China: Uighurs threatened to be deported to China

Uyghurs refugees from China must be better protected against deportation. This is what the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) emphasized in an urgent appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Thursday. As the human rights organization informed Grandi, three Uyghur refugees who tried to find refuge in India are now threatened with deportation, which is why there must be immediate measures to help. Grandi should call on the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to keep the three refugees from being deported to China for humanitarian reasons, as they are in danger of life and limb. “The situation of many Uyghur refugees, especially in Asia, is dramatic. Many states prefer not to protect persecuted Uyghurs for fear of offending the Chinese leadership,” reported Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Asia expert. Further, there are currently about 70 Uyghur refugees who are threatened to be deported back to China from Thailand. 

The three Uyghurs in India were arrested in Kashmir in June 2013 and later sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for alleged espionage and illegal entry. Because the Chinese authorities refuse to issue documents for Uyghur people, it was impossible for them to enter the country legally. After serving their sentence, Abdul Khaliq, Abdul Salam and Adil were kept imprisoned for almost two more years – on the basis of the controversial Public Safety Act. In May 2016, the Interior Ministry of India ordered them to be deported to China, although their request for asylum was still pending before a court in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

“It is scandalous and inhumane to deport Uyghurs to China, despite the ongoing massive persecution,” Delius explained. “Uyghurs who were deported back to China have repeatedly been tortured in Chinese prisons, sentenced to long prison sentences, or even sentenced to death. If India does not wish to provide refuge for the Uyghur refugees, they should at least be allowed to try and find refuge in other countries that would be willing to protect them.” In recent months, the STP had repeatedly appealed to the Indian authorities not to deport the refugees.

In July 2015, Thailand deported 109 Uyghurs to China. Some of them were imprisoned there and forced to “confess” the alleged crimes on state TV.

Header Photo: Kim Haughton via UN Photo