A Swedish court on Wednesday ordered the detention of a man suspected of spying on ethnic Uygurs for China, Sweden’s prosecution authority said on Wednesday.
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The prosecution authority declined to give more detail on the case or whether it concerned the small population of Uygurs living in Sweden or groups elsewhere.
The man, whose nationality was also not disclosed, is in custody in the Swedish capital, court documents showed.
“The man is suspected of having illegally collected information and intelligence on people in the Uygur environment on behalf of the Chinese intelligence service,” Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.
The Chinese embassy in Sweden said in an email it was not aware of the case. It did not comment further.
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UN human rights body says China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang
UN human rights body says China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uygurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority group of about 10 million people who live in China’s far western Xinjiang region.