Officials give reason for arrest of 20-strong group of foreigners, including nine Britons – six of whom have been deported

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A group of tourists, including nine Britons, who were arrested in China six days ago are suspected of distributing terrorist videos, officials in northern China have said.

Six of the Britons have been deported and are due back in the UK later on Thursday, but three are still being detained in Inner Mongolia.

The Britons were among a 20-strong group of foreigners arrested last Friday at Ordos airport while on a 47-day tour of ancient China.

Mystery had surrounded the arrests as local police refused to comment and foreign officials for days would say only that the tourists were suspected of “criminal offences”.

But on Thursday, Zhang Xi, an official in Ordos in charge of dealing with foreigners, told the media: “These people are suspected of watching and spreading violent terrorist videos and were arrested last Friday.”

He added that the detainees had been visited by the British consulate.

The nine tourists still in police custody include five South Africans, three Britons and one Indian national. Their 11 fellow travellers were released after South African and British officials met their Chinese counterparts in Ordos on Tuesday.

On Thursday morning a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “Nine British nationals, and two dual British-South African nationals were detained in northern China. Six are being deported. The remainder are still detained.

“Consular staff have visited the group to provide assistance and we have requested an explanation from the Chinese authorities about the reasons for detaining these individuals.”

Those arrested include Hoosain Ismail Jacobs, a 74-year-old former anti-apartheid activist who had lived in exile in Britain for more than 25 years, and Dr Feroz Suliman, a surgeon at the Waterfall hospital in Midrand, South Africa, and his wife, Dr Shehnaaz Mohamed.

A family friend at Jacobs’ home in Hounslow, west London, said they had been provided with no information about his detention. It is not clear whether he is among those released.

The South African humanitarian aid agency, Gift of the Givers, which is working to secure the tourists’ release, has denied that the detainees have any links to terrorist organisations or criminal history.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the group said conditions in the detention centre were “not good” and that relatives of those arrested had been kept in the dark for four days after their arrest.

“The Chinese, now trying to find reasons for the detention suggested that some members were linked to a terror group, to a banned organisation, to watching propaganda videos in their hotel room,” it added.