Uygur woman held in Riyadh could be deported to China ‘within hours’
- Mother and teenage daughter told to prepare for departure, given Covid-19 tests as Amnesty begs Saudi Arabia to reconsider
- Pair ‘at grave risk’ of being sent to internment camps, the human rights group warns
Buheliqiemu Abula and her 13-year-old daughter have been in custody since they were detained in Mecca earlier this month. On Wednesday, they were given Covid-19 tests, apparently as part of deportation preparations, according to an Amnesty International statement.
Amnesty warned the pair were “at grave risk of being taken to repressive internment camps if sent back to China”. Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
Several hours after the Amnesty statement, Abula spoke by phone from a “deportation prison in Riyadh” and said she had been informed she would be deported later in the night.
Abula is the ex-wife of Nuermeiti Ruze, one of two Uygur men held in Saudi Arabia since November 2020, according to Amnesty.
The men’s whereabouts were unknown on Wednesday night but Amnesty said they were likely to be held in the same facility and at elevated risk of deportation.