China: Asylum Bid by 22 Uighurs Opposed

[rajeev]

China said Tuesday that 22 Uighurs who fled to Cambodia after deadly ethnic rioting this summer were criminals and should not be granted asylum. The Uighurs, who are Muslim, were smuggled out of China with the help of a network of missionaries and Chinese Christians, the missionaries said. They arrived in Cambodia in recent weeks and have applied for asylum at the United Nations refugee agency office in Phnom Penh. “These people are involved in crimes,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a news conference, although she provided no evidence.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/world/asia/16briefs-China.html