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Deported Uyghur Had Cambodian Visa
Photo: Wikipedia Phnom Penh airport, Aug. 1, 2006
A legal visitor in Cambodia was apparently swept up in a mass deportation to China.
WASHINGTON—One of 20 ethnic Uyghur asylum-seekers deported from Cambodia to China as illegal migrants entered the country legally and on the advice of U.N. refugee officials, Radio Free Asia (RFA) has learned.
Aikebaerjiang Tuniyaz, 27, left China in March 2009 after serving a one-year jail term in Liudawan prison in Urumqi for allegedly “leaking secret information abroad.”
Tuniyaz, born in Aksu and a graduate of Shanghai Jiaotong University, spoke in 2007 with RFA’s Uyghur service about the shooting of a Uyghur man by Chinese security forces in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Tuniyaz entered Thailand in early 2009 and sought asylum through the Bangkok office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where a staff member suggested he might expedite the process by approaching the UNHCR office in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, instead, he said in an earlier interview.
He obtained a visa through the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok and entered Cambodia legally, he said. Tuniyaz was in Cambodia legally when deadly ethnic rioting erupted in Urumqi on July 5 this year.
The 20 Uyghur Muslims deported Saturday under intense Chinese pressure had fled to Cambodia in search of asylum after witnessing and documenting violent ethnic riots in the restive western Chinese region of Xinjiang this summer that left nearly 200 dead.
They had warned the UNHCR that they feared long jail terms or even the death penalty if they were sent back to China, according to statements obtained by The Associated Press.
Tuniyaz had been translating for and staying with the group of 21 Uyghurs in Phnom Penh—two are said to have fled—when the group was detained.
Cambodia said it expelled the Uyghurs because they had illegally entered the country. It has since been sharply criticized by Washington, which said the deportations would harm bilateral ties with the United States, though they may have strengthened relations with Beijing.
On Monday, China signed off on more than U.S. $1.2 billion in aid to Cambodia during a visit there by Vice President Xi Jinping. The assistance, including 14 agreements for grants and loans, ranges from help in building roads to repairing Buddhist temples.
More protests
The European Union said Monday it was "deeply concerned" about Cambodia's decision to return the group of Uyghurs to China and urged Beijing to respect the rights of the returnees.
On Tuesday, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak slammed the deportations.
“This is a blatant violation of Cambodia’s obligations under the principle of non-refoulement as stipulated in Article 3 of the U.N. Convention Against Torture,” Nowak said in a statement.
Nowak said that he had reports of “severe torture” in Xinjiang following the unrest and that recent executions there violated “the most basic fair trial guarantees.”
“I am calling on the Chinese authorities to treat the 20 persons humanely upon return in accordance with international standards, to grant access to them in case they are detained and to afford them due process guarantees, if charged with criminal offenses”, he added.
U.N. Independent Expert on Minority Issues Gay McDougall called on Beijing to allow U.N. rights envoys to examine ethnic tensions in Xinjiang after the deadly violence there.
Original reporting by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Uyghur service director: Dolkun Kamberi. Written in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.Labels: Uighurs, United States of America, US State Department
U.S. slams deportation of Uyghur refugees from Cambodia to China
Two women stand by a roadblock as they take a picture in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur region, in September
(CNN) -- The U.S. State Department said Sunday it was "deeply disturbed" at the deportation of 20 Uyghur asylum seekers from Cambodia back to China.
The deportation "will affect Cambodia's relationship with the U.S. and its international standing," said acting State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid in a statement.
It occurred on Saturday at the request of China, the U.S. said.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the welfare of these individuals, who had sought protection under international law," Duguid said.
"We are also deeply disturbed that the Cambodian government decided to forcibly remove the group without the benefit of a credible process for determining refugee status and without appropriate participation by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees."
Kitty McKinsey, a coordinator with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees agency in Asia, told CNN on Saturday that the refugees had been seeking asylum. China's northwestern region was wracked by ethnic violence between Han Chinese and Uyghur Muslims earlier this year, and the Uyghurs fled to Cambodia to escape the unrest.
