Repression by Law
China did not need 9/11 to further restrict civil and political rights, but it jumped onto the bandwagon in using the legitimizing force of counterterrorism to intensify its repressive policies. China’s so-called “People’s War on Terror” has had a stifling impact on the ability to practice Islam in China (and especially in Xinjiang) and is, when discussed in the context of counterterrorism and human rights, therefore best be characterized as a significant encroachment of religious freedoms, bringing China’s human rights record to a new low point in the 21th century.
