"OUR COLLEGE STRICTLY FORBIDS FASTING AND OTHER RAMADAN PRACTICES" COLLEGE THREATENS TO EXPEL AND POSSIBLY DEPRIVE OF DIPLOMAS ALL MUSLIM STUDENTS WHO FAST (CHINA)

A college in Kashgar prefecture in China’s troubled Xinjiang region has warned ethnic minority Muslim Uyghur students who fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that they may be expelled.



The Kashgar Normal College’s controversial move came days after officials in Xinjiang told Muslim Uyghur civil servants, students, and teachers not to observe Ramadan, triggering protests from rights groups who called the move discriminatory.



“Our college administration strictly forbids fasting and other Ramadan practices by Uyghur students,” a Uyghur student told RFA’s Uyghur Service, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing punishment for talking to the foreign media.



“It is clear to us that those who refuse to eat will be warned of expulsion from the college or be deprived of their diplomas,” he said.


But at Kashgar Normal College, Muslim students wanting to break their fast after sunset will not be able to find any open restaurant in or near the campus as the administration has ordered all food outlets in these areas closed during Ramadan. Outlets that violate the order face fines or other punishment.



During fasting hours, the college administration distributes bottles of water and offers free lunches to the students, and those who refuse are blacklisted and their names forwarded to the ruling Chinese Communist Party chiefs at the various faculties, the student said.



Despite the expulsion threat, some Muslim students take the risk and fast, he said.



“Although there are strict rules and their activities are closely monitored, some of the Uyghur students continue to secretly fast.”



They leave classes early and bring back food from the college to break their fast at their dormitories.



Some are caught as the college administration staff often check the bags of the students at the exit, he said.



“If the college authorities find any meals in their bags, the students are forced to consume them on the spot.”



Students who wake up early to have their prefast meal and recite prayers at their dormitories are also penalized.



“If the students turn on the lights to prepare their prefast meals, the college guards will promptly blacklist them,” the student said.



The college has set up video cameras at dormitories and at the corridors of the college to monitor the activities of students,” he said.



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