2 Replies to “UN agency cancels Gaza marathon over ban on women”

1. OT- China: Official Tightens Religious Restrictions Affecting Muslim Uyghurs

   A recently appointed official of a county in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region is cracking down on religious activities—from mandatory daily prayers to traditional burial rites—of the mostly Muslim Uyghurs, causing much anxiety among the community.

   Vice governor Haki had severely tightened restrictions since taking office two years ago, forcing residents to hold religious practices normally performed at home in mosques, where women and anyone under age 18 are not permitted, according to Uyghurs in Ghulja county in Xinjiang’s Ili autonomous prefecture.

   […]“Religious restrictions have been tightened. It is especially since vice governor Haki was appointed to oversee religious affairs that these kind of restrictions were doubled,” a Uyghur teacher told RFA.

   “Activities like reciting the Quran and celebrating the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday—which were normally held at home without any problems—are restricted now,” the teacher said.

   “Nowadays, not only do you have to have permission from the government to hold such kinds of events, but also you have to hold them in the mosques.”

   The teacher said that special officials had been appointed to make a blacklist of men under the age of 50 who wear beards, women who wear a hijab—a veil that covers a Muslim woman’s face when in the presence of non-related men—and youths known to have attended mosque before the age of 18.

   “There are now police who stand in front of mosques, checking people who enter for Friday prayers,” the teacher said.

   A young Uyghur woman told RFA that Haki, who had been active participant during the Cultural Revolution, had been promoted from the position of a town governor to vice governor of Ghulja county for his “harsh and excessive implementation of the Chinese government’s ethnic and religious policies.”

   She said that he was reviled within the Uyghur community and commonly called names including “Haki the Illiterate.”

   Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness in Xinjiang despite China’s ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

   Chinese authorities often link Uyghurs in Xinjiang to violent separatist groups, but experts familiar with the region have said Beijing exaggerates what it calls a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest.

   http://www.eurasiareview.com/04032013-china-official-tightens-religious-restrictions-affecting-muslim-uyghurs/

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   VIDEO – Muslim terrorists getting arrested by Chinese soldiers in Xinjiang :

2. The reason Hamas made this decision comes from the same logic behind warnings not to run when you encounter a bear or other predator. Instinct takes over and the runner becomes prey.