Premier League club Arsenal has distanced itself from a social media post by its player Mesut Özil, denouncing the persecution of the Muslim Uighurs in China.
"With regard to Mesut Özil's comments on social networks, Arsenal has to make a clear statement," said a club statement, which was published on the Chinese platform Weibo, among other things, as the "Guardian" reports. "The content is Özil's personal opinion. As a football club, Arsenal has always adhered to the principle of not being politically involved."
Özil had previously denounced the silence of the majority Muslim states about the persecution of the Uighurs in China. In an article written in Turkish, he wrote that in China "Korans were burned, mosques closed, Islamic schools banned". "The Muslims are silent. Their voice is not heard."
The former German international and world champion from 2014 wrote that Western governments and the media would campaign against the concerns of the Uighurs. "In retrospect, it will not be remembered the torture by the tyrants, but the silence of the Muslim brothers," wrote Özil.
Arsenal's Commercial Interests?
According to "Guardian", Arsenal operates a restaurant chain in China, among other things, the commercial interest of the club could therefore be a reason for the distance from Özil. It wasn't until October that statements by Houston Rockets' NBA team manager Daryl Morey had caused outrage in China. In a tweet, Morey had expressed solidarity with the people in Hong Kong who were also protesting against China's influence.
Experts accuse China of massive human rights violations against the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province. According to human rights activists, more than one million Muslims are in re-education camps by the Chinese authorities. After initially denying the existence of the camps in Beijing, the government now speaks of "vocational training centers" for deradicalization.
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Because of human rights violations in the Uighurs, the US House of Representatives recently launched a bill to provide sanctions against senior Chinese government officials.
The EU and Turkey had also recently criticized the handling of the Uighurs in China. The Chinese government should "refrain from arbitrarily detaining Uighurs and members of other Muslim communities," the Federal Republic said in a joint statement with the United States, the United Kingdom and 20 other states in front of the United Nations in New York.
