Malaysia frees Uighurs, defying China request

Malaysia has freed 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims who escaped from immigration detention in Thailand, their lawyer said yesterday, ignoring a request from Beijing to deport the group to China. The group flew to Turkey on Tuesday, their lawyer told AFP. Uighurs are mostly Muslim Turkic ethnic group from China's far west Xinjiang region, where authorities have enforced draconian security measures in the name of combatting extremism and separatism.