In a rare occurrence within the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Islamic Association, a high-ranking official is under investigation. Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula, the Vice President of the association and the Imam of the Baida Temple in Urumqi, Xinjiang, has been removed from his position as a member of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Political Consultative Conference due to suspicions of illegal activities. It has been rumored that he fell from grace in March of this year, but the specific details of his involvement remain unclear. During his 19-year tenure at the Baida Temple, he had previously been praised by the Chinese Communist Party for his stance on the “7/5 Incident”.
According to information from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Political Consultative Conference website, Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula has been accused of suspected illegal activities. The Xinjiang Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee revoked his membership in the 13th Committee during its 15th meeting on May 20th.
Hong Kong’s “Ming Pao” reported that Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula served as the Imam of the Baida Temple, a historical site in Xinjiang dating back nearly a century, for 19 years. It is believed that he came under investigation in March of this year, but the specific nature of his alleged involvement remains unknown.
Public records indicate that Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula, 58 years old, is of Uyghur ethnicity. He held the position of Imam at the Baida Temple since 2007 and became the Vice Chairman of the Urumqi Municipal Political Consultative Conference in 2015. His role during the “7/5 Incident,” considered a catalyst for the controversial “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, earned him recognition from the authorities.
On July 5, 2009, thousands of Uyghur people in Urumqi staged a peaceful demonstration, which tragically escalated into large-scale conflicts between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, resulting in nearly 200 deaths and thousands of injuries. Following the incident, the Chinese Communist Party implemented stricter governance measures in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, “People’s Daily,” had praised Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula as a brave resistor against the rioters on August 3, 2009. He had previously been honored with titles such as “National Model for Ethnic Unity and Progress,” “Outstanding Individual in the First National Creation of Harmonious Temples and Churches,” and “Five Good Religious Figures in the Autonomous Region” by the Chinese Communist Party.
Regarding the news of Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula’s investigation, the “Uyghur Human Rights Project” expressed on social media platform X that this was the Chinese Communist Party’s tactic of “killing the donkey on which they have ground the flour”: “Abdullah Siker Jihademudoula was established by the Chinese government as a model for ethnic unity and a patriotic figure in the religious community; he was also a propagandist for the Chinese government during the Uyghur genocide from 2017 to the end of 2025, meeting with foreign delegations and whitewashing China’s actions. He had even been commended by Xi Jinping and Chen Quanguo. However, in the end, he could not escape the fate of being silenced!”