China Deports 20 Foreigners for Watching 'Terrorist' Videos

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JULY 18, 2015, 11:19 P.M. E.D.T.

BEIJING — China has deported 20 foreigners from Britain, South Africa and India for watching video clips that advocated terrorism and religious extremism, the official state media reported.

Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday that the foreigners watched an unspecified documentary in a hotel room and later some of them watched video clips that advocated terrorism.

Police also found similar clips on a cellphone belonging to one of the South Africans, Xinhua said.

Xinhua cited the foreign affairs office of Ordos city in China's Inner Mongolia region, where police had stopped the 10 South Africans, 9 Britons and one Indian on July 10 as they were going to fly to their next stop on a 47-day tour of the country.

The news agency said five South Africans, three Britons and one Indian national were detained the following day in connection with a law that "stipulates punishment for allegedly organizing, leading or joining terrorist groups."

It said the nine "admitted to their legal acts and repented," without elaborating. It said police treated the case leniently and deported them on Saturday.

The other 11 were deported Wednesday.

Calls to the foreign affairs office in Ordos rang unanswered Sunday. A man on duty at Ordos police, who only identified his surname, Han, said he had no information on the case.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015...-detained.html