Seoul releases Uighur activist after barring entry

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- An exiled Uighur activist from Germany who was denied
entry left South Korea after being held at the airport for two days, immigration
officials said Friday.
Dolkun Isa, 42, was released Thursday night and departed the country, an official
said, declining to give further information. It was not known whether he was
headed back to Germany or to another country.
Isa had arrived at Incheon International Airport Tuesday night to attend the
World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA). Having fled China in 1997, he
became a German citizen and served as secretary general of the Munich-based World
Uighur Congress, an exile group representing the Chinese ethnic minority that has
been on China's list of terrorist groups since 2003.
South Korean authorities refused to say why they held Isa, but WFDA organizers
said being on the Chinese government's wanted list could have affected Seoul's
decision.
Amnesty International issued a statement Thursday ahead of his release, urging
South Korea to free him immediately unless he is charged with an internationally
recognized criminal offense.
The statement said the Chinese authorities often label any independent expression
of Uighur ethnic identity as "separatism" or "religious extremism," and called
Isa a "human rights defender."
Uighurs are a minority Muslim group in western China where, according to press
reports, violent ethnic unrest in July left nearly 200 dead.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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