Hong Kong slams human rights group Amnesty International over ‘groundless’ claims Uygur student missing for more than 2 weeks since arriving in city

Hong Kong authorities have slammed a leading human rights group for making “groundless” accusations that a Uygur student has gone missing after arriving at the city’s airport, saying the person in question had “not entered or been refused entry”.

The statement on Saturday night came a day after Amnesty International urged officials to reveal the whereabouts of Abuduwaili Abudureheman, who texted a friend that he had been interrogated by “Chinese police” after arriving at the airport from Seoul on May 10.

The government said it strongly condemned the NGO’s “groundless and unfounded remarks”, characterising the accusations as an attempt to smear authorities.

Official records showed Abudureheman had neither entered nor been refused entry to the city, it added, demanding an apology from Amnesty International.

“The organisation deliberately attacked the [Hong Kong] government and slandered the human rights situation in Hong Kong without checking the facts. Its malicious intentions are obvious,” the government said.