Uygurs deported from Thailand wanted to carry out jihad in Middle East, China's state media says
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uygurs keen to escape unrest in the western Xinjiang region have travelled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey
Some of the Uygurs deported to China last week from Thailand had planned to go to Syria and Iraq to carry out jihad, state television said, showing pictures of them being bundled out of an aircraft with black hoods over their heads.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uygurs keen to escape unrest in the 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 Uygurs, who speak a Turkic language and are from Xinjiang.
Last week's deportation of 109 Uygurs from Thailand has sparked anger in Turkey, home to a large Uygur diaspora, and fed concern among rights groups and the United States they could be mistreated upon their return.
In a report on Saturday, state TV said some of those deported had admitted to being incited by messages from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which Beijing says is waging an insurgency for independence in Xinjiang, as well as the exiled group, the World Uygur Congress.
"A fair number of them were stirred up and bewitched by terror videos issued by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and World Uygur Congress," the report said.