Muslim groups launch boycott Hilton campaign over planned hotel on Uyghur mosque in China

Washington, Sep 17: A Muslim civil rights group in the United States has called for a boycott of Hilton hotels over the company's plans to construct a hotel allegedly on the site of a bulldozed Uyghur mosque in China.

Over 40 Muslim-American civil rights organisations held a news conference outside the Capital Hilton in Washington to announce the boycott campaign on Thursday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is at the forefront of the initiative and having indirect negotiations with the hotel group urging them to drop their plans in the controversial site.

"You and I have the choice to choose where to go on your travel or to do business meetings or to hold events, weddings or banquets," Al Jazeera quotes Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR as saying. He added that the project is a human rights violation that contributed to the destruction of Uighur culture and faith.

China has been globally criticised over the persecution of the Muslim Uyghur population in China's Xinjiang province. It is facing condemnation for suppressing Uyghur minorities, putting them into detention camps for years and for the destruction of mosques and other cultural sites.

In July, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China has asked Hilton to halt the project, which calls for the construction of a Hampton Inn.

As per the Australian Strategic Policy institute, about 16,000 mosques in 900 Xinjiang locations have been partially or fully destroyed between 2017 and 2020. However, China has denied all the allegations.

A spokesperson for McLean, Virginia-based Hilton provided a statement Thursday saying the corporation's franchise model "limits Hilton's involvement in the development and management of properties. ... However, we can confirm that in 2019 an independent Chinese ownership group purchased a vacant lot through public auction, with plans for commercial development, including a hotel. Hilton was not involved in the site selection."