The Global Imams Council, a non-governmental body that unites the Muslims, has banned followers of Islam from participating and attending the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The ban is due to the oppression of the Uighur Muslims living in China. Statement of the Council says.
The statement notes that participation and attendance of the Olympics «will directly serve the interests of the tyrannical and despotic regime responsible for the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Uighurs.»
The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom also called for boycotting the Games. These states refused to send their diplomats to the PRC.
The Xinjiang region of China is home to over a million of Uyghurs — the Muslims of Turkic origin. European and American media say that representatives of this ethnic group are forcibly held in state camps by the country’s authorities and forced to work. In addition, it is alleged that the Muslims living there were forbidden to call their children their traditional names, they were forced to eat pork and drink alcohol.
The Beijing Olympics will start on February 4 and end on February 20 this year.
