A body fighting for Uyghur people’s rights in China and abroad had to meet in virtual secrecy with police protection in the Bosnian capital after threats and pressure to cancel, it said.

The Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) held a four-day conference until Sunday with several hundred delegates from 25 nations in a Sarajevo hotel - but few outside would have known.

There were no signs or placards, reception staff hesitated to give information, and plainclothes policemen were in the lobby while special units parked outside.

Organisers and participants said that social media and email messages were received in advance pressuring them to cancel the event and threatening to disrupt it.

“We have seen Chinese individuals here at the hotel taking photos of our delegates during the event which was a way to intimidate them,” said Zumrety Arkin, who was elected as a WUC vice-president at the meeting.

She and other attendees largely stayed inside the hotel for safety reasons, Arkin said.

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