Human rights campaigners in Kyrgyzstan called on Central...

Human rights campaigners in Kyrgyzstan called on Central Asian republics to stop deporting members of the Uighur Muslim minority to face possible execution in China. The Democracy human rights group said China's north-western neighbour Kazakhstan had recently returned three Uighur refugees whom China then executed: Hamit Mamat, Ilyar Zordan and Kisym Mahpid. Several hundred Uighurs accused of involvement in such activities have been executed since the mid-1990s, while thousands of others have been detained, imprisoned after unfair trials and tortured, and growing restrictions have been placed on the Islamic clergy and the practice of Islam in the region.