Saudi Arabia: Clarify the status of the two Uyghur detainees

(Beirut) – Saudi authorities should immediately disclose the status of two Chinese Muslim Uyghur men who were arrested in Saudi Arabia on November 20, 2020, and explain the reasons for their detention, Human Rights Watch said today. The Saudi authorities should not forcibly return them to China, where they face a real risk of arbitrary arrest and torture.

The two arrests took place on the eve of the G20 leaders’ summit, which Saudi Arabia hosted via the Internet on November 21-22. Human Rights Watch previously called on member states of the group to press Saudi Arabia to end its ongoing assault on basic freedoms, including imprisonment and harassment of opponents and human rights activists, unlawful attacks on civilians in Yemen, and disregarding international calls for accountability for the killing of state agents of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. .

“If Saudi Arabia forcibly detains two Uighur Muslims and deports them to face severe persecution in China, this will weaken the kingdom’s attempts to achieve a positive resonance by hosting the G20 summit,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. On the situation of the two Uyghur detainees and explaining the reason for their detention. ”

Abd al-Wali Ayyub, a Uyghur activist in contact with the Uyghur community in Saudi Arabia, told Human Rights Watch that Saudi authorities have detained a Muslim Uyghur cleric named Hamdallah Abd al-Wali (or Imdola Wiley as written by the Albinians on his Chinese passport) (52 years old) on the evening of 20 November in Mecca with his friend Normet Rosé (or Nurmiti on his Chinese passport), the two men reside in Turkey. Ayoub said that Rosie managed to contact a member of his family to tell him that they were held in Briman prison in Jeddah and that they were “in danger.”

Abd al-Wali went to Saudi Arabia in February to perform the Hajj. Another source who spoke to Abd al-Wali said that he had been in hiding since he delivered a speech to the Uighur community there, encouraging them and Muslims to pray for what was happening in Xinjiang and “deter Chinese invaders … using weapons.”

In early November, Abd al-Wali spoke to WebMD Middle East Eye He said he feared that the Chinese authorities had sent a request to Saudi Arabia to detain and deport him. The site published photos of Abdul Wali’s Chinese passport, his Turkish residency card, and Saudi visa information.

Uyghur activist Ayoub said he previously documented five cases of Uyghurs who forcibly deported Saudi Arabia to China between 2017 and 2018.

Uighurs are Turkish-speaking Muslims, most of them live in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest China. The Chinese government has long shown hostility to many forms of expression related to Uighur identity and has imposed broad restrictions, including religious ones, on daily life in Xinjiang. Since late 2016, the level of repression has escalated significantly in the region as part of the alleged counterterrorism effort, with 13 million Turkish Muslims in the region subjected to forced political indoctrination, mass surveillance, and severe restrictions on movement. It is estimated that one million of them are detained in “political education” camps.

A large portion of this repression targets Uighur religious practices. Uighurs are imprisoned and detained for studying the Qur’an, performing Hajj without state approval, wearing religious clothing, and other “unnatural” ideas or behaviors that express “excessive religious zeal.” About 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang, or 65% of the total, have been destroyed or damaged as a result of government policies since 2017.

On a visit to China in February 2019, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the country, appeared to support the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang. Bin Salman was quoted by the official China News Agency, “Xinhua”: “We respect and support China’s rights to take measures to combat terrorism and extremism to protect national security …” Supported Saudi Arabia shared messages to the “United Nations” to support China’s policies in Xinjiang in 2019, and again in 2020.

China’s record of arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearances of Uighurs, in addition to the lack of judicial independence, calls for concern that Abd al-Wali and Rozi would be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment if they were deported.

Under customary international law and as a party to the Convention Against Torture, Saudi Arabia must ensure that no one is sent under its custody to a place where they would be at risk of persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations.

In recent years, there have been many cases in which Uighurs have been forcibly deported to China, in violation of international law. In July 2017, Egypt arrested 62 Uighurs ورحلت At least 12 to China. In August 2015, Thailand forcibly deported 220 Uyghurs to China. In December 2012, Malaysia deported six Uighurs to China. In all cases, Human Rights Watch was not able to obtain further information from sources in the Thai, Malaysian, or Chinese governments about the whereabouts or safety of the deported persons.

“Mohammed bin Salman’s clear support for China’s persecution of the Uyghur Muslim community is bad enough,” Stork said, “but his government should not play a direct role in that by deporting two Uighurs to face potential arbitrary detention and torture.”