Members of a Muslim minority group in far-western China have been ordered to hand over their passports to police in a government effort to prevent them from making a pilgrimage to Mecca, an activist said.Posted on 22 July 2007 @ 19:36 GMTUighurs in Xinjiang province were ordered to surrender their passports about two months ago, Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, said in a telephone interview Thursday. Passports that were not turned in would be voided, he said.
The Uighurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims with a language and culture distinct from the majority of Chinese.
Officers at two district public security bureaus in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, said Friday that Uighurs were required to submit their passports for "safekeeping." Both refused to give their names or any additional details.
It was not known how many Uighurs had turned in their passports.
Raxit said Uighurs who wanted to leave China could do so only after being officially invited by a formal organization, and in some cases would have to put down a deposit of 50,000 yuan (US$6,600; €4,780) to retrieve their passports.