TurkistanTimes: On March 1, 2026, the Algerian national newspaper El Moudjahid published an article by journalist Amel Zemouri (A.Z.) titled "The Id Kah Mosque: Spiritual Heart of the Uyghurs and Symbol of Islam in China". The article paints a profoundly fabricated, utopian picture of the historic Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang), describing it as a vibrant center where Uyghur Muslims freely gather for Tarawih prayers, collective iftars, and Quranic classes. Let us state this unequivocally: Every single claim in this article is a grotesque fabrication. It is an unapologetic piece of propaganda designed to whitewash the Chinese government's ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people. In fact, Zemouri’s claims are so egregiously detached from reality that even the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) own state media machinery hesitates to make such blatantly absurd assertions before the international community.
In the article, Zemouri audaciously claims that "every year, [the mosque] becomes the focal point of religious celebrations, notably during Eid and Ramadhan, where the faithful gather for iftar and night prayers." This assertion stands in direct contradiction to exhaustive reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations, which have thoroughly documented that the Chinese government strictly prohibits fasting during Ramadan in East Turkestan. Far from allowing Tarawih prayers or collective iftars, the state entirely forbids ordinary Uyghur citizens from entering the Id Kah Mosque to perform their daily prayers. Today, the mosque has been systematically stripped of its religious function, converted into a hollow, ticketed tourist attraction heavily surveilled by facial-recognition cameras and security checkpoints. Any local Uyghur attempting to enter the premises for actual worship is immediately flagged as a "religious extremist" and disappeared into the region's vast network of concentration camps.
Perhaps the most insulting distortion in the article is the assertion that the mosque "hosts Quran, Arabic, and Islamic culture classes, allowing younger generations to educate themselves and preserve their religious and cultural identity." This claim is a blatant affront to human intelligence. China’s own "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulations on Religious Affairs" explicitly and legally prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from entering a mosque or participating in any form of religious education. Millions of Uyghurs have been thrown into concentration camps and tortured simply for owning a Quran at home, giving their children Islamic names, or privately studying their religion. To claim that Quranic classes are openly held for youth in the heart of Kashgar is a psychotic delusion that goes beyond even Beijing’s wildest propaganda scripts.
Zemouri's characterization of the Id Kah Mosque as a "living symbol of Islam in China" is a desperate attempt to mask the systemic eradication of Islamic heritage in the region. According to satellite imagery analysis by independent researchers and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), over 16,000 mosques in East Turkestan have been demolished, structurally damaged, or converted into bars, public toilets, and pig farms since 2017. The only reason Id Kah’s architectural shell remains standing is not because it is revered as a "symbol of Islam," but because it serves as a carefully curated, hollowed-out theatrical prop used by the CCP to deceive foreign diplomats and journalists. Ultimately, journalist Amel Zemouri has weaponized her pen to run cover for a regime actively executing the systematic erasure of a Muslim population. Publishing such shameless lies over the blood and suffering of the oppressed Uyghur people is not merely a failure of journalistic integrity—it is an unforgivable betrayal of human conscience.
