Muslim groups call for boycott of Hilton hotels over China mosque demolition

[Nilgiri]

Muslim groups call for boycott of Hilton hotels over China mosque demolition

FacebookLikeShareTweetEmail America’s largest Muslim civil rights organisation, as well as over 40 other U.S. and international groups, have called for a global boycott of Hilton hotels over plans to build a hotel on the former site of a Uyghur mosque demolished by the Chinese authorities in...

5pillarsuk.com

America’s largest Muslim civil rights organisation, as well as over 40 other U.S. and international groups, have called for a global boycott of Hilton hotels over plans to build a hotel on the former site of a Uyghur mosque demolished by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are targeting Hilton Worldwide, the U.S. company that manages and franchises the Hilton portfolio of hotels and resorts, many of which are in the Muslim world.

Among the organisations which support the global boycott campaign are the World Uyghur Congress, the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the Muslim Council of Britain, the Belgium Uyghur Association, and the Justice and Liberties for All Committee, France.

Speaking outside the Capital Hilton in Washington announcing the boycott campaign, Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of CAIR, said: “Today, we are announcing a global boycott campaign against Hilton… We gave them (Hilton) enough time to reconsider their decision and to cancel and pull out from this project… we negotiated with them indirectly to no avail.

“You and I have the choice to choose where to go on your travel or to do business meetings or to hold events, weddings or banquets… We appeal to people who go on Hajj, who visit Madinah, Mecca, not to stay at the Hilton hotel… enough is enough,” he said.



According to CAIR, the coalition has appealed “to join the global boycott of all Hilton-owned hotels until the company cancels its plan to establish a hotel on the site of a bulldozed Uyghur mosque in China.”

Responding to the boycott call, a spokesperson for Hilton hotels said that “the company’s franchise model limits Hilton’s involvement in the development and management of properties. However, we can confirm that in 2019 an independent Chinese ownership group purchased a vacant lot through public auction, with plans for commercial development, including a hotel. Hilton was not involved in the site selection.”

The mosque where Hilton says it wants to construct Hampton Inn hotel was demolished in 2018 in the Hotan province.

In July, a bipartisan U.S. Congressional Commission called on Hilton to “halt construction and otherwise disassociate itself and its brand from the hotel project in Hotan.”

“Hilton should not allow its name to be used to perpetuate and promote the cultural erasure and repression of the millions of Uyghurs living in the XUAR,” the commission added.

Global rights groups have for years criticised China for its treatment of Uyghur Muslim population in the East Turkistan region. Beijing has been accused of cultural genocide, mass internment, separating children from families, and the desecration of religious and cultural locations.

According to a research by Australian Strategic Policy institute, between 2017 to 2020 some 16,000 mosques and half of the region’s other holy sites – such as shrines and graveyards – have been demolished or partially destroyed by the Chinese authorities.

China rejects the accusations as propaganda and says it is combatting terrorism and extremism.

 

[Nilgiri]

So let me get this straight.....they call for boycott of Hilton (building over the spot), but not CCP (the mosque destroyer)?

 

[Ravager]

So let me get this straight.....they call for boycott of Hilton (building over the spot), but not CCP (the mosque destroyer)?

Wellcome to the fuck up world ...

 

[xizhimen]

Xinjiang residents debunk rumors of "forced demolition of mosques"
Jul 18, 2020

The so-called "forced demolition of mosques" in Xinjiang is totally nonsense, an official of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said on Friday.

Mehmut Usman, director of the regional ethnic affairs commission, made the comment in response to the 2019 report on international religious freedom issued by the U.S. State Department, which claims that Xinjiang is dismantling mosques.

He told a press conference that as long as venues for religious activities are registered with the government under the law, they have legal status, and all their rights and interests are protected by law. He said the Jami Mosque and Idkah Mosque, which the U.S. State Department report said had been demolished, are well protected.

"Xinjiang has always attached great importance to the protection and repair of mosques, and the governments at all levels in Xinjiang have not only helped and supported the improvement of mosques, but also guaranteed the normal religious needs of religious believers," the official said.

According to the official, some mosques in Xinjiang were built in the 1980s and 1990s and even longer ago, with shabby facilities and potential safety hazards.

"Through new construction, building on the original site of demolition, and expansion measures according to urban-rural construction planning, we have improved the conditions of the mosques and met the needs of the religious believers, which is widely welcomed by religious personages and believers," he said.

Abdukerim Mamut, who works for the Jami Mosque in Xinjiang's Yecheng County, said that the Jami Mosque was originally founded in 1540 and expanded in 1860. It underwent repair in 1937, 2014, and 2019 respectively.

"Considering the long history of the mosque, the government consolidated it in 2019 to provide better and safer services for religious believers," he said.

Elijan Anayit, the spokesperson of the information office of the regional people's government, said at the press conference that the government has no restrictions on ethnic customs of wedding and funeral ceremonies and giving Islamic names.

According to the spokesperson, among ethnic minorities who have the habit of burial, the government does not promote cremation. Instead, it takes specific measures to protect their custom, such as allocating special land for cemeteries.

