Skip to main content

Uighur students in Egypt face arrest, deportation to China

Cairo seems to be trying to please Beijing by continuing to arrest Uighur students in the country.

GettyImages-1162350225.jpg
Prior to their arrest, Uighur students used to eat their traditional cuisine in a restaurant in the Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, shown in this photo taken Aug. 6, 2019. — KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images

CAIRO — An ongoing security crackdown on Uighur students in Egypt is back in the news after the opposition Conservative Party demanded the ruling regime not hand them over to the Chinese authorities.

The Uighurs are a Muslim community accounting for 45% of the population of the far northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang. The Uighurs claim the Chinese authorities are practising ethnic discrimination against them, oppressing them and imprisoning them for religious reasons. China alleges the Uighurs are calling for a civil disobedience campaign to obtain their own independent state, following the 2009 riots.

Subscribe for unlimited access

All news, events, memos, reports, and analysis, and access all 10 of our newsletters. Learn more

$14 monthly or $100 annually ($8.33/month)
OR

Continue reading this article for free

All news, events, memos, reports, and analysis, and access all 10 of our newsletters. Learn more.

By signing up, you agree to Al-Monitor’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Already have an account? Log in