China operating secret detention facility in Dubai

A young Chinese woman says that she was held for eight days at a secret detention facility run by China in Dubai, together with two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence of China operating a "black site" beyond its borders, according to a report by AP.   

The woman, 26-year-old Wu Huan, was on the run to avoid extradition to China because her fiancé is considered an opponent of the Chinese regime. Wu told AP that that she was kidnapped from her hotel in Dubai and detained by Chinese officials at a villa that was converted into a jail where she saw or heard two other prisoners, both Uyghurs.

She was questioned and forced to sign legal documents saying that her fiancé was harassing her, Wu said. She was finally released on June 8, and is currently seeking asylum in Holland.

Such "black sites" are common in China, but Wu's account is the only testimony that Beijing has set up a detention facility in a different country. Such a site would reflect how China is increasingly using its clout in the international community to detain or bring back citizens from overseas, whether they are dissidents, corruption suspects or ethnic minorities such as the Uyghurs, according to AP.  

AP was not able to independently confirm or disprove Wu's account, and she was unable to pinpoint the exact location of the "black site". However, reporters saw and heard corroborating evidence including stamps in her passport, a recording of a Chinese official asking her questions, and text messages sent from the jail to a priest helping the couple, the report said.   

China did not respond to requests for comment sent by AP to China's Foreign Ministry and its consulate in Dubai.

Sources in Dubai also did not respond to a number of telephone calls and requests for comment to the Dubai police, the Dubai Media Office and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.