No Uyghur Muslim students have been arrested inside Al-Azhar campus or from inside any buildings associated with Al-Azhar, the Muslim Sunni institution stated in a Friday statement.

The statement comes following days of reports that Egyptian police have been rounding up Uyghur students ahead of deporting them to China.

The Uyghur are Turkic-speaking Muslims, with the majority living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s far west.

Al-Azhar’s statement said the institution is following up with authorities in the wake of reports on social media.

The statement also added that news being circulated regarding this issue is “completely inaccurate” and that the Qatari Al-Jazeera’s reports that over 500 Uyghurs were arrested in Egypt aim to negatively affect Egypt and Al-Azhar.

Al-Azhar's statement underlined the right of authorities to enforce the legal status of foreign nationals where they represent no danger to the country’s national security and are not wanted for crimes committed inside or outside the country.