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Amnesty International demands that China has nearly one million Muslims of Muslim ethnicity. The group was arbitrarily detained in remote Xinjiang.
In a report released on Monday, the human rights body says Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim-majority ethnic groups have been targeted by a "government campaign of mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation ".
Beijing launched a campaign in April 2017 to arrest Uighurs accused of extremist sentiments and send them to re-education camps.
Amnesty says that "Open or even private religious or cultural events, including beards, headscarves or headscarves, regular prayer or written material on Islam or Uighur culture can be considered extremist.
"The Chinese government should not be allowed to continue this vicious campaign against ethnic minorities" in Xinjiang, said Nicholas Bequelin, director of East Asia for Amnesty.
"Hundreds of thousands of families have been torn apart by this massive crackdown," he said. "They are desperate to find out what happened to their loved ones and it is time for the Chinese authorities to give them answers.
Beijing said Xinjiang was facing a serious threat from Islamist militants who are carrying out attacks and stirring up tension between the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority and the Chinese majority of the Han ethnic group.