As for the U.S. report claim that "the Sulitan cemetery in Hotan and the cemetery of Tazhong road in Aksu have been destroyed," the spokesperson said the report calls white black. "The cemeteries have not been destroyed, but rather well protected."

 

[xizhimen]

The Case of the Keriya Aitika Mosque

I am a Chicago-based Chinese working in an American bank holding company, spending all my college years in the United States. However, I care about my home country very much, especially when it is being smeared and slandered.
One year ago, there was a rash of articles in the media with the same claim that China had been on a massive, targeted campaign to destroy mosques in Xinjiang.
At first, Shawn Zhang posted a tweet on April 2 last year claiming that Keriya Eitika Mosque had been demolished. Weeks later, Zhang clarified that this mosque was actually a recently built gatehouse that had been removed, and the 800-year-old mosque was intact (and much larger than the image he showed).

The screenshot of Shawn Zhang's tweet.
Although the mistake has been clarified, the mosque-demolition narrative has soon taken on a life of its own as a number of mainstream media outlets began to pick up on the story, many of which even disregarded the fact that Zhang was mistaken.
After these images were used as "positive evidence" to denounce the Chinese government for religious repression, they and the Keriya Aitika Mosque story largely faded from public view. The media moved on to new sensational claims about Xinjiang, shifting gears every few weeks in search of something that would stick.
Given the lack of follow-up, I thought I would revisit the Keriya Aitika Mosque situation myself to provide an update. Readers are encouraged to follow along on Google Earth – the coordinates for the mosque are 36°51'08.75" N, 81°40'18.08"E.
Below is one of the images of Keriya Aitika from May 2017, before the northern gatehouse was removed. You may notice that there's not much surrounding the mosque itself – the land on the south and east sides is basically empty.

Google Earth image, May, 2017
Fast forward to April 2019, when we started to see these claims being made. The northern gatehouse has been removed, and there appears to be just an empty spot where it once stood. This is the image generally used as "proof".

Google Earth image, April, 2019
The above image looks incriminating that it raised concern if they were in the process of demolishing. Why does it look so barren in front of the mosque? But lost in focus on the northern gatehouse is everything else going on -the new construction of buildings to the south and east as well as the expansion of roads around the mosque.
When we come back to Keriya Aitika Mosque in March 2020, everything has taken shape. The area to the north is a circular plaza with steps leading to the prayer hall. The southern gatehouse overlooks a new plaza and has been connected to a wall that extends around the mosque.
The buildings to the east have sets of minarets, which certain media outlets even claimed were banned in Xinjiang. There's even a parking lot to the west of the mosque for worshipers commuting from further away.

Google Earth image, March, 2020

Were the above image put side by side with the May 2017 image, it's unlikely that anyone would draw the conclusion that the Keriya Aitika Mosque was being targeted for demolition. The use of satellite imagery is massively misleading – renovation and construction can easily look like destruction.
It's no surprise that this narrative disappeared soon after – it would not support their story for people to go on Google Earth today and see for themselves.
I encourage readers to apply a level of skepticism to the claims some Western media make about Xinjiang. The speed at which narratives are built and then discarded, as well as their type, point to something that remains persistent: not earnest reporting of the facts, but a political purpose.
Going back to claims made a year ago leads us to conclusions radically different, even opposite, from the original reporting, as we can see with the case of the Keriya Aitika Mosque.

 

[Nilgiri]

Some bot quoting a tweet bot (twitter isnt even allowed in PRC - the layers of irony are the thickest cringe in existence these days)

Compare that to vast amount of OSINT and remote sensing out there that can be objectively seen by anyone:

China's Disappeared Uyghurs: What Satellite Images Reveal

At least one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have vanished into a sprawling network of camps and prisons in China's far west. Satellite images show brightly lit compounds, wall after wall of barbed wire, and a sudden rush to build what appear to be fortified preschools.

www.rand.org

There was a reason btw, CCP lied about this openly for a bunch of crucial years while the formative process itself was going on.

Then the evidence pile grew to such such that newer excuses had to be reached for (camps purpose)....and as much gaslighting used as possible to try cover up the earlier stance being a lie (camps not existing at all).

 

[xizhimen]

Some bot quoting a tweet bot (twitter isnt even allowed in PRC - the layers of irony are the thickest cringe in existence these days)

Compare that to vast amount of OSINT and remote sensing out there that can be objectively seen by anyone:

China's Disappeared Uyghurs: What Satellite Images Reveal

At least one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have vanished into a sprawling network of camps and prisons in China's far west. Satellite images show brightly lit compounds, wall after wall of barbed wire, and a sudden rush to build what appear to be fortified preschools.

www.rand.org

There was a reason btw, CCP lied about this openly for a bunch of crucial years while the formative process itself was going on.

Then the evidence pile grew to such such that newer excuses had to be reached for (camps purpose)....and as much gaslighting used as possible to try cover up the earlier stance being a lie (camps not existing at all).

You can use GPS to search this address and see the new mosque in Hotan city and see who is lying here:
新疆维吾尔自治区-和田地区-和田市-古江北路8号