In Fayzabad District, Kashgar Prefecture, residents were forced to provide officials with evidence proving they were not fasting.

Last week, a report circulating on social media revealed that a resident of the Feyzabad area of ​​Kashgar Prefecture filmed himself eating lunch and sent it to his supervisor. During phone interviews conducted by our correspondent with residents of the area, it became clear that this was not an isolated incident, but rather one of a series of Ramadan restrictions implemented in Feyzabad to force residents to provide evidence that they were not fasting.

Over the years, Chinese authorities have taken measures to prevent residents from fasting, including holding threatening meetings, issuing notices, conducting house-to-house inspections during the day, and conducting nighttime patrols to prevent residents from eating the suhoor meal. They have also implemented measures such as keeping restaurants open in markets, distributing food and drinks to the public, and holding public banquets. Based on the responses, it appears that Chinese authorities, unconvinced, have forced residents in some areas to provide evidence that they are not fasting this year.

We contacted the relevant Uyghur authorities for information about these restrictions. An officer from the State Security Police Department of the Kochar District Police Office said that fasting is prohibited this year, as it has been in previous years, but he was unable to provide information on the various measures implemented this year. A police officer who answered our call from Faizabad insisted that local residents were strictly prohibited from fasting. However, when we asked him whether foreign Muslim tourists were allowed to fast, he said he had no information on the matter. He asked the police chief for information on the matter, but the chief was unable to provide any convincing statement. He said he would request information from the relevant authorities and would get back to us.

Last week, a news report surfaced that a Faizabad resident had recorded a video of himself eating lunch and sent it to his supervisor. He also said he would continue posting such video messages for a month. An official from the Faizabad district, who answered our call but wished to remain anonymous, said that the system of submitting video evidence to prove non-fasting is almost universally used in the district. He also stated that although no such measure is mentioned in relevant documents and notices from above, the most effective measure for grassroots officials to fully implement their duties—that is, to ensure that no one is fasting in their area—is to ask residents to send them videos of themselves eating between noon and iftar. Some officials have directly contacted residents and asked them to show them what they are eating. He also noted that among those currently serving sentences in camps and prisons, some were punished for fasting, so local residents did not reject the authorities' unreasonable demands in this regard. Police officers who responded to our phone calls from Faizabad acknowledged the existence of such a system. One official revealed that it is also implemented in the villages of Golbag, Bayabad, and Tarim in Faizabad.

An officer working in the village of Misha in Faizabad revealed that mass parties and concerts are being organized to force people who are secretly fasting to break their fast, and confirmed that video evidence of non-fasting is being used in this village as well.

Although the situation in East Turkistan during Ramadan remains as tense and worrying as ever, Chinese media outlets at all levels in East Turkistan have not published any documents, announcements, or news about Ramadan for nearly two weeks since the start of Ramadan. Some Uyghur diaspora observers view this silence in Chinese media as an attempt by Beijing to conceal the situation from the international community, while others see it as a measure to make local residents forget about Ramadan.