China Bans Passports for Muslims, Tibetans
The system requires residents from areas that have substantial Tibetan or Muslim populations to provide more extensive documentation than other citizens, and has led to waits of up to five years or outright refusals of passports without explanation, the group said, World Bulletin reported.
The government has intensified controls over ethnic minority groups who have protested against Chinese rule, fearing instability in the sensitive border regions in which they live.
The system for getting a passport would appear to be part of government attempts to stop travel for certain forms of religious study and pilgrimage, such as attending an event abroad by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, Human Rights Watch said.
"Chinese authorities should move swiftly to dismantle this blatantly discriminatory passport system," Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The HRW report came a few days after Thailand deported dozens of ethnic minority Uighur Muslims back to China, drawing fierce criticism from several countries.
Wrongly accused of intending to join Takfiri groups in Turkey, Syria or Iraq, 109 Muslim Uighurs may face execution or torture and deportation.
The deportation of the Chinese Muslims has sparked condemnation by human rights groups, including the UN and the EU.
“Time and time again we have seen Uighurs returned to China disappearing into a black hole, with some detained, tortured and in some cases, sentenced to death and executed,” Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s East Asia regional director said, the Independent reported.
A similar condemnation was shared by unai Phasuk, a Thailand researcher at Human Rights Watch, who told Reuters: “By forcibly sending back at least 90 Uighurs, Thailand has violated international law. In China they can face serious abuses including torture and disappearance."
Describing China’s allegations as “total lies”, the World Uighur Congress (WUC) said many of the group, which includes 20 women, now face torture and “maybe some will be executed.”
Uighur Muslims are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
Xinjiang, which activists call East Turkestan, has been autonomous since 1955 but continues to be the subject of massive security crackdowns by Chinese authorities.
Rights groups accuse Chinese authorities of religious repression against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in the name of counter terrorism.
Earlier in 2014, Xinjiang banned the practicing of religion in government buildings, as well as wearing clothes or logos associated with religious extremism.
In August, the northern Xinjiang city of Karamay prohibited young men with beards and women in burqas or hijabs from boarding public buses.
Police have also raided women’s dress shops in the province to confiscate full length robes.
