[TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES] China has allowed nine detained foreign tourists including one from India to leave for their respective countries. But it has not clarified if the criminal charges like their alleged links with a terrorist group would be dropped or continued which include allegations to be pursued. The Indian Embassy in Beijing said in a statement on Saturday that the Indian national "was allowed to leave for India by a flight in early hours of this morning". It did not say if the Indian, Rajiv Mohan Kulshrestha, had been deported or simply allowed to go without facing any more charges.
Ummm... That's not a proper Islamic name. I was expecting an Abdullah or Mohammed, at the least an Abu.
Sources said Beijing authorities took the decision to release the detained Indian, British and South African citizens in view of an international furor caused by the incident, which could hurt China's image and the flow of tourists to the country.
They are associated with a South African charity, Gift of the Givers. The charity said in a statement that no formal charges were put to any of the 20 detainees.
The foreigners were accused of watching banned terrorism videos, distributing material related to terrorism and having links with a terror group. But a South African relative of three detained persons said they were watching a video of the 13th century warrior Genghis Khan at their hotel in Ordos city of Inner Mongolia province in China.
Ewps.
"No one in the group has been charged and it is believed the reason they were tossed in the slammer
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
was because of an unfortunate misunderstanding. They watched a documentary on Genghis Khan to further their understanding of the region they were in at the time, and this may have mistakenly been deemed as 'propaganda' material.
"The group visited the Genghis Khan Mausoleum in Ordos on the day before their arrest".