HONG KONG — Hong Kong on Saturday criticized rights group Amnesty Worldwide’s accusation {that a} Uyghur scholar disappeared after being interrogated on the airport, and stated that authorities information confirmed that he had not entered or been refused entry to the town.
Amnesty Worldwide stated Friday that Abuduwaili Abudureheman, who was born in Xinjiang in western China, had traveled to Hong Kong from South Korea to go to a pal on Could 10 however has since gone lacking after he texted the pal about being interrogated after his arrival. He spent the final seven years learning in Seoul, finishing a Ph.D. in sports activities and leisure in 2022, in response to the group.
In an announcement, the federal government strongly condemned Amnesty’s “groundless and unfounded remarks” as an try and smear it.
“In reality, the information of the HKSAR Authorities present that the particular person has not entered or been refused entry by Hong Kong,” the assertion learn, referring to the official title of the Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area. “The group intentionally attacked the HKSAR Authorities and slandered the human rights scenario in Hong Kong with out checking the actual fact.”
The federal government requested an apology from the group.
“Whereas Abuduwaili stays lacking, we’ll stay involved for his security. His pal who reached out to Amnesty Worldwide has nonetheless not been capable of make contact with him after he despatched a message saying he was being questioned by Chinese language police on the time of his anticipated arrival in Hong Kong,” Amnesty replied to The Related Press in response for looking for remark.
The United Nations and human rights teams accuse China of detaining 1,000,000 or extra Uyghurs and members of different predominantly Muslim teams in camps the place many have stated they had been tortured, sexually assaulted and compelled to desert their language and faith.
China denies the accusations, that are based mostly on interviews with survivors, photographs and satellite tv for pc photos of the Xinjiang area the place many Uyghurs reside.
Uyghur activists overseas criticized Hong Kong’s denial of its function within the scholar’s whereabouts.
“If he had flown to Hong Kong from South Korea, there could be information of him boarding the airplane,” stated Nyrola Elima, an unbiased Uyghur researcher based mostly in Sweden.
“Whatever the Hong Kong authorities’s efforts to disclaim or conceal the atrocities dedicated by the Beijing and Xinjiang governments towards Uyghurs, it stays a reality {that a} Uyghur Ph.D. scholar vanished on the Hong Kong airport,” she stated.
Tahir Imin, a Washington, D.C.-based Uyghur tutorial and founding father of the Uyghur Occasions, stated that the assertion from Hong Kong authorities was a “blatant lie.”
“Whether it is true that he didn’t enter Hong Kong, he would have let his closest pals know his whereabouts for the final two weeks,” he stated.
“The assertion from Hong Kong authorities is a blatant lie and try and keep away from worldwide criticism, to cowl its potential complicity within the Chinese language Communist Social gathering’s looking down Uyghurs globally,” he stated.
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Related Press author Kanis Leung contributed to this report.