Xinjiang pilgrimage officials punished for accepting bribes

The Chinese government has investigated and punished 32 officials from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for legal and disciplinary violations related to Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, authorities announced.

According to a Wednesday announcement on the official website of the region's disciplinary watchdog, six officials have been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), including the director of Xinjiang's pilgrimage affairs office. Others received different punishments, including removal from current posts and warnings.

"The 32 officials seriously violated Party discipline. They abused their power, neglected their duty, and took bribes [in the course of their] pilgrimage affairs work," the announcement read.

An anonymous official at the Xinjiang Politics and Law Committee told the Global Times Thursday that the officials took bribes in exchange for granting the pilgrimage applications of unqualified Muslims.

An Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca is seen as one of the five pillars of Islam and it is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime.

Muslims in China must submit an application with legal documents to the government's pilgrimage department, and must also meet several requirements. A limited number of pilgrims is allowed to visit Mecca each year.

Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Thursday that general requirement for the applications are age, health and financial condition.

"There are a number of applicants who meet the requirements, but they have to wait in line to be chosen," Tursun said. The pilgrimage is only held once a year, but there are many Muslims in the world who wish to go to Mecca, according to Tursun. "It is not a simple religious ceremony to organize, but rather one that requires [coordination and] approval from authorities from both countries," he added.

The strict regulations and long wait times were the catalysts for the bribes, according to Pan Zhiping, another research fellow at the academy. "Some Muslims who do not meet the requirements may bribe officials when they submit false documents during applications," Pan added.

"The incident is not a matter of religion but a criminal corruption case," Tursun emphasized.

In 2014, more than 14,000 Chinese pilgrims went to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage on a 95 chartered flights, China Radio International reported.