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Extradition of Uyghurs to China in Violation of
International Law
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) human rights
violations against the Uyghur people are not limited
to East Turkestan (also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region or XUAR). The Chinese government
has extended its campaign against the Uyghurs into
neighboring countries by using bilateral agreements
to force the return of Uyghurs suspected of
involvement in any kind of political activity
disliked by the Chinese government. Uyghurs
extradited to the PRC face serious human rights
violations, including torture, unfair trials, and
execution. In all of these cases, the governments
involved are in clear violation of the principle of
non-refoulement under international law, which
protects refugees from being returned to places
where their lives or freedoms could be threatened.
The exact number of Uyghur activists who have been
returned to the PRC, and the number who were
subsequently executed, is unknown. The cases posted
here were taken from Amnesty International reports ,
press reports and UHRP sources.
• Shaheer Ali, sentenced to death in March 2003 and
executed after being forcibly returned from Nepal to
China in 2002. He had been recognized as a refugee
by UNHCR in Nepal and was awaiting resettlement to a
third country. He left behind detailed testimony of
the torture he suffered while detained for eight
months in the XUAR in 1994.
• Abdu Allah Sattar, whose fate has remained unknown
since he was detained at the same time as Shaheer
Ali in Nepal. He is believed to have been forcibly
returned to China.
• Kheyum Whashim Ali, reportedly tortured in detention
in Michuan prison in the XUAR, after being forcibly
returned to China in mid-2002. He had been
recognized as a refugee by UNHCR in Nepal.
• Muhammed Tohti Metrozi, forcibly returned to China
from Pakistan in July 2003. He was reportedly tried
on or around 10 April 2004 in connection with
sheltering Uyghurs who fled from China to Pakistan,
belonging to a “separatist” group, and applying to
UNHCR for refugee status.
• Abdukakhar Idris, a former tailor and bookkeeper from
Kashgar, is believed to have been forcibly returned
from Kazakhstan to China after his “disappearance” in
Almaty in April or May 2003. He had approached UNHCR
for refugee status before he went missing. His
current whereabouts, legal status or state of health
is unknown.
• Ahmet Memet and Turgun Abbas, Islamic students from
Kashgar, are believed to have been forcibly returned
to China after reportedly being detained in
Kazakhstan in December 2001, in the border village of
Panfilov. They had both reportedly applied to UNHCR
for refugee status. There is no further information
about their current whereabouts, legal status or
state of health.
• Yusuf Kadir and Abdukadir Sidik, Uyghur activists,
forcibly returned from Kazakhstan to China on May
10, 2006. They are being held in incommunicado
detention in China.
• Kasim Mahpir, Ilyas Zordun, and Zulfikar Memet
Uyghur, political activists forcibly returned to
China from Kazakhstan in 1999, were executed upon
their return.
• Ismail Semed, forcibly repatriated from Pakistan to
China In 2003, and executed on February 8, 2007 on
charges of “attempting to split the motherland”.
• 14 anonymous Uyghurs, extradited from Kyrgyzstan to
China for their “involvement in Uyghur separatist
organizations”. Their names, whereabouts and fate
are unknown.
• Arkin Sabirov, disappeared in Kazakhstan on October
23, 2006. Sabirov is believed to have been secretly
deported to China.
Institute of War & Peace Reporting, Kazakhstan
under Fire for Reported Extradition of Uighur,
December 7, 2006. |
