Tory MP Tim Loughton ‘detained and deported by East African country’
A former minister has claimed he was detained and deported by an East African country with close links to Chine during a 24-visit to the nation.
Tim Loughton, who has been sanctioned by China, said he reckons his detention and expulsion by the Djibouti authorities is a result of his criticism of Beijing.
Mr Loughton, a senior member of the Commonsâ home affairs committee, describes his experience as âintimidatingâ and told The Telegraph he believes it occurred as a âdirect consequenceâ of his criticism of the Chinese regime.
The Foreign Office is understood to have asked the Djiboutis for an explanation for his detention.
The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham said he arrived in Djibouti, Africaâs smallest nation, on 8 April for his visit, which included meeting the British ambassador, before he was detained.
Mr Loughton said he was held for more than seven hours at the airport, told he could not enter the country, and then put on the next flight out of Djibouti.
Mr Loughton was sanctioned by the Chinese more than three years ago, alongside seven parliamentarians, after criticising human rights abuses by China against the Uighurs, Tibetans and Hong Kongers.
He claimed his detention was âjust the latest example of intimidation that the seven sanctioned parliamentarians have suffered over the last three yearsâ.
He also said his treatment in Djibouti could set a precedent for actions of other states backed by the Chinese.
It is believed to be the the first time such action has been taken by the Djiboutis against a British citizen.
Describing his experience, he said: âAs soon as I revealed I was a British MP, and my passport was checked, things turned decidedly frosty.â
Mr Loughton claims he was held for an hour without explanation in an airport arrivals hall, before he was taken into a room by immigration officials and told he could not enter Djibouti.
He was later escorted across the airport tarmac and put on a flight to Dubai despite appeals by the UKâs deputy ambassador in the country
He said: âThey gave me no reason. I kept saying: âWhy?â and they could not tell me.
âIn short, it was a highly intimidating and very lonely experience in a very strange country.â
Mr Loughtonâs deportation comes weeks after it was revealed he was among three MPs and a peer whose parliamentary emails were hacked by the Chinese.
On Friday, a parliamentary researcher and an academic were charged with spying for China.
A Chinese embassy spokesman said allegations about China were âpurely baselessâ and branded them âfabricated and slanderous rhetoric that attempts to smear China and poison China-UK relationsâ.
Responding to Mr Loughtonâs claims, a Foreign Office spokesman said: âWe provided consular support to a British man in Djibouti.â
China has given Djibouti billions of dollars of investment, including a $1 billion (ÂŁ791 million) space port.
The Djibouti embassy in Paris has been contacted by i for comment.