At the beginning of the year, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies manifested a very great interest in international affairs, and published a large number of press releases on the Gaza conflict.
Since then, however, FOSIS has had little to say about anything happening outside this country. There was some fussing over the treatment of the jihadist webmaster, Babar Ahmed. There was a tizz over Contest 2.
There was also a very odd one, in which they chastised the Community Security Trust for not sharing with them, prior to publication, information on antisemitic incidents on university campuses. The press release concluded with an offer to assist “in anyway we can in the prevention of such acts in future”.
(Hint – stop touring extreme Islamists around British universities)
Yesterday, FOSIS broke its six month silence on international affairs:
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies is deeply concerned over the current violence taking place in Urumqi, the capital of China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, and calls on authorities to be proportionate in response to any violence.
Oussama Mezoui, campaigns officer for FOSIS, said today, “We are deeply concerned about the death of at least 140 Uighurs in the recent clashes that have occurred in the Xinjiang province. We are particularly worried that the Chinese government will use the recent unrest to severely crackdown on the Uighur population, who already face constant repression and whose plight is largely ignored by the world’s media.
He further added, “We call upon governments and media outlets from across the world to take an active stance against Chinese human rights abuses in Xingjiang just as many have done in condemnation of China’s repression in Tibet.
In an effort to raise awareness of the abhorrent human rights violations that occur in Xinjiang, FOSIS will be coordinating a national campaign on campuses this academic year. For further information on the FOSIS Uighur Campaign please contact head.campaigns@fosis.org.uk.
So, Xinjiang is to become the new Bosnia, for the post-Iraq generation of young Islamists. I wonder how that will play with the pro-China section of the Left?
Not a word about the suppression and murder of Iranians, most of them Muslims, by the Islamic Republic of Iran. How strange.
