(REUTERS) China’s state television CCTV on Saturday (July 11) aired video of 109 people being deported from Thailand.
CCTV said they were mostly from the country’s western, Xinjiang region and were attempting to go to Turkey and then to join the Jihad in Syria and Iraq, and 13 of them were terror suspects.
They were seen seated on the plane with black hoods over their heads flanked by police who wore face masks.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uighurs keen to escape unrest in China’s western Xinjiang region, have travelled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey.
China is home to about 20 million Muslims spread across its vast territory, only a portion of whom are Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language.
Earlier in the week, authorities said 109 Uighurs were sent back from Thailand. The incident sparked anger in Turkey, home to a large Uighur diaspora, and deep concern among rights groups and the United States, due to fears they could be mistreated upon their return.
China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement late on Saturday, said the U.S. statement distorted the facts, was prejudiced and would only encourage further illegal immigration.
A senior Chinese police officer said that some of the Uighurs who have ultimately ended up in Turkey are being sold to fight for groups like Islamic State as “cannon fodder”.
Beijing denies accusations by human rights groups that it restricts the Uighurs’ religious freedoms. It blames Islamist militants for a rise in violent attacks in Xinjiang in the past three years in which hundreds have died.
China has also denied allegations of mistreatment or torture.
