The Communist Party's strict religious policies in China are the "best in the world" according to a leading Muslim cleric.
Abudulrekep Tumniyaz, from the Islamic Institute in Xingjiang, an autonomous region in northwest China that is home to the Muslim Uyghurs, did not refer to the present offensive against religion in the region, where the burqa has been banned in the capital, children cannot enter mosques and churches been demolished.
Tumniyaz told China's parliament: "Our religious policy is the best in the world. In Xinjiang people can choose freely which religion to follow."
The crackdown on religion came after a suicide attack by Islamist terrorists in Urumqi last year killed 31 people.
Amnesty International said that as a result, the authorities have "stepped up already onerous restrictions on Islam with the stated aim of fighting 'violent terrorism and religious extremism'." Beards, veils and other outward signs of Islam are banned in some places.
William Nee, a Hong Kong-based Amnesty researcher, told the Telegraph he was sceptical about the imam's statement. "I find that really unbelievable that he would say such a thing. Freedom of religion is systematically violated in China in general but in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in particular. The strike hard campaign is very worrying because it appears that a lot of the crackdown is a crackdown on religious practice in the region."
