Politics

‘Missing’ Uygur student safe in Seoul, professor says after Amnesty International demanded Hong Kong government reveal his whereabouts



Amnesty on Friday said Abuduwaili, 38, had travelled to Hong Kong from South Korea to visit a friend on May 10 but had not been heard from since he texted a friend about “being interrogated by Chinese police after arriving at Hong Kong airport”.

Jo, who advises Abuduwaili on his thesis, said that when he heard the news on Sunday, he was so surprised he immediately called his student, who politely answered the phone.

“When I told him about the news, Mr Abuduwaili himself expressed shock and dismay as he has been in South Korea throughout this year and he never set foot in Hong Kong,” he said.

“In order for me to confirm he is certainly in Seoul, we engaged in a mobile video call during which he turned the mobile camera around to show street name signs in order to prove that he was in Seoul indeed.”

A captured frame of that video call showed Abuduwaili wearing a hat standing in front of a restaurant in Seoul.

But Abuduwaili said he did not want to talk to journalists, according to Jo.

The Post could not independently verify the professor’s claims and has contacted Amnesty for comment.

On Friday, the rights group demanded the Hong Kong government reveal the student’s whereabouts, saying the Abuduwaili’s friend had gone public with his claim after becoming increasingly concerned for the student’s safety.

Amnesty also claimed Abuduwaili was on a Chinese government “watch list” of Uygurs and other Muslims from the Xinjiang region, due to his history of overseas travel.

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

In a statement issued the same day, Amnesty said it remained concerned for Abuduwaili’s safety as he was still missing, adding the friend had been unable to contact him.

The Chinese government has been accused by Western politicians and groups such as Amnesty of rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang, claims it has repeatedly rejected as “slanderous”.

Additional reporting by Oscar Liu



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