Cambodia deports asylum-seeking ethnic Uyghurs to China

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PHNOM PENH, Dec. 19 Kyodo -
The Cambodian government has deported to China 20 ethnic Uyghurs who were in
Cambodia seeking asylum, a government official said Saturday.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told Kyodo News that 20 Ughyurs were
put on a 9:15 p.m. flight to China.
The move came despite pleas for Cambodia to refrain from deporting them, which
were made in recent days by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State
Department
They have voiced grave concerns that the Uyghurs might face torture or other
abuses if sent back to China.
Khieu Sopheak earlier in the day said the Uyghurs were illegal immigrants who
came to Cambodia without proper travel documents.
''They are criminals who fled China. They (were) involved with a terrorist
organization in China,'' he said.
The deportation came on the eve of the arrival of China's Vice President Xi
Jinping on an official visit.
When asked whether the move was to please Xi, Sopheak said, ''We don't care
whether or not China asks us to do it, but this is what we have to do in
accordance with the immigration law of Cambodia.''
Sopheak said a total of 22 Uyghurs entered Cambodia illegally from Vietnam, but
that as of Friday evening, two were missing.
==Kyodo
2009-12-20 00:56:26