CAIR National

@The_NewArab @NihadAwad @RushanAbbas @CUyghurs @UyghurCongress @FreeUyghurNow @UyghurProject

Awad, who has been in contact with Hilton since the project was announced, is confident that this boycott will be effective, citing past boycotts they’ve led of large corporations who reverse course under activists’ pressure.

in China’s Xinjiang province. Hilton’s plans for a hotel, announced earlier this summer, were immediately met with criticism due to its sensitive location.

This follows another press conference from last week in which CAIR and other groups delivered a letter to Hilton at its corporate headquarters in northern Virginia telling them they had one week to reverse their plans to build a hotel on a bulldozed Uighur mosque

“The Chinese government has been attempting to erase and destroy the Uighurs’ culture and faith.”

“We are here today simply because we care about Muslim Uighurs – families and children,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, said as he stood among a group of Uighur human rights activists and their supporters.

Standing at a podium in front of the main entrance to the hotel were representatives from CAIR, along with Uighur human rights organizations, who spoke about their decision to lead this international boycott amid continued crackdowns of the Uighur community.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations held a press conference Thursday morning in front of the Capital Hilton in downtown Washington, DC to discuss the beginning of an international boycott of the chain over its plans to build a hotel on the site of a destroyed Uighur mosque.

"People need to understand. ... It's not just hair. It’s more than hair," said Doukoure, adding the hijab is part of a "deeply held religious belief." @The_NewArab @CAIRMI @douk_amy

"There’s a lack of awareness about the religious tenets of Islam and a lack of sensitivity," said CAIR-MI staff attorney Amy Doukoure at the time.

Amy Doukoure, staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan Chapter, told the Detroit News.

“We’re imploring the city of Ferndale … to take our claim seriously and open channels of dialogue with us so we can ensure Muslim women who find themselves engaged with police officers in the boundaries of the city are sure to have their constitutional rights in place,”

@NewsHour

out of fear that they're going to become targets of law enforcement.” @SaherMKhan @VigneshR @TheAhmedMohamed

“There's a lot of community fear and mistrust, it chills free speech, you see a lot of individuals who don't want to go to protests, who don't want to be engaged in politics don't want to be involved in places that may be controversial,

“When you have a government saying that this particular racial, religious group is suspect, it interferes with their religious practice. I have known individuals who don't want to look Muslim in public due to fear of unwarranted attention,” Mohamed said.

‘I don't know that person– I wonder if he's undercover or an informant,” Mohamed said.