China arrests 20 British and South African tourists for 'watching terrorist propaganda videos'
Authorities will release 11 travellers, but others will be held without charge at detention centre in Inner Mongolia, says South African charity Gift of the Givers Foundation
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 15 July, 2015, 1:29pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 15 July, 2015, 2:30pm
Reuters in Beijing
The travellers were detained when they arrived at Erdos airport in Inner Mongolia. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A group of 20 foreign tourists including Britons, South Africans and an Indian national, have been arrested in northern China over claims that some of them watched “terrorist propaganda” videos from a banned group, according to reports by Britain’s Foreign Office and a South African charity.
China has agreed to release 11 of the tourists, but the rest will continue to be held without charge at a detention centre in Inner Mongolia, the South African charity, Gift of the Givers Foundation, said.
Chinese authorities said some of those arrested had been watching propaganda videos from a banned group in their hotel room, the charity added in its statement.
Five South Africans, three Britons and one Indian national make up the nine being held, it said.
“Consular staff have visited the group to provide assistance and we are liaising with Chinese authorities,” a British Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters.
An employee at Inner Mongolia’s regional foreign affairs department told South China Morning Post it would issue a public statement on the matter “in one or two days”, but declined to further comment.
The South African embassy in China said it currently had no comment on the issue. An embassy employee said had already sent staff to Inner Mongolia to deal with the issue. An Indian embassy spokesman told Reuters he had no information on the matter.
Chinese law enforcement authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.
The travel group was on a 47-day tour of the country when they were detained at Erdos airport in Inner Mongolia.
Their tour operator realised something had gone “horribly wrong” on Sunday, two days later, the foundation said, when he had not heard from them.
“These individuals have no terror links, no criminal record in their country,” said Gift of the Givers, which has negotiated hostage releases.
“The families thank the South African government for their unwavering support and call upon the Chinese government to release the detainees immediately.”
Several of those detained are relatives of Shameel Joosub, chief executive of telecoms company Vodacom Group, the charity added.
Additional reporting by Nectar Gan