McKinsey said the UNHCR considers the deportation a breach of international law, and Uyghur human rights activists have expressed concern about the move. The Uyghur American Association also expressed concern in a statement.
The 20 were held in handcuffs and leg shackles and were not given any food to eat on Friday, according to the association. They were part of a group of 22 Uyghurs seeking refuge in Cambodia, all of whom were under UNHCR protection when taken into custody.
"The United States strongly opposed Cambodia's involuntary return of these asylum seekers before their claims have been heard," the State Department said.
Duguid urged the Chinese government to "uphold international norms and to ensure transparency, due process and proper treatment of persons in its territory" now that the Uyghurs have been returned.
Cambodian and Chinese officials could not immediately be reached for a response. But a Cambodian state media outlet, Agence Kampuchea Presse, reported that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is to arrive in Cambodia on Sunday for a three-day visit.Labels: Uighurs, UN Human Rights Report, US State Department
Cambodia to Deport Uighurs Despite Persecution Fears
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia plans to deport at least 20 Muslim Uighurs who fled China after deadly ethnic violence this year, a government official said on Saturday, despite concerns they will face persecution by Beijing.
The Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group involved in rioting in western China that killed nearly 200 people in July, were smuggled into Cambodia in recent weeks and applied for asylum at the United Nations refugee agency office in Phnom Penh.
"The Cambodian government is implementing its immigration law. They came to Cambodia illegally without any passports or visas, so we consider them illegal immigrants," said Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong.
Human rights groups say they fear for the lives of the Uighurs if they are deported to China.
"Cambodia will be sending these Uighurs to a terrible fate,
possible execution and likely torture," said Amy Reger, a researcher at the Washington-based Uighur American Association.
She cited the case of Shaheer Ali, a Uighur political activist who fled to Nepal in 2000 and was granted refugee status by the United Nations. He was forcibly returned to China from Nepal in 2002 and executed a year later according to state media.
Reger's group received reports at least 20 of the Uighurs were put on a flight to Shanghai early on Saturday. But she said it appeared they had not yet been deported.
Washington is "deeply disturbed" that the Uighurs may be forcibly returned, said John Johnson, U.S. embassy spokesman in Phnom Penh. "The U.S. strongly urges the Cambodian government to honour its commitments under international law."
Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman said he did not know their location.
UN OFFERS HELP
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office said it believed they were still in Cambodia.
"We have conveyed a message to the Cambodian government to refrain from deporting them," said Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR office.
The U.N. body had offered assistance to the Cambodian government to resolve the case, McKinsey said.
Beijing has called the asylum seekers "criminals," although it has offered no evidence to back up the allegations.
Rights groups say Cambodia is bound by a 1951 convention on refugees pledging not to return asylum-seekers to countries where they will face persecution. Cambodia is one of two Southeast Asian nations to have signed the convention.
When asked about Cambodia's obligations under the 1951 convention, Koy said: "We are implementing our internal laws."
The Uighurs have put Cambodia's leaders in an awkward position ahead of a visit on Sunday by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, who is expected to sign 14 agreements related to infrastructure construction, grants and loans.
China is Cambodia's biggest investor, having poured more than $1 billion (617 million pounds) in foreign direct investment into the country.
The July 5 riots, which began with protests against attacks on Uighur workers in south China, killed 197 people, most of them Han Chinese. More than 1,600 were wounded, official figures show.
At least eight people have been sentenced to death for murder and other crimes during the rioting, and nine other people have been executed, Chinese state media have reported.
(Editing by Jason Szep and Paul Tait)Labels: Uighurs
Photo: Wikipedia Phnom Penh airport, Aug. 1, 2006
WASHINGTON—One of 20 ethnic Uyghur asylum-seekers deported from Cambodia to China as illegal migrants entered the country legally and on the advice of U.N. refugee officials, Radio Free Asia (RFA) has learned.
