Chinese officials have reportedly ordered Uyghur Muslims in occupied East Turkistan to file video proof they are not fasting for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

In other words, the oppressed Uyghurs must submit a video of themselves eating lunch every day to their Chinese overlords.

Ramadan is a month-long holiday during which Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking, or having sex from dawn until dusk. Each day’s fast is broken with an evening meal known as iftar.

Depending on the lunar calendar, fasting can last for 29 or 30 days. Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan with a celebratory feast, falls on March 29 this year.

The Chinese government has not ordered the Uyghurs to prove they are having sex during the day, but numerous posts on social media and statements from local police say the Uyghurs must submit daily video evidence of themselves violating the Ramadan fast by eating lunch. The videos are collected by officials in each village.

A police officer confirmed to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Wednesday that Uyghurs are not allowed to fast in at least three villages in the northwestern county of Peziwat. Other government sources said the video lunch requirement has been imposed across the entire county.

“We implemented a system in which residents need to send us video proof that they are not fasting during Ramadan. I have residents who send their proof to me,” the female officer said.

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One of RFA’s government sources said the requirement to submit lunch videos was invented by “cadres at lower government levels,” because they decided it was the most effective way to ensure no one fasts during Ramadan. Some Peziwat residents say they were contacted by telephone and told their lunches would be spot-checked in person by local officials.

A government staffer in the town of Misha said another brainstorm by her superiors was to organize “collective eating activities” to “disrupt the activities of people who secretly fast.”

Breaking the Ramadan fast is no small matter for Muslims. Exceptions are made for people in poor health, but otherwise the Ramadan fast is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the others being prayer five times per day, giving alms, making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once, and the ritual declaration of faith known as the shahada – “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”

The Chinese Communist Party began banning Ramadan fasts in East Turkistan in 2014, although the restriction initially applied only to Uyghurs who worked directly for the government. The restriction grew to include teachers and students, and then all members of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese government documents indicated that observing Ramadan would violate the strict Marxist atheist faith all members of the Party are required to express.

As China became increasingly ruthless in crushing the religion and culture of the oppressed Uyghurs, so the restrictions on Ramadan grew, until most of China’s Uyghur slaves were forced to violate a core tenet of their faith. Family members were encouraged to tell the government if relatives attempted to fast in private.

Chinese officials supposedly “eased” the restrictions on Ramadan fasting in 2020, but the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) observed that most Uyghurs were extremely reluctant to observe the holiday properly, fearing their fasts would be noticed by government functionaries and they would be labeled “extremists.”

The WUC said another tactic attempted by Chinese officials was forcing East Turkistan residents to attend mandatory political events in the morning and evening, at which no food was served. This made it much more difficult for Muslims to fast during the day.

File/People hold up flags and signs during a protest in Washington, DC on February 5, 2023, marking the 26th anniversary of the 1997 Ghulja massacre in Ghulja City, in the Xinjiang province of China. The massacre resulted in the death of over a hundred Uyghur and other Turkic people following peaceful pro-independence protests (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

“As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan in prayer and reflection, Uyghur Muslims are imprisoned, enslaved in forced labor, and suffocated under relentless surveillance,” Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) executive director Rushan Abbas said at the beginning of Ramadan this year.

“Stripped of their religious freedom, they are banned from fasting, praying, or even identifying as Muslim – while the Chinese regime brazenly continues its crimes against them,” Abbas said.

CFU noted that China’s persecution of the Uyghurs is “escalated” during Ramadan.

“They are banned from fasting, forced to eat during daylight – including non-Halal food – under surveillance, and punished for refusal,” the CFU said. Halal is the list of acceptable foods for Muslims.

“An estimated 16,000 mosques have been destroyed or damaged, the remaining ones are repurposed into bars, cafes, and tourist sites, erasing Uyghur religious identity. The government has called to ‘sinicize Islam,’ silencing Uyghur voices while exploiting their suffering for political theater,” the statement said.