A court in China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region has sentenced a man to six years in prison for “provoking trouble” and growing a beard, a practise discouraged by local authorities, a newspaper reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n
AFP | Mar 29, 2015, 06.32PM IST<\/p>\n
BEIJING: A court in China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region has sentenced a man to six years in prison for “provoking trouble” and growing a beard, a practise discouraged by local authorities, a newspaper reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The court in the desert oasis city of Kashgar sentenced the 38-year-old Uighur to six years, while his wife was given a two-year sentence, according to the China Youth Daily.<\/p>\n
The man “had started growing his beard in 2010” while his wife “wore a veil hiding her face and a burqa”, the paper said.<\/p>\n
The couple were found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a vague accusation regularly used in the Chinese judicial system.<\/p>\n
For more than a year the authorities in Xinjiang have been campaigning against men growing beards \u2014 a practice officials associate with extremist ideas.<\/p>\n
A campaign dubbed “Project Beauty” also encourages women to leave their heads bare and abandon wearing the veil, a relatively widespread practice among the Uighurs \u2014 the main Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n
The Kashgar couple had “received several warnings” before being charged, the newspaper reported, citing local officials.<\/p>\n
“Since the beginning of the year, a certain number of people breaking the regulation on beards, veils and burqas have been prosecuted and sentenced,” officials in Kashgar were quoted as saying by the paper.<\/p>\n
Kashgar authorities could not be reached for comment. Rights groups believe Beijing’s repression of the Uighurs’ culture and religion has fanned tensions in Xinjiang, a resource-rich region that abuts central Asia.<\/p>\n
Violence increased last year and at least 200 people were killed in a series of bombings and deadly clashes with security forces, blamed by Beijing on “separatists” and “religious extremists”.<\/p>\n
In April last year authorities in Xinjiang’s Shaya county offered cash to informants to report on neighbours with excessive facial hair.<\/p>\n
In August authorities in Karamay city banned people with large beards or Islamic clothing from travelling on public buses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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