Detention of foreigners watching terror videos 'warranted'
The British Embassy in Beijing confirmed with the Global Times Wednesday afternoon that six Britons who were detained in northern China have been deported.
The six were among 20 foreigners that were detained at Ordos Airport in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on July 10 on suspicion of terror links, as some of them watched promotion videos of a banned terror group in their hotel rooms, African NGO Gift of the Givers (GOTG) wrote on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The British Embassy said nine are British nationals and two are dual British-South African nationals in the group.
"Six have been deported, and the remainder [British nationals] are still detained. Consular staff have visited the group to provide assistance and we are liaising with Chinese authorities," a spokesperson of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the embassy, told the Global Times.
Eight South Africans and one Indian were also among the group which was on a 47-day tour to "explore the ancient China" before being arrested without charges, the GOTG said. The NGO claimed that the individuals arrested have no terror links and no criminal record in their country.
Chinese experts said that the detention and deportation were warranted.
Li Wei, an expert on counter-terrorism with the Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that those who watched the terror video violated China's law on countering terrorism. "Their detention was warranted," Li said, adding that the deportation was based on the international practice.
The UN Security Council has passed resolutions demanding countries to punish those who watch, promote and spread terror videos, Li said.
It was the first case which involved foreigners watching terror materials in China, and authorities have to investigate how they obtained those videos, he said.
"If they brought the videos to China from abroad, then they are guilty of illegally carrying terror materials," Li said.
The South African Embassy in Beijing declined to comment on Wednesday, and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not responded to interview requests.
In a notice issued in 2014, the Xinjiang government banned sending, copying, reposting, uploading, playing and storing of terror-related videos, which contained violence, terrorism, extremism and separatism, and those violating the rules faced detention and criminal liabilities.
