Cambodia deports 20 Uighurs back to China despite protests

(CAAI News Media)

Saturday December 19, 2009

A group of 20 Muslim Uighurs who were seeking refuge in Cambodia after unrest in the Chinese region of Xinjiang were deported back to China late Saturday, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The expulsion comes despite protests from the United States, the United Nations and rights activists.

"The 20 Uighurs have been sent back to China on a Chinese plane Saturday night," spokesman Khieu Sopheak told AFP.

The Uighurs' presence in Phnom Penh was made public two weeks ago as they sought UN refugee status in Cambodia, saying they risked torture in China.

Clashes between Xinjiang's Uighurs and China's majority Han ethnic group in July left nearly 200 dead and 1,600 injured, according to official tolls.

Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the group must be expelled in accordance with domestic law, but rights experts argued the deportation would breach an international convention on refugees.

"They are illegal immigrants and according to Cambodian immigration law they should be expelled from the country. So we must expel them," Koy Kuong said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) deplored the deportation, which it viewed as a "breach of Cambodia's obligations as a signatory to the 1951 (UN) Refugee Convention," UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said.

Cambodia's decision comes as Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping is expected to start a three-day visit to the country on Sunday.

China and Cambodia have long kept close relations, with China giving large amounts of aid to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

Violence in Xinjiang erupted when Uighurs -- a Muslim minority that has long complained of repression under Chinese rule -- attacked members of China's Han ethnic majority. In subsequent days, mobs of Han roamed the streets seeking revenge.

Last month, nine people were executed for their roles in the violence.

Cambodian spokesman Khieu Sopheak said two of the original group of 22 Uighurs who disappeared after the group's arrival were still missing.

Cambodia has insisted the UN agency take responsibility for them but the agency says it cannot.

Before the announcement of the deportation, the US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid had said Cambodia should "honour its commitment under international law."

"We are deeply disturbed by reports the Cambodian government might forcibly return this group of Uighurs without the benefit of a credible refugee status determination process," Duguid told reporters.

China warned Tuesday that UN refugee programs "should not be a haven for criminals" and said the Uighur group, said to include three children, were involved in criminal activity.