1
China's western Xinjiang region has written "vocational training centres" for Muslim Uighurs into law amid growing international concern over large-scale disappearances there.
Xinjiang says the centres will tackle extremism through "thought transformation". Rights groups say detainees are made to swear loyalty to President Xi Jinping and criticise or renounce their faith.
In August, China denied allegations that it had locked up a million people.
But officials attending a UN human rights meeting admitted that Uighurs "deceived by religious extremism" were undergoing re-education and resettlement.
China's Muslim 'crackdown' explained
Uighurs dig their way out of Thai jail
Xinjiang has seen cycles of violence and crackdowns for years. China accuses Islamist militants and separatists of orchestrating the trouble.
What does the Chinese legislation say?
Xinjiang's new legislation is the first detailed indication of what China is doing in the region.
It says examples of behaviour that could lead to detention include expanding the concept of halal - which means permissible in Islam - to areas of life outside diet, refusing to watch state TV and listen to state radio and preventing children from receiving state education.
New law bans promoting of religion
Michael Bristow, BBC News
By giving these camps a legal footing, China appears to have confirmed what many have been saying for months: that it is running a string of re-education camps for Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in the name of combating extremism.
In newly published regulations detailing the camps, China has given them a vague-sounding name. It calls them "vocational skills and educational training centres".
But it is clear their purpose is not just about giving people the ability to get a better job.
The regulations say they are for people "influenced by extremism". The point is to correct bad behaviour, and ensure those inside them undergo psychological counselling and ideological education.
The camps are part of a broader attack on Islamic extremism in Xinjiang.
The new rules mean it's illegal to spread religious fanaticism by, for example, having "abnormal beards or unusual names".
And extremism is defined so broadly that it even seems to be applicable to parents who complain if their children want to marry someone of a different faith or ethnic group.
Is China cracking down on Islam?
China is also launching a wider campaign against Islamic practices across Xinjiang. It wants to stop the use of halal products that are not food.
One newspaper said the use of the term halal to describe items such as toothpaste blurred the line between religious and secular life and made people prey to religious extremism.
China bans beards and veils in Xinjiang
Profile: What is Xinjiang like?
On Monday Communist Party leaders in the regional capital Urumqi led cadres in swearing an oath to fight the "pan-halal trend", AFP reported.
New regulations also make it clear that Muslim women are banned from wearing veils.
Communist party members and bureaucrats have been told to speak Mandarin Chinese in public and not local languages.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45812419
Bookmarks