- 17 July 2015
- UK
Nine tourists, including three Britons and two UK-South African nationals, are to be deported from China.
They were among a group held in the inner Mongolian city of Ordos. The other 11 were deported on Wednesday.
State media claimed that they had been watching "terrorist" videos.
The group had come from the Xinjiang region where China complains Muslims are being radicalised by jihadi videos. A charity linked to the group said they may have watched "devotional" films.
The others being deported are three South Africans and an Indian national. The 11 other tourists released from a detention centre and deported earlier included six Britons and five South Africans.
They were all originally held on 10 July.
'Propaganda' claim
The tourists, most of whom were Muslim, included doctors, businesspeople and elderly couples. They were on a 47-day tour in northern China and were taken into custody 30 days into their excursion.
BBC China editor Carrie Gracie said the charity with links to the group said they may have been watching videos as part of their prayer activities.
The South Africa-based Gift of the Givers Foundation, disaster relief organisation, earlier said it had been contacted by relatives of some of the group asking for help although it was not involved in the tour.
In a statement on its Facebook page it said the tour went "horribly wrong" when the party was arrested at Ordos Airport last Friday.
"They were detained without charge with no access to any communication nor to legal representation.
"The Chinese, now trying to find reasons for the detention, suggested that some members were linked to a terror group, to a banned organisation, to watching propaganda videos in their hotel room."
South Africa's foreign affairs minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa had been in China on an official visit and took up the case with his Chinese counterparts.A spokesman for the South African government quoted by Reuters said the last of its five detained nationals would leave China on Saturday. He said the Chinese authorities had not indicated why the group was held.
The UK Foreign Office earlier said it had "requested an explanation from the Chinese authorities about the reasons for detaining these individuals".
Responding to the latest reports, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that officials had been informed that the three British nationals were to be deported.
He added: "Our consular staff have visited the group and have received assurances from the Chinese government about their health and treatment.
"We are in regular contact with the Chinese authorities both in Ordos and Beijing."
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