Muslims in China face political indoctrination

KUNMING, Sept 10 (Reuters): The Turkic mostly Muslim Uighur minority in China's Xinjiang region face arbitrary detentions, daily restrictions on religious practice and "forced political indoctrination" in a mass security crackdown, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The United Nations human rights panel said in August that China is believed to be holding up to 1 million ethnic Uighurs in a secretive system of "internment camps" in Xinjiang, in China's far west, where they undergo political education.

Beijing has denied that such camps are for "political education" and says they are instead vocational training centres, part of government initiatives to bolster economic growth and social mobility in the region.

China has said that Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions between Uighurs who call the region home and the ethnic Han Chinese majority.

Uighurs and other Muslims held in the camps are forbidden from using Islamic greetings, must learn Mandarin Chinese and sing propaganda songs, according to a report by Human Rights Watch based on interviews with five former camp detainees.