Cambodia to expel group of 20 Uighurs back to China

Saturday, December 19, 2009

BBC News
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In this Wednesday, July 15, 2009 photo, a Uighur ethnic minority woman walks alongside her children next to a poster that reads "Don't forget the party's kindness. Don't forget the warmth of the motherland. Don't forget the struggles of each minority group" in the town's market Bazaar in the city of Hotan, China, A propaganda campaign to promote ethnic unity by the Han Chinese is in full throttle . The message "We all belong to the same family" is falling flat among Uighurs in this former caravan stop on the edge of the Taklamakan desert, far from last week's ethnic rioting. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

A group of 20 Chinese Uighurs who fled to Cambodia after ethnic riots in China's Urumqi region in July will be expelled, an Cambodian official says.

He said they had to be expelled because they had entered Cambodia illegally.

The decision follows intense pressure by China, which has referred to the group as criminals.

Human rights groups have said the group is likely to face persecution if returned to China. Almost 200 people died in the summer violence.

Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said: "I can't say where they will be sent but I assume their final destination will be China, the place where they come from."

Death sentences

A protest by Uighurs in Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region, erupted into violence in July, leaving at least 197 people dead.

Shops were smashed and vehicles set alight and passers-by set upon by Uighur rioters in the city, whose population is mostly from China's dominant Han group.

Groups of Han later went looking for revenge as police struggled to restore order.

Most of those killed in the unrest were Han, according to officials, and Urumqi's Han population had demanded swift justice.

Twelve people were sentenced to death after the riots.

Tensions between the mainly-Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang and Han have been growing in recent years. Millions of Han have moved to the region in recent decades.

Many Uighurs want more autonomy and rights for their culture and religion than is allowed by Beijing's strict rule.