"Chinese Teacher, 37 students detained for reading Koran"

"Chinese Teacher, 37 students detained for reading Koran"
("PTI," August 16, 2005)

Beijing, China - Authorities in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang region have detained a Uighur woman and 37 of her students for studying the Koran, a rights group said on Monday. Aminan Momixi, 56, was teaching the Koran to the students, aged between seven and 20, at her home on August 1 when police burst in and arrested her, the German-based World Uighur Congress said.

Her students, most of whom were primary and secondary school pupils, were also arrested and remain in detention. Police confiscated 23 copies of the Koran, 56 textbooks on the Koran, a hand-written manuscript and other religious materials, the organisation said.

Momixi was accused of "illegally possessing religious materials and subversive historical information," the Congress said. A police officer confirmed the detentions and said the group was still being held. She refused to say why.

"This is our internal issue, we cannot disclose the reason," she said. China bans all religious activities outside state control.

Uighurs are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million whose traditional homeland lies in the oil-rich Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. Xinjiang has been autonomous since 1955 but continues to be the subject of crackdowns by Chinese authorities, who have been accused by rights groups of religious repression against Uighurs in the name of counter-terrorism efforts.