PHNOM PENH—Cambodian authorities have returned to China agroup of ethnic Uyghurs who had sought asylum here, despite internationalconcern that they could face torture and execution for allegedly taking part indeadly ethnic riots in China this year.
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheaksaid 20 Uyghurs —a distinct ethnic minority concentrated in China’snorthwestern-most corner— were put on a special plane sent from China that leftPhnom Penh International Airport late Saturday.
“They are going back to China,” he said.
Beijing has called the asylum seekers “criminals” withoutoffering evidence to support the charge.
Rights groups, which urged Phnom Penh to stop thedeportations, say Cambodia is bound by a 1951 convention on refugees pledgingnot to return asylum-seekers to countries where they will face persecution.
The move came a day before Chinese Vice President Xi Jinpingvisits Cambodia as part of a four-country tour.
Cambodia is expected to sign 14 agreements with China duringXi's visit related to infrastructure construction, grants, and loans, Reutersreported.
Cambodia has already received more than U.S. $1 billion inforeign direct investment from China, which in October agreed to provide U.S.$853 million in loans to the impoverished country for dams, infrastructure, andirrigation projects.
Call to stop
The United States, the United Nations, and human rightsgroups had urged Cambodia to stop the deportation.
“We are deeply disturbed by the reports that the Cambodian governmentmight forcibly return this group of Uyghurs without the benefit of a crediblerefugee status determination process,” U.S. Embassy spokesman John Johnson inPhnom Penh said earlier.
Washington had no immediate reaction to the Uyghurs’ return.
Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Koy Kuong, said in aninterview Friday that Phnom Penh had determined the Uyghurs had entered thecountry illegally and would be returned to China.
“All 20 [Uyghurs] illegally entered Cambodia, because theyhave no immigration papers, no visa. Therefore they violate Cambodia's 1994immigration law. They have to be deported, because they are illegalimmigrants,” Koy Kuong said.
Uyghur sources said the Uyghur asylum-seekers feardetention, torture, and possible execution in China for allegedly taking partin deadly ethnic riots in July in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang UyghurAutonomous Region.
Borders tighter
China has meanwhile tightened its southeastern border,Uyghur sources say, and has detained 31 Uyghurs since Sept. 15 in the southerncities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou and in the central city of Kunming, either fortrying to flee the country or for allegedly aiding others in fleeing China.
The Chinese government has detained hundreds of Uyghurs, andat least 43 Uyghur men have disappeared in the wake of ethnic violence thaterupted in Urumqi on July 5, according to Human Rights Watch, which says theactual number of disappearances is likely far higher.
Nearly 200 people were killed in the clashes, by the Chinesegovernment’s tally. Twelve people have since been sentenced to death inconnection with the violence.
Police have meanwhile detained more than 700 people in connectionwith the unrest, according to earlier state news reports.
Uyghurs, a distinct and mostly Muslim ethnic group, havelong complained of religious, political, and cultural oppression by Chineseauthorities, and tensions have simmered in the Xinjiang region for years.
Original reporting by RFA's Khmer and Uyghur services and bynews agencies. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Uyghur service director: DolkunKamberi. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English bySarah Jackson-Han.