(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/15/21) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a decision by Apple to take down a Bible app and one of the world’s most popular Quran apps in China after Communist Party officials declared that the religious texts contain “illegal content.”
The Quran is the revealed text followed by almost two billion Muslims worldwide. The deleted app, “Quran Majeed” is used by millions of Muslims.
SEE: Apple Takes Down Quran App in China
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58921230
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“By obeying the Chinese Communist Party’s order to remove Bible and Quran apps from its platform in China, Apple is enabling China’s religious persecution, including the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims. This decision must be reversed. If American corporations don’t grow a spine and stand up to China right now, they risk spending the next century subservient to the whims of a fascist superpower.”
He noted that on Saturday, Oct. 16, the #BoycottHilton Coalition* of more than 40 American and international organizations, plans to hold an educational leafleting campaign outside Hilton Worldwide hotels nationwide over that corporation’s licensed construction of a Hampton Hotel on the site of a bulldozed mosque in the Uyghur region of China.
Cities in which leaflets have been confirmed include:
- Memphis, TN
- Seattle, WA
- New York, NY
- Los Angeles, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- New Haven, Connecticut
- Philadelphia, PA
- Allentown, PA
- Washington, D.C
- Boston, MA
- Farmington Hills, MI
More cities will be added nationwide.
WATCH: Turkish Federation Joins #BoycottHilton Coalition, Releases Video Calling on Public to Defend Uyghur Muslims from Genocide
Local groups are being encouraged to join the campaign. Contact: kanato@uhrp.org and info@freeuyghurnow.org
VIDEO: How to Hold a #BoycottHilton Educational Leafleting
DOWNLOAD EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET:
https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HiltonFlyer.jpg
At the events, educational materials about the construction of the hotel on the site of a bulldozed mosque and about China’s acts of torture, rape, forced abortions and sterilizations, mass detention, denial of religious rights, and cultural erasure targeting Uyghur Muslims will be handed to Hilton guests and staff.
Video: Chinese Police Whistleblower Exposes Campaign of Torture Against Uyghurs
WHAT: #BoycottHilton Coalition Leafleting Campaign Outside Hilton Hotels Nationwide
WHEN: Saturday, October 16, Various Times
WHERE: Outside Hilton Hotels in Cities Nationwide
CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat, kanato@uhrp.org, 202-819-0598, Free Uyghur Now Advocacy Director Husam Kaid, 929-434-7323, info@freeuyghurnow.org
BACKGROUNDER:
The #BoycottHilton coalition has called on Hilton Worldwide to drop a licensing agreement to build a Hampton Hotel on the site of the bulldozed mosque in the city of Hotan, China, but company officials have not responded to that demand.
The Telegraph revealed plans for the project in June.
SEE: Hilton hotel to be built in Xinjiang after China demolishes Uyghur mosque
Also in June, Amnesty International released a report describing China’s abuse of its Uyghur Muslim minority as a “dystopian hellscape.”
On September 8, the coalition delivered a letter to Hilton headquarters in Virginia giving the corporation one week to end the agreement to license the construction of a Hampton Hotel on the site of a bulldozed mosque in the Uyghur region of China or face a global boycott.
Video: CAIR, Coalition Partners Give Hilton One Week to Cancel Hotel on Bulldozed Uyghur Mosque in China or Face Global Boycott
https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/posts/10158644755132695
On September 16, the coalition held a news conference outside The Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., to announce a worldwide boycott of Hilton Worldwide.
Full Video: CAIR, Coalition Announce Boycott of Hilton Over Hotel on Site of Uyghur Mosque in China
PHOTOS: CAIR, 40+ Coalition Partners Announce Global Boycott of Hilton Hotels Over Plan to Build Hotel on Site of Demolished Uyghur Mosque in China
The #BoycottHilton campaign recently called on the UN Global Compact to begin the process of removing Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) as a participant over that corporation’s violations of its principles by entering into the agreement – one that it could terminate – to license the construction of the Hampton Hotel on the site of the bulldozed mosque in the Uyghur region of China.
CLICK HERE: Read #BoycottHilton’s Letter to the United Nations
https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/UNGlobalCompact.pdf
In addition, the coalition launched a Change.org petition drive asking signatories to take a pledge “to join the global boycott of ALL Hilton-owned hotels until the company cancels its plan to establish a hotel on the site of a bulldozed Uyghur mosque in China.”
GO TO: https://www.change.org/BoycottHilton
In July, CAIR applauded the chairs of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China calling on Hilton Worldwide President and CEO Christopher Nassetta to cancel the agreement to license the construction. CAIR also welcomed the Senate passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
SEE: CAIR Welcomes Congressional Commission on China Calling on Hilton to Drop Plan to License Hotel on Site of Demolished Uyghur Mosque
TAKE ACTION: Demand Hilton Hotels to Drop China Project on Site of Bulldozed, Desecrated Uyghur Mosque
*Organizations in the #BoycottHilton Coalition include:
- Uyghur Human Rights Project
- World Uyghur Congress
- Campaign for Uyghurs
- Free Uyghur Now
- Justice for All
- Belgium Uyghur Association (Belgium)
- ChinaAid Association
- Citizen Power Initiatives for China
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- The International Campaign for Tibet
- Justice and Liberties for All Committee (France)
- Muslim Council of Britain (England)
- No Business With Genocide
- Türkiye Dernekler Federasyonu / Federation of Associations of Turkey
- U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO)
- American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
- American Muslim for Palestine (AMP)
- Baitulmaal for Relief and Development
- Burmese Rohingya Association of North America (BRANA)
- Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC)
- CAIR
- Dar Alhijrah Islamic Center
- Downtown Islamic Center – Chicago (DIC)
- Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD)
- International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
- Islamic Association of North America (IANA)
- Islamic Center of Chicago Western Suburbs (ICW)
- Islamic Center of Detroit (ICD)
- Islamic Community Center of Illinois (ICCI)
- Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN)
- Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
- Islamic Leadership Council of New York
- Islamic Shura Council of Southern California (ISCSC)
- Mercy Without Limits (MWL)
- Mosque Foundation (MF)
- The Mosque Cares (Ministry of Imam W. D. Mohammed)
- Muslim American Society (MAS)
- Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
- Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA)
- Muslim Forum of the Pacific Northwest (MFPNW)
- New York Majlis Ashura
- North America Imams Federation (NAIF)
- Together We Serve (TWS)
- United Muslim Relief (UMR)
- United Hands Relief (UHR)
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com