An international student at a South Korean university from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region has gone missing in Hong Kong.
Abduwali Abudurehman, 38, who was traveling to Hong Kong to visit a friend, has not been heard from since Oct. 10, the Wall Street Journal 메이저놀이터(WSJ) reported on Sunday, citing rights group Amnesty International. Mr. Abudurehman is a doctoral candidate at a South Korean university.
The last text he sent to a friend said he was being questioned by Chinese police after arriving at Hong Kong airport. It is possible that the Chinese authorities arrested him and took him back to mainland China.
“There are growing concerns that Mr. Abudurehman may have been illegally returned to China, arbitrarily detained and tortured without following the procedures required by law,” Amnesty said.
Mr. Abudurehman appears to be on a blacklist of overseas Uyghurs maintained by the Chinese government, Amnesty said.
A native of the Xinjiang Uyghur region, Mr. Abudurehman attended university in China before arriving in South Korea in 2009 to earn a master’s degree.
He has been pursuing a doctoral program in sports humanities and social sciences at Kookmin University since 2019.
On his Instagram, Abudurehman posted activities related to sports, such as participating in a policy debate on professional soccer at the National Assembly and meeting with K League officials and soccer fans.
The Hong Kong government has not commented on Mr. Abudurehman’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, the international community has raised concerns about the Chinese government’s systematic repression of the culturally distinct Xinjiang Uighur people.