SHANGHAI: A youth international footballer reportedly detained a year ago in China’s crackdown on the Uighur ethnic minority group signed for a club in the country’s second tier on Thursday.
Suning had declined to comment amid claims that he had been interned with up to one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in camps in Xinjiang. His picture was scrubbed from Suning’s website and that same month he abruptly stopped posting on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.But he was back on social media in January this year and then last week Suning released photos on Weibo of Hezim playing in a reserve game.On Thursday, League One club Shaanxi Chang’an Athletic announced on Weibo that they had signed the player.
The club posted an archive video of Hezim – also known as Ye Erfan – scoring a spectacular overhead kick for China’s under-19 team.