Hong Kong authorities have refuted allegations of detaining Abuduwaili Abudureheman, a Uyghur scholar who is believed to have gone missing after arriving in the city earlier this month, according to human rights activists.
Abuduwaili Abudureheman had sent a text message to a friend on May 10th, stating that he was being interrogated by police at the airport. Since then, his friends have not heard from him, as reported by Amnesty International.
Amnesty International has called on Hong Kong to disclose Abuduwaili’s whereabouts, but the government dismissed the demand as slander and labeled it as “groundless and unfounded.”
Hong Kong authorities further stated that there is no record of Abuduwaili’s arrival in the territory or any denial of entry.
The Chinese government, which has been accused of a harsh crackdown on the Uyghur Muslim minority, denies these allegations.
Abuduwaili, who was born in Xinjiang, had resided in South Korea for the past seven years, where he obtained a PhD in the sports industry and leisure. Amnesty stated that he had traveled from Seoul to Hong Kong to visit a friend.
Amnesty International reported receiving information that Abuduwaili was on a “watch list” of Uyghurs and other Muslims from the Xinjiang region who had traveled outside of China.
The organization also documented multiple cases of Uyghurs being detained in China and abroad solely based on their history of foreign travel.
“The unknown fate of Abuduwaili Abudureheman is deeply worrying, given the background of crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs by the Chinese government in Xinjiang, and its ongoing pursuit of Uyghurs who have travelled overseas,” said Alkan Akad, an Amnesty researcher.
The US, UK and international human rights monitors have accused Beijing of detaining about one million Uyghurs in so-called “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, , separating children from their families and breaking their cultural traditions.
The region is also cloaked in a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces.
China has also been accused of targeting Muslim figures and banning religious practices in Xinjiang, as well as destroying mosques and tombs.
In a landmark report last year, the UN accused China of “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang that “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.
It also urged China to release “all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty”.
China called the UN report a “farce” arranged by Western powers.