no consideration of their disproportionately high susceptibility to the disease, "Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails," according to BBC.
The possible release of BBC journalist and notable prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, imprisoned in 2016 for espionage, is still being determined, despite the claims by herself and her family that she has contracted the coronavirus. Contrasting claims by Iranian state public officials, however, say that Zaghari-Ratcliffe is very much healthy.
"'Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails...'" - BBC News
We ask that you keep in your prayers all individuals at risk for contracting coronavirus, that nations in which the virus has spread will continue to keep in mind the health and safety of their prisoners, and that all prisoners who have been unjustly detained will be unconditionally released.