As an asylum seeker in Morocco, Idriss Hassan (Yidiresi Aishan) should be protected from any form of extradition or forced return to China until his refugee status is decided, said UN human rights experts as they called on Morocco to halt the extradition decision of the Uyghur activist to China.
“We are deeply concerned by today’s decision by the Moroccan Court of Cassation allowing the extradition of Mr. Aishan to China, despite the credible risk of grave violations of his human rights, both for his membership of an ethnic and religious minority and for his alleged affiliation with a terrorist organization,” the experts said on Thursday.
The experts include Nils Melzer, the special rapporteur on torture and other inhuman treatment, Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the special rapporteur on protecting human rights while countering terrorism, and Mary Lawler, the special rapporteur on human rights defenders.
Morocco’s Court of Cassation approved Thursday the extradition of Idriss, who was arrested in July upon his arrival to Morocco based on a Red Notice issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on March 13, 2017. The warrant was suspended in August 2021.
Chinese authorities accused Aishan of joining a terrorist group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), and carrying out or actively participating in activities within terrorist organizations under Article 120 of the Chinese Criminal Code.
Idriss Hassan or Yediresi Ishan, a 33-year-old computer engineer, and father of three. He has been based in Turkey since 2012, where he worked as a web designer and activist and had residency papers.
Hassan worked on an Uyghur diaspora online newspaper and assisted other activists in media outreach and collecting testimonies of abuse in China’s Xinjiang province, according to the Guardian.
Human rights’ activists say no state has the right to expel, return or otherwise remove any individual from its territory whenever there are “substantial grounds” for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture in the state of destination, said the experts.
Idriss Hassan would face in China risks such as arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said the experts.
Under international human rights law, the principle of nonrefoulment ensures that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or other irreparable harm.
The existence of a bilateral agreement on extradition, or diplomatic assurances, do not release states from their obligations under international human rights and refugee law, in particular the principle of nonrefoulment, according to the UN experts.
Human rights activist have been calling Moroccan government since August to not extradite Hassan to China and comply with international human rights and refugee law.
Following the Moroccan court’s decision, people pretested the decision on social media, as they stormed comments tagging Morocco’s PM official account Aziz Akhannouch, as a form of online manifestation to push the country’s PM to interfere and stop Idriss’ extradition.
According to UN data, at least 1 million Uyghurs are kept against their will in places Beijing calls “vocational training centers,” which the international community defines as “re-education camps.”
China does not provide data about the situation in the camps. How many people there are, and how many of them have returned to social life are unknown information.
While the UN and other international organizations have reiterated calls for the camps to be opened for inspection, China has allowed a few of its designated centers to be partially viewed by a small number of foreign diplomats and journalists.
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