{"id":1457,"date":"2019-12-25T10:46:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T10:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1457"},"modified":"2019-12-30T08:55:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T08:55:17","slug":"sonny-bill-williams-rugby-star-latest-to-criticise-china-over-uighurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1457","title":{"rendered":"Sonny Bill Williams: Rugby star latest to criticise China over Uighurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1489 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5548909_RL_SBW_16-9_17805703_1986345_2019122309125673b1522a-7090-4bb1-997c-16737-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>BBC News<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">One of the world&#8217;s best-known rugby players has become the latest sports star to criticise China for its treatment of the Muslim Uighur population.<\/p>\n<p>In a Twitter post, Sonny Bill Williams also criticised others for choosing &#8220;economic benefits over humanity&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal footballer Mesut Ozil\u00a0recently spoke out on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>China has been accused of a &#8220;mass internment&#8221; of\u00a0one million Muslims\u00a0in the Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n<p>Williams, a Muslim convert from New Zealand, posted an image showing a hand painted with the Chinese flag twisting an arm painted with the flag of East Turkestan &#8211; the term used by separatists to refer to Xinjiang.<\/p>\n<p>The East Turkestan arm is dripping with blood.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s a sad time when we choose economic benefits over humanity<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Uyghurs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Uyghurs<\/a> \ud83d\ude22\u2764\ufe0f\ud83e\udd32\ud83c\udffd <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F5EIWIOY7n\">pic.twitter.com\/F5EIWIOY7n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SonnyBWilliams\/status\/1208840148810526720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Williams, who recently signed for rugby league side Toronto Wolfpack, has achieved huge success in both codes of the game &#8211; league and union.<\/p>\n<p>He also had a short but successful career in professional boxing.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-league\/50406738\">Sonny Bill Williams: &#8216;I chased girls and drank alcohol &#8211; and it only gave me emptiness&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His statement echoes comments made by Arsenal footballer Ozil who criticised both China &#8211; and people who stayed silent.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/news.images.itv.com\/image\/file\/2069119\/stream_img.jpg\" alt=\"mesut \u00f6zil supports uighurs ile ilgili g\u00f6rsel sonucu\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Korans are being burnt&#8230; Mosques are being shut down&#8230; Muslims schools are being banned&#8230; Brothers are forcefully being sent to camps,&#8221; the Muslim player tweeted in Turkish, to a background of the East Turkestan flag.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Muslims are silent. Their voice is not heard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>China responded furiously, with state television pulling an Arsenal match from TV schedules.<\/p>\n<p>Ozil was also\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/50843797\">removed from a Chinese version<\/a>\u00a0of the Pro Evolution Soccer video game.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/50807043\">China says Ozil deceived &#8216;by fake news&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-50091931\">NBA facing &#8216;substantial&#8217; losses over China dispute<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-50171698\">Pence criticises NBA as &#8216;subsidiary&#8217; of China<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A foreign ministry spokesman said he was &#8220;deceived by fake news&#8221;, and invited him to visit the region to &#8220;have a look&#8221; for himself.<\/p>\n<p>After Ozil&#8217;s comments, UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov&#8217;s Instagram account included a post about the history of Uighurs &#8211; but the post seems to have been taken down.<\/p>\n<p>More than 20 countries,\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-48935356\">including Britain, signed a letter earlier in July<\/a>\u00a0condemning China&#8217;s repression of Uighur Muslims.<\/p>\n<p>The US House of Representatives has also passed a bill to counter what it calls the &#8220;arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment&#8221; of Uighurs.<\/p>\n<p>The bill still needs approval from the Senate and US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Who are the Uighurs?<\/h2>\n<p>The Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims who live in western China &#8211; predominantly in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. They make up under half of the region&#8217;s roughly 26 million people.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, a UN rights committee was told there were credible allegations that China had &#8220;turned the region into something that resembles a massive internment camp&#8221;.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-45474279\">China&#8217;s Muslim &#8216;crackdown&#8217; explained<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-50511063\">Data leak details China&#8217;s &#8216;brainwashing system&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/resources\/idt-sh\/China_hidden_camps\">The long read: China&#8217;s hidden camps<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rights groups say those in camps are made to learn Mandarin Chinese, swear their loyalty to Chinese president Xi Jinping, and even renounce their faith in some instances.<\/p>\n<p>Leaked documents seen by the BBC showed that inmates were locked up, indoctrinated and punished.<\/p>\n<p>But the Chinese government says these camps are voluntary, and that they offer education and training to counter extremism.<\/p>\n<p>Source: https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-50888668<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BBC News One of the world&#8217;s best-known rugby players has become the latest sports star to criticise China for its treatment of the Muslim Uighur population. In a Twitter post, Sonny Bill Williams also criticised others for choosing &#8220;economic benefits over humanity&#8221;. Arsenal footballer Mesut Ozil\u00a0recently spoke out on the issue. China has been accused [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central-asia","category-uyghur-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1490,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/1490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}