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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Rohingya remain suspicious as Myanmar rolls out repatriation plan; Turkish officials prepare visit to Xinjiang to assess Chinese treatment of Uighurs. Our recommended read of the day is by Huizhong Wu on Beijing’s orders to remove any Muslim or Arabic script signs.
China
Sign of the times: China's capital orders Arabic, Muslim symbols taken down | Recommended Read
Authorities in the Chinese capital have ordered halal restaurants and food stalls to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, part of an expanding national effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population.“They said this is foreign culture and you should use more Chinese culture,” said the manager, who, like all restaurant owners and employees who spoke to Reuters, declined to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue. read the complete article
Turkey to Send Officials to China to Observe Minority Muslim, Uighur Camps
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Turkey accepted an invitation from China to visit Xinjiang and will send 10 officials. He told Turkey's official Anadolu news agency in Bangkok that "our expectation is for our Uighur brethren to live under one Chinese roof in peace." Turkey has previously expressed concern over China's arbitrary detentions of Muslim and Turkic Uighurs in internment camps, which Beijing calls vocational training centers. Turkey also wants to strengthen its trade relations with China. After international condemnation of the detention centers, China has begun organizing highly choreographed trips to Xinjiang for journalists and foreign officials. read the complete article
China's top Uyghur official claims most detainees have left Xinjiang camps
During a rare press conference in Beijing Tuesday, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Chairman Shohrat Zakir, fiercely defended the controversial camps into which the United States State Department has said up to two million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been held against their will in the past two years. Speaking to reporters, Zakir, the country's top Uyghur official, described the camps as being "hugely positive" for the region. "I don't know how it's become such an international focus. It's probably due to unbalanced information," he said. read the complete article
New Zealand
Christchurch mosque shooting: Immigration NZ issues 200 emergency visitor visas to family members
Since the March 15 attacks, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) says it has been "committed to trying to relieve some of the stress and anxiety" in the Christchurch Muslim community around immigration issues by providing immigration support and assistance to victims of the attacks and their families. It's also held a number of community meetings, with the last one on Saturday, to discuss various immigration-related issues that have come up since the tragedy. Many of the 51 Muslim worshippers murdered at two city mosques had family living overseas, or had been residing in New Zealand on various visas. read the complete article
Sri Lanka
Resigned Sri Lankan Muslim politicians return to government
Four Sri Lankan Muslim ministers who resigned from their Cabinet portfolios after the Easter attacks that killed more than 250 people have rejoined the government after an investigation cleared them of having any links with the local Islamic militant group that carried out the bombings. The four were among nine Cabinet and junior ministers who stepped down from their posts last month to enable the government to investigate allegations against Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen that he had links to the extremists who carried out the attacks. The Muslim ministers resigned en masse to express their solidarity with Rishad. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Op-ed | Muslim or not, Sajid Javid does not represent me
While Priti Patel and Sajid Javid had previously served under Theresa May, even high-profile left leaners thought that two top-tier appointments at the same time was something you'd never see 20 years ago, and worthy of note. I get it, it's a very visible display that brown kids can break through the glass ceiling. But why these individuals got there can't be separated from the political. The very context in which we see them is everything to do with politics, and not simply merit. And their kind of politics is a far cry from the spirit of what representation and diversity should be about. read the complete article
Australia
Labor wants Australia to refuse visa for 'career bigot' Raheem Kassam
Raheem Kassam – a former chief adviser to the Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage who has said the Qur’an is “fundamentally evil” – is among a string of far-right figures billed to appear at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney. A UK Independence party leadership candidate in 2016, Kassam tweeted that the Scottish National party leader Nicola Sturgeon’s legs should be taped shut “so she can’t reproduce”, and described a leadership rival, Suzanne Evans, as “a wrinkly old ginger bird”. read the complete article
Myanmar
Rohingya suspicious as Myanmar touts repatriation plan
With its happy cartoon figures and its promise of a return "to normal life," the brochure paints a rosy picture for refugees who agree to be repatriated to Buddhist-majority Myanmar on the government's terms. It promises the mostly Muslim Rohingya, who have been systematically stripped of Myanmar citizenship for decades and vilified as outsiders, a "gateway to citizenship" if they apply for National Verification Cards (NVC). read the complete article
United States
Toms River School Official Won’t Seek New Term After Anti-Muslim Posts
A New Jersey school board member who has refused to resign or apologize for disparaging two Muslim congresswomen and Islam on social media has decided not to seek re-election. Dan Leonard said Monday he didn’t want to compromise the “great work” the Toms River Regional school board has done. read the complete article
GOP county chair apologizes for sexist, anti-Muslim tweets
Jerry Scanlan said in a statement Monday that he didn’t thoroughly read some tweets before retweeting them from the Sussex County GOP account. He said he doesn’t hold “negative feelings of hate towards anyone.” Some of the tweets used sexist slurs for four Democratic congresswomen and called them “radical terrorists.” The congresswomen were the object of a racist tweet by President Donald Trump. Another tweet called for eradicating Islam in the U.S. read the complete article