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Defying China, Malaysia releases Uighur detainees
[DAWN] Malaysia has freed from detention 11 ethnic Uighur Moslems who fled to the southeast Asian nation after a Thai jailbreak last year, and sent them to ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... , their lawyer said on Thursday, in disregard of China’s request to hand them to Beijing. The move is likely to strain ties with China, already tested since Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister after a stunning election victory in May and cancelled more than $20 billion worth of projects awarded to Chinese companies. Prosecutors in Moslem-majority Malaysia dropped charges against the Uighurs on humanitarian grounds and they arrived in Turkey after flying out of Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, their lawyer, Fahmi Moin, said. "The charges were withdrawn because the attorney general’s chambers agreed to the [appeal] from our side," he told Rooters. The men were detained and charged with illegally entering Malaysia after last November’s daring prison break, by punching holes in a prison wall and using blankets as ladders. In February, Rooters reported that Malaysia was under great pressure from China to deport the men there, citing sources. Some Western missions sought to dissuade it from sending them to China, which has been accused of persecuting Uighurs. Beijing accuses separatist turbans among the Uighur minority of plotting attacks on China’s Han majority in Xinjiang and elsewhere. Posted by: Fred 2018-10-13 |
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