Brandon Biggens uses a hairdryer to style his beard as he prepares for
the Beard World Championships on November 2, 2013 in
Leinfelden-Echterdingen, southern Germany. A man in China's mainly
Muslim Xinjiang region, has been handed a six year sentence for growing a
beard. PHOTO | FILE
BEIJING,
A
six-year prison sentence reportedly given to a man in China's mainly
Muslim Xinjiang region for growing a beard was "absurd", an overseas
group said Monday as accounts of the penalty disappeared online.
Dilxat
Raxit, a spokesman for the exile World Uyghur Congress, said the case
was "typical of the political persecution" faced by Uighurs, the mostly
Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority group that calls Xinjiang home.
"This
is a case that would not happen in any other country in the world,"
Raxit said in a statement. "It is unacceptable and absurd. It exposes
China's hostile attitude and crisis of governance."
He
added: "If a Chinese person grows a beard, it is a personal fashion he
is allowed to choose freely. If a Uighur grows a beard, he is a
religious extremist.
"China's goal is
to use judicial means to force Uighurs to accept Chinese people's
traditions and give up their own way of life."
On
Sunday the China Youth Daily reported that a court in Xinjiang's desert
oasis city of Kashgar sentenced a 38-year-old Uighur man to six years
in jail for growing a beard, while his wife was given two years for
veiling herself.
The man "had started
growing his beard in 2010" and his wife "wore a veil hiding her face
and a burqa", the paper said. Both practices are discouraged by local
authorities.
PROJECT BEAUTY
The
couple were found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", a
vague accusation regularly used in the Chinese judicial system.
An
employee of Kashgar's propaganda department declined to confirm the
report on Monday, telling AFP: "I know nothing about this."
For
more than a year the authorities in Xinjiang have been campaigning
against men growing beards — a practice officials associate with
extremist ideas.
A campaign dubbed
"Project Beauty" also encourages women to leave their heads bare and
abandon wearing the veil, which some Muslims see as a religious
requirement.
Rights groups believe
Beijing's repression of Uighur culture and religion has fanned tensions
in Xinjiang, a resource-rich region that abuts central Asia.
Violence
increased last year and at least 200 people were killed in a series of
bombings and deadly clashes with security forces, blamed by Beijing on
"separatists" and "religious extremists".
Beijing
defends its policies, arguing it has boosted economic development in
the area and that it upholds minority and religious rights in a country
with 55 recognised ethnic minorities as well as the Han majority.
CASE DELETED
Foreign
ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: "The Chinese
government will do its best to promote stability and economic
development as well as harmonious coexistence of all ethnic groups in
Xinjiang."
By Monday the China Youth Daily report and several other articles on the case had been deleted from mainland news sites.
But
the initial accounts incited debate among users of China's popular
online social networks. Some said the punishment was an appropriate way
to guard against extremism.
"Anyone dressed that way is a terrorist, not a Muslim!" wrote one user on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
Others dismissed the anti-beard campaign as a "simple and crude" measure that would do little to ensure public safety.
Some
referred to the spectacularly hirsute German political theorist whose
writings are a cornerstone of Communist Party ideology to this day, with
one asking: "How many years would Marx have been sentenced to?"
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