26 April,2017 09:21 AM IST | | Agencies
In yet another crackdown on alleged extremism, Chinese authorities have banned Islamic baby names in the country's largest Muslim province that monitors say restricts fundamental rights
File photo of Chinese Muslims
In yet another crackdown on alleged "extremism", Chinese authorities have banned Islamic baby names in the country's largest Muslim province that monitors say restricts fundamental rights.
A document titled "Naming Rules for Ethnic Minorities" prohibits names used by Muslim parents around the world including Imam, Hajj, Islam, Quran, Saddam, Medina and Islam, RFA reported.
The rules, which also previously barred abnormal beards and wearing burkha in public, applies to the Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang, where the Communist Party has been imposing ever tighter restrictions on religion amid a separatist uprising by Uyghur rebels.
Any babies with "overly religious" names will be barred from the hukou household registration system governing access to healthcare and education, said a police official in the regional capital of Urumqi.
