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Human rights groups rip
repatriation
By Ashish Kumar Sen
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 11, 2003
Human rights groups have urged the U.S. military not
to repatriate more than a dozen Chinese Muslim
detainees facing possible release from Guantanamo Bay,
saying they are likely to face torture and even
execution if sent back to China.
The ethnic Uighur separatists were arrested by U.S.
forces in Afghanistan and transferred to the
military-detention facility at U.S. Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They were reportedly training in
Afghanistan with Uighur groups seeking independence
for the northwestern Chinese province Xinjiang.
Unconfirmed news reports say as many as 140 of the
approximately 660 detainees held in Guantanamo Bay
have been scheduled for release.
Amnesty International, while welcoming that news, said
it remains concerned that some detainees may face
serious human rights abuses if returned to their
countries of origin.
Other detainees considered in jeopardy include
nationals from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
The human rights group said any Uighurs suspected of "separatist"
or "terrorist" activities would be at risk of unfair
trials, torture or execution if forcibly returned to
China.
In October, the official Chinese media reported that
Shaheer Ali, a Uighur refugee who was forcibly
returned to China from Nepal last year, had been
executed after being convicted of offenses including "separatism"
and "organizing and leading a terrorist organization."
China has a well-documented history of repression of
the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking community
living in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
The death penalty has been used against those found
guilty of separatist activities after trials that
human rights activists say did not meet international
fair-trial standards.
The State Department's annual human rights report also
has consistently criticized China for the mistreatment
of ethnic Uighurs.
The Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
ratified by the United States in 1994, prohibits the
return to their homelands of persons who have
substantial grounds for believing they will be
subjected to torture.
U.S. officials say they are seeking assurances from
China that the Uighurs, if returned, would be treated
humanely.
But Brad Adams, executive director of the New
York-based Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said
the United States "should not even contemplate
returning ethnic Uighurs to China."
"Any assurances from China that it will not mistreat
returnees would not be worth the paper they are
written on," he said.
"It would be impossible for the United States to
prevent mistreatment of these detainees once they fall
into China's abysmal prison system."
Copyright © 2003 News World Communications, Inc.
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