‘Deported Chinese Muslims at grave risk’

Chinese Uighur Muslims fleeing prosecution in China will face an uncertain fate if Malaysia deports them back to China , says human rights group.

PETALING JAYA: Despite China’s notorious human rights track record, Malaysia has seen it fit to send back Chinese Uighur Muslims refugees

In a statement, international activist group Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Malaysia of denying these Uighur refugees safe asylum by leaving them to an uncertain fate.

“China’s record of torture, disappearance, and arbitrary detention of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, puts these people at grave risk of torture if they are returned to China,” HRW said.

HRW’s reaction was in a response to the 16 Chinese Uighurs who were arrested in a series of raids in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru this August.

HRW added that “at least” 11 Uighur refugees had already been handed over to the Chinese government.

One of these Chinese citizens, the statement added, was also married to a local.

China cracked down on China’s predominantly Muslim Uighur community in the Xinjang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), following a spate of inter-ethnic clashes.

Hundreds of people were killed after violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, XUAR’s capital city. This, HRW said, led to many Uighurs fleeing China, seeking refugee status in other countries.

However, these Uighur refugees were not able to settle down for long in their new homes.

According to the HRW statement, an Uighur in Thailand was handed over to Chinese officials by Thai authorities, the same day Malaysia arrested its 16 Uighurs.

Two days later, Pakistan blindfolded and handcuffed five Uighurs – including a woman and two children – before deporting them.

HRW added that in December 2009, Cambodia deported 20 Uighurs despite them having UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) protection.

At the time, one of them was pregnant while another two were merely babies.

Legal process not followed

HRW Deputy Director of the Asia Division Phil Robertson said that these deportations were part of a Chinese-coordinated campaign to get their hands on fleeing Uighurs.

“More than anything, what’s on display is China’s utter contempt for due process of law and basic human rights, including the right of refugees to protection,” he said.

Robertson then attacked the Malaysian government, especially the police, for accusing the Uighurs as human traffickers.

This action, he said, led Malaysia to hand these suspects over to China, instead of charging them under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

“The Malaysian police threw legal due process out the window by failing to investigate their own allegations and charge these Uighurs under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.”

“One wonders why the Malaysian government acted with such alacrity — and what China is offering to senior leaders and the government to cooperate in ignoring Malaysian laws,” he said.

Robertson said that Malaysia needed to protect refugees, and mused if “the word of the Malaysian government (was) not worth the paper it (was) written on.”