China: six British tourists detained for 'terror links' are expelled

As reported on "The Guardian", nine British nationals detained in China on suspicion of having links to a terror group had been released. Finally the nightmare is ended and they can come back in UK. These holidaymakers were arrested last week at Ordos airport. It happened in Inner Mongolia, during a 47-day tour in China, within a 20-people group of tourists.

British detention: no official explanation offered from Chinese authorities

According to diplomats in Beijing, the authorities have not yet offered an explanation for the detentions and the following decision to release some of the tourists and not the entire group. All we know is that China's foreign affairs ministry declared that the tourists were involved in activities violating the law and Ordos local police.

The tourists were arrested last Friday, 10th, their cellphones were confiscated and there was no access to the embassies of origin nor to their families. They couldn't communicate or ask for a legal representative, they simply found themselves in jail.

On the one hand we could say that they might had been lucky, because their case became public in few hours thanks to the disaster relief organisation "Gift of the Givers". The Foundation, a South African Non-governmental organization that works in many countries around the world, China included, posted on its Facebook page saying a tourist group of 20, including 9 Uk citizens, had been detained.

The real reason behind the arrest of the 20-people group of tourists in Mongolia

Without any further hints, all we can guess about the uncomfortable situation it is that the real reason behind the detention was Islamic faith. We are in the Ramadan period and some of the South African tourists, probably, were watching videos of Islamic prayers in the evening.

This is what Imtiaz Sooliman, Founder, Director and Chairman of "Gift of the Givers" suggested, considering that China is ruled from an atheist Communist party that has never hidden its disapproval for religion, especially for Muslim communities. In some Chinese regions ounder-18s are banned from entering mosques and local police authorities prevent prayer groups and public religious ceremonies.