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Pakistan Deports Uighur Refugees to China
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION
PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 31/033/2002
UA 119/02 Fear of forcible return
22 April 2002
NEPAL - Kheyum Whashim Ali (m) (also known as Washim
Ali) Shaheer Ali (m) (also known as Shir Ali) Abdu
Allah Sattar (m) (also known as Abdullah Sattar)
The three men named above are members of China's
ethnic Uighur minority. The Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
recognised all three as refugees after they fled to
Nepal. However, the Nepali authorities are feared to
have sent two of them back to China, and the third may
also be at risk of being returned. All three would be
at risk of torture, and possibly execution, if they
were returned to China.
Kheyum Whashim Ali was recognized as a refugee by the
Office of the UNHCR in Nepal in October 2001. The
Nepali immigration authorities have since detained
him, apparently because he originally claimed to be
from Afghanistan.
The two other men, Shaheer Ali and Abdu Allah
Sattar,were detained in December 2001. They were held
at Hanuman Dhoka police station in Kathmandu, but were
taken from there in January 2002, and their
whereabouts are now unknown. There are conflicting
reports of who took them from the police station: some
say it was the Nepali police, while others say it was
officials from the Chinese embassy. The UNHCR has
asked the Nepali authorities repeatedly for
information about their current wherebouts, but
received no response.
International human rights law prohibits the return of
anyone to a country where they might face serious
human rights violations.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
All three men are from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region (XUAR) in the northwest of China. Human rights
violations have escalated in the region over the last
year in the context of a new crackdown on suspected
Uighur political opponents. Following the 11 September
2001 attacks in the USA, China has intensified its
political crackdown, closing down mosques and branding
those in favour of independence for the region as
"ethnic separatists" or "terrorists".
There are unconfirmed reports that China has put
significant political pressure on neighbouring
countries, including Nepal, to return those it
suspects of being involved in "terrorist" activities.
Any Uighur asylum-seekers or refugees sent back to
China are at risk of serious human rights violations,
including torture, unfair trials and possibly the
death penalty, if they are suspected of being involved
in pro-independence groups or activities.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible,in Nepali or your own language:
- urging the authorities to guarantee that they will
not send Kheyum Whashim Ali back to China;
- asking where Shaheer Ali and Abdu Allah Sattar are
now, and calling for them to be handed over
immediately to UNHCR protection if they are still in
Nepal;
- urging the authorities to ensure that no Chinese
nationals are deported to China if the UNHCR has
recognised them as refugees, or if their case is still
pending with UNHCR.
APPEALS TO:
Mr Ananda Raj Pokharel
Director General
Department of Immigration
Ministry of Home Affairs
Singha Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal
Telegrams: Immigration Director, Home Affairs
Ministry,
Kathmandu, Nepal Fax: +977 1 223127
Salutation: Dear Director General
Mr Vijaya Bhatrai
Home Secretary
Ministry of Home Affairs
Singha Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal
Telegrams: Home Minister, Kathmandu, Nepal Fax: + 977
1
228687
Rt Hon Khum Bahadur Khadka
Minister of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Singha Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal
Telegrams: Home Minister, Kathmandu, Nepal Fax: + 977
1
240942
Salutation: Dear Minister
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