U.S. voices concern over 11 Uighur China wants Malaysia to deport

9/2/2018 12:09

        The United States
        on Friday expressed concerns over Malaysia's possible
        deportation of 11 Uighur Muslims to China, following a Reuters
        report that Beijing wanted the Southeast Asian country to hand
        over the Uighur who escaped from Thailand.
        
        Citing sources, Reuters reported on Thursday that the 11
        ethnic Uighur from China, who were among 20 that escaped from a
        Thai jail last year, have been detained in Malaysia, and that
        Beijing was in talks with Malaysia over their deportation.
        
        Malaysia was under "great pressure" from China to hand them
        over to Beijing, and not to Thailand, and some Western foreign
        missions were trying to dissuade them from sending the Uighur to
        China, the sources said.
        
        "We are concerned by media reports regarding Malaysia's
        possible deportation of Uighur individuals to China," a U.S.
        State Department spokesperson told Reuters in an email.
        
        "We urge Chinese authorities to uphold international human
        rights norms with regard to any individuals who have been
        returned to China, and to ensure transparency, due process, and
        the safety and proper treatment of these individuals."
        
        Human Rights Watch called on Malaysia to ensure the detained
        Uighur are not forcibly deported to China as they face "credible
        threats of imprisonment and torture".
        
        "Malaysian authorities should allow these individuals access
        to a fair process to determine their refugee claims, not ship
        them to China based on Beijing's demands," Brad Adams, Asia
        director of the rights group, said in a statement on Friday.
        
        Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday
        said he did not know of the case of the detained Uighur in
        Malaysia.
        
        Beijing accuses separatist extremists among the Uighur
        minority of plotting attacks on China's Han majority in the
        restive far western region of Xinjiang and other parts of China.
        
        China has been accused of rights abuses in Xinjiang, torture
        of Uighur detainees and tight control on their religion and
        culture. It denies wrongdoing. Over the years, hundreds,
        possibly thousands, of Uighur have escaped unrest in Xinjiang by
        travelling clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey.
        
        The 20 Uighur broke out of a cell near the Thai-Malaysian
        border in November by digging holes in the wall and using
        blankets as ladders. Five of them were recaptured in Thailand
        later that month. The escapees were part of a larger group of
        more than 200 Uighur detained in Thailand in 2014.
        
        Members of the group identified themselves as Turkish
        citizens and asked to be sent to Turkey but more than 100 were
        forcibly returned to China in July 2015, a move that sparked
        international condemnation, including from rights groups who
        feared they could face torture in China.