Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said on Friday, in the latest report on widespread human rights abuses in the troubled region.
Human rights groups say more than a million Uighurs and other, mostly Muslim, Turkish-speaking people have been imprisoned in camps across the Northwest, with residents pressured to abandon traditional and religious activities.
Around 16,000 mosques had been destroyed or damaged, according to a report by the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy (ASPI) based on satellite imagery documenting hundreds of holy sites and statistical models.
Most of the destruction took place in the past three years and an estimated 8,500 mosques were completely destroyed, according to the report, with more damage outside the urban centers of Urumqi and Kashgar.
Many mosques that escaped demolition had their domes and minarets removed, according to the investigation, which estimated that fewer than 15,500 intact and damaged mosques remained standing around Xinjiang.
If correct, it would be the lowest number of Muslim places of worship in the region since the decade of national turmoil sparked by the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
In contrast, none of the Christian churches and Buddhist temples in Xinjiang that were studied by the expert group had been damaged or destroyed.
ASPI also said that nearly a third of the major Islamic holy sites in Xinjiang, including shrines, cemeteries and pilgrimage routes, had been razed.
An AFP investigation last year found that dozens of cemeteries had been destroyed in the region, leaving human remains and broken grave bricks strewn across the territory.
China has insisted that Xinjiang residents enjoy full religious freedom.
When asked about the investigation on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry said the research institute “had no academic credibility” and was producing “reports against China and lies against China.”
Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said there were about 24,000 mosques in the region.
“The total number of mosques in Xinjiang is more than ten times that of the United States, and the average number of mosques per Muslim is higher than in some Muslim countries,” Wang told a regular news conference.
Friday’s report comes a day after ASPI said it had identified a network of detention centers in the region much larger than previous estimates.
Beijing has said that its network of camps are vocational training centers, which are necessary to fight poverty and fight extremism.
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