Qatar Withdraws Support for China Over Its Treatment of Muslims
- Persian Gulf nation tells UN it wants to remain ‘neutral’
- 37 countries had signed letter backing China against censure
Uighur men dancing after Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of Ramadan, outside the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region.
Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Qatar withdrew from a letter signed by dozens of countries expressing support for China’s human-rights record despite growing international condemnation over its detention of as many as two million ethnic Muslim Uighurs.
Qatar informed United Nations Human Rights Council President Coly Seck of its decision to withdraw from the July 12 letter, which was signed by mostly majority-Muslim nations, according to a copy of the correspondence seen by Bloomberg. Several calls and e-mails to Qatar’s government communications office and the UN mission weren’t returned.