100 Chinese Muslims who were ‘plotting to join ISIS in Syria’ are deported from Thailand
The Chinese government claims more than 100 minority Muslim Uighurs who were sent back from Thailand to China after fleeing the country were on their way to wage jihad in the Middle East.
The 109 ‘illegal immigrants’ had been on their way ‘to join jihad’ in Turkey, Syria or Iraq, and 13 of them had fled China after being implicated in terrorist activities, it was reported.
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.
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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
One 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
Chinese Muslims ‘plotting to join ISIS in Syria’ are deported
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.