New Zealand rugby star Sonny Bill Williams on Monday joined Arsenal football player Mesut Ozil in speaking out against violations of the human rights of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region.
After Premier League club Arsenal star Mesut Ozil accused Muslims of staying silent over what he called China’s persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang on Dec. 13, Williams added his voice of protest.
On Twitter, Williams posted an image of a hand with the colors of Chinese flag forcefully gripping another hand colored with the flag of East Turkistan, with blood dropping from the second hand.
“It’s a sad time when we choose economic benefits over humanity #Uyghurs,” Williams wrote.
East Turkistan in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang is the Muslim-majority Uighurs’ home.
The 34-year old rugby player converted to Islam in 2009.
The New Zealand international is currently playing for Canadian club Toronto Wolfpack.
Williams won the Rugby World Cup with New Zealand in 2011 and 2015.
He also became the world’s best-paid rugby player after signing a two-year contract in November worth about $10 million with Toronto Wolfpack.
Ozil criticizes Muslim silence
Ozil last Friday accused Muslims of staying silent over what he called China’s persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
On Instagram, the Turkish international wrote under the headline, “East Turkistan: Bleeding Wound of Islamic Ummah,” calling Uighurs “warriors who resist persecution… Glorious believers who put up a fight alone against these who forcefully move people away from Islam.”
In China, he wrote, “Qurans are burned… Mosques were closed down… Islamic theological schools, Madrasahs were banned … Religious scholars were killed one by one … Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet.”
“Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself? The honorable Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, says, ‘If you cannot prevent persecution, expose it’,” he added.
Following the post, China’s state broadcaster refused to televise Arsenal’s match with Manchester City and the former Germany international was also removed from a Chinese video game.
China is accused of carrying out repressive policies against the Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim group, and restraining their religious, commercial and cultural rights.
China’s Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of Xinjiang’s population, has long accused China’s authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.
Up to one million people, or about 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang, have been incarcerated in an expanding network of “political re-education” camps, according to U.S. officials and UN experts.
In a report last September, Human Rights Watch accused the Chinese government of carrying out a “systematic campaign of human rights violations” against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
