The Chinese Muslim poet and writer Cui Haoxin, who publishes under the pseudonym An Ran, has been detained in China since January 24, 2020. Following a series of tweets over the last few years decrying anti-Muslim discrimination and concentration “re-education” camps in Xinjiang, he has been accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge frequently used to repress online criticism of the state.

A member of the Hui ethnic group, China’s second largest Muslim ethnic group after the Uyghurs, Cui has been a well documented critic of the Chinese Community Party’s increasing “Sinicization” of religious minorities since 2017. Hui people frequently speak Mandarin and are typically more integrated into Chinese societies than Uyghur communities. Nevertheless, many Hui have faced internment in the Xinjiang camps, as well as the shuttering of Arabic-language schools and mosques for seemingly fabricated reasons.

Cui himself was nearly sent for re-education in 2018, after being sent to a one-week “red” ideological seminar. En route to the event, he was detained for hours, questioned, and warned to stop using Western social media platforms.

However, Cui has continued to be outspoken on the subject of Muslims’ treatment in China. On January 12, 2020 he posted a thread on Twitter regarding the nearly year-long imprisonment of a Hui woman after she was detained during what was meant to be a short trip home from university in the United States in 2017. She was subsequently barred from leaving China until early 2020.

Shortly after his posts, Cui was visited by authorities at his home in Jinan. He was officially arrested on January 24, and has since been held on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” His case has yet to receive a trial start date.

Please join The Voice Project in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Cui Haoxin.