New | Confessions by killers of pro-Beijing imam in Xinjiang are broadcast
One killer's mentor, who is 18 years old, said the imam was misinterpreting the Koran, but lacks knowledge of the text himself
Xinjiang’s official television channel aired the confession of two suspects who assassinated a pro-Beijing imam at a major mosque in Kashgar in late July.
The video aired during the prime time news bulletin on Sunday showed Nurmemet Abidilimit, a 19-year-old Kashgar native blamed for the death of the imam, telling a reporter from Xinjiang Television he learnt from his “mentor” that the imam had misinterpreted the Koran and that killing him could help raise his own profile.
The imam, Jume Tahir, 74, was a former National People’s Congress delegate and former vice-president of the Islamic Association of China.
Abidilimit spoke in Uygur, saying he had not heard of a jihad until he joined an underground religious group in Hotan. He also confessed he jointly orchestrated the assassination with two other group members following the direction of their mentor, an 18-year-old Xinjiang native.
Xinjiang Television’s report suggested the mentor had only limited knowledge on the Koran.
“My elder brother told me not to join illegal religious groups, or I would get caught and bring trouble to our family,” the mentor said during the interview.
The interview was made public a day after the state television had aired footage of a ceremony in which a group of men pledged their lives to the jihad. The footage was reportedly found on the computers and mobile phones of attackers behind the deadly car crash in Tiananmen Square in Beijing last year.