Freed Uighur family reunited in Australia after three-year separation
An Uighur man in Australia has been reunited with his wife and child after a three-year campaign to release them from Xinjiang in China.
On Thursday, Australian citizen Sadam Abudusalamu was able to reunite with his wife Nadila Wumaier, and three-year-old son Lutfy in Sydney.
The family was allowed to leave China following diplomatic negotiations.
Ms Wumaier - also a member of China's Uighur Muslim minority - said she had previously been under house arrest.
The family shared pictures of their emotional meeting at Sydney Airport on Friday. Mr Abdusalam had never met his son before, who was born in 2017.
"Thank you Australia. Thank you everyone," Mr Abdusalamu tweeted.
The tale of a three-year separation
Mr Abdusalamu, who had lived in Australia for a decade, went to China in 2016 to marry his then-girlfriend Ms Wumaier.
He returned to Australia for work in 2017, while Ms Wumaier waited in China for her spouse visa.
She gave birth later the same year, but Mr Abdusalamu was denied a visa to visit by the Chinese government.
Shortly after she gave birth, the family say Ms Wumaier was detained by Chinese authorities for two weeks. She was then released, but her passport was confiscated and she was not allowed to leave her home.
Human rights condemnation
Rights groups say China is holding about a million Uighurs and other Muslims in detention camps. However, China denies any wrongdoing, saying it is combating terrorism and religious extremism, and offering "political re-education" to those in camps.
In October, a group of 39 countries - including Australia, the UK, the US and several European nations -
read out a statement at the UN saying they were "gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang" and the camps.
"We have seen an increasing number of reports of gross human rights violations," the statement read.
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