https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/sweden-uighur-muslim-china-refugees-camps-asylum-seekers-a8832191.html?fbclid=IwAR2chHByc0DfllCTa16cLLw_Qc2CIAiD6Suxpw3EEHiGXYWr3ZzEEfSxMD4<\/a> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Click to follow Sweden<\/a> is to grant refugee status to all Uighur Muslim asylum-seekers from China<\/a>, prompting calls for other Western governments to follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Swedish migration agency said the minority would be automatically considered at risk of persecution in Xinjiang<\/a> province, where more than a million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps in a crackdown on Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The country had temporarily halted the deportation of Uighurs in September following an outcry<\/a> over the decision to reject a family\u2019s asylum claim. TOP ARTICLES2\/5READ MOREEurovision 2019: Madonna performs ‘Like aPrayer’ and new song ‘Future’ at ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Human rights groups have warned Muslims repatriated to China face harassment, arrest and detainment in internment camps<\/a>, where inmates are allegedly tortured and forced to renounce their religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know for a fact that Uighurs who are sent back to China from abroad are sent back to these camps,\u201d Pete Irwin, programme manager of the Uighur World Congress exile group, told The Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Irwin, whose organisation campaigns for Uighur rights around the globe, added: \u201cThe primary criteria for being sent the camps, as least as far as we\u2019ve gathered from reporting, is either expression of religious sentiment or travel abroad or some kind of connection abroad. Even if you have family members you\u2019re speaking to abroad you can be sent to the camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll Uighurs who were overseas in the past two years and then returned have been sent to these camps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the face of growing international criticism, China this week issued a lengthy report claiming it had detained 13,000 terrorists and broken up hundreds of \u201cterrorist gangs\u201d in Xinjiang internment camps. It has depicted the centres as vocational training facilities designed to counter Islamist extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the report presented little evidence of any crimes, and experts believe the camps are part of an aggressive government campaign to erode the identities of the Central Asian groups who have long called the region home and erase its Islamic culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China has pressured Uighurs living abroad to return, with authorities reportedly contacting some foreign students and expatriates on messaging apps and threatening their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Irwin said Beijing\u2019s overseas embassies had stopped renewing Uighurs\u2019 passports last year, forcing people abroad to choose between returning to Xinjiang or being made stateless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany last year halted Uighur deportations<\/a> after a 22-year-old asylum seeker was returned to China due to an administrative error. In August his lawyer said he had received \u201cno sign of life\u201d since his expulsion and feared his client had been \u201cdetained\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden\u2019s announcement that it would grant refugee status to Uighur asylum-seekers<\/a> cited the findings of a United Nations human rights panel, which last year said it had received credible reports up to two million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities had been forced into \u201cpolitical camps for indoctrination\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Independent<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"More](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/03\/20\/16\/china-camp.jpg?w968h681\")