More than 100 Uighurs accused of attempting to make their way to the Middle East to wage jihad are pictured shackled and hooded as they are sent back to China
Images broadcast on Chinese television showed the suspects sat hooded and bound as they were flown back to an undisclosed location in China. The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, have complained of harsh cultural and religious suppression under Chinese rule.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency said a Chinese police investigation had uncovered several gangs recruiting people for jihad. The Uighurs were detained in Thailand more than a year ago, but claimed to be Turkish.
ne of the prisoners is carried off the plane at an undisclosed location in China. Thirteen of those sent back to China had originally fled the country after being implicated in terrorist activities, it was claimed
However, Beijing has accused Uighur separatists of terrorism in Xinjiang, where ethnic violence has left hundreds of people dead.
China's official Xinhua News Agency said a Chinese police investigation had uncovered several gangs recruiting people for jihad.
A group of 173 were sent to Turkey after Thai authorities said they determined they were indeed Turkish, but the remaining 109 were found to be Chinese, according to Thai deputy government spokesman Major General Verachon Sukhonthapatipak.
Another eight arrived from Thailand to Turkey on Saturday and 52 remaining Uighurs would be sent back to their country once their nationalities were verified, Verachon said Saturday.
Xinhua News Agency said many of the 109 Uighurs had been radicalized by materials sent by the exiled World Uyghur Congress, a Germany-based rights group for the ethnic minority, and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, designated by China as a terrorist organization.
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