News reaching that Chinese government has claims more than 100 minority Muslim
Uighurs who were sent back from Thailand to China after fleeing the country
were on their way to wage jihad in the Middle East.
The 109 'illegal immigrants' had been on their way 'to join
jihad' in Turkey, Syria or Iraq, and 13 of them had fled China after being
implicated in terrorist activities, it was reported.
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Images broadcast on Chinese television showed the suspects
sat hooded and bound as they were flown back to an undisclosed location in
China.
The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China's
far western region of Xinjiang, have complained of harsh cultural and religious
suppression under Chinese rule.
However, Beijing has accused Uighur separatists of terrorism
in Xinjiang, where ethnic violence has left hundreds of people dea'd. China's official Xinhua News Agency said a Chinese police
investigation had uncovered several gangs recruiting people for jihad.
The Uighurs were detained in Thailand more than a year ago,
but claimed to be Turkish.
A group of 173 were sent to Turkey after Thai authorities
said they determined they were indeed Turkish, but the remaining 109 were found
to be Chinese, according to Thai deputy government spokesman Major General
Verachon Sukhonthapatipak.
Another eight arrived from Thailand to Turkey on Saturday
and 52 remaining Uighurs would be sent back to their country once their
nationalities were verified, Verachon said Saturday.
Xinhua News Agency said many of the 109 Uighurs had been
radicalized by materials sent by the exiled World Uyghur Congress, a
Germany-based rights group for the ethnic minority, and the East Turkestan
Islamic Movement, designated by China as a terrorist organization.
In response to the report, Dilxat Raxit, World Uyghur
Congress spokesman, said Sunday that China was 'shirking responsibility for
Uighurs fleeing because of its policy of suppression.
'The so-called radicals are those who hope to flee China and
live a stable and dignified life in a safe and free country.
Thailand has been harshly criticized by the U.N., the
European Union and human rights groups for repatriating the 109 Uighurs back to
China, where activists say they face persecution, instead of sending them to
Turkey, which has accepted other Uighurs.
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