Freed Uighur family reunited in Australia after three-year separation
Chinese authorities had said in February that the couple's marriage was not recognised under Chinese law
An Uighur man in Australia has been reunited with his family after being separated for three years.
A three year long campaign, extensive diplomatic efforts and media coverage have made this amazing event possible, reports BBC.
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 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," Abdusalamu tweeted.
The family was allowed to leave China following diplomatic negotiations.
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His wife who is also a member of China's Uighur Muslim minority, said she had previously been under house arrest.
Abdusalamu, who had lived in Australia for a decade, went to China in 2016 to marry his then-girlfriend 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 Abdusalamu was denied a visa to visit by the Chinese government.
Shortly after she gave birth, the family say 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.
In the past two years, Australia has issued formal requests to China to allow them to leave. Although Wumaier is not an Australian citizen, her son was formally recognised as one following an appeal by Abdusalamu.
Chinese authorities had said in February that the couple's marriage was not recognised under Chinese law and that Ms Wumaier wished to remain in China.
But finally after all these hardships, the couples managed to get reunited.
On Friday, after his family had arrived following a convoluted, 48 hour journey which had taken them through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Port Moresby then Brisbane before - finally - reaching Sydney, Abdusalamu thanked Australia's foreign department for their "incredible job", and also expressed gratitude to his lawyers and the media.
"I never thought this day would come and I would dearly like to thank everyone who worked to hard to reunite us," he said.
He added: "My dream is for all my fellow Uighurs to be reunited with their families."
