Rights groups criticize Malaysia for deporting Uighurs to China

Aug 23, 2011, 5:45 GMT

Beijing - Two rights groups on Tuesday accused the Malaysian government of pandering to China and violating international standards by forcibly returning Chinese citizens who were members of the Uighur minority.

Malaysia deported 11 Uighurs last week and detained five others earlier this month, despite the risk that they could be tortured or imprisoned in China, US-based Human Rights Watch said.

The group urged Malaysia to 'publicly explain why it violated due process standards' when it handed over the 11 Uighurs, including the husband of a Malaysian citizen, to China on Thursday.

'The deportation constitutes a flagrant violation of international law on the part of Malaysian officials, and follows an extremely disturbing trend of Uighurs deported from countries with strong trade and diplomatic ties to China,' the Uighur American Association said in a separate statement.

'The treatment of these Uighurs is a litmus test for Malaysia's commitment to basic principles of refugee protection,' said Bill Frelick, the refugee policy director of Human Rights Watch.

Several other Asian nations have also repatriated Uighurs to China in the past two years.

'A recent wave of Uighur forced returns shows the bullying hand of China,' Frelick said. 'Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, and all other countries, particularly in the region, should stand together to resist this pressure.'

The five Uighurs recently detained were among 16 Chinese citizens held by Malaysian police after raids in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru in early August.

The Thai government also handed one Uighur to Chinese officials earlier this month, while Pakistani authorities deported five Uighurs to China on August 8.

The US government suspended a shipment of military trucks to Cambodia last year in response to Phnom Penh's deportation of 20 Uighur asylum seekers to China in December 2009.

The Cambodian government was forced to deny that the deportation was linked to China's later announcement of a loan of 1.2 billion dollars.

The Chinese government also urged other nations not to accept any of the 22 Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay after US-led coalition forces seized them in Afghanistan.

Most of China's 8 million Uighurs live in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the government says it is fighting the 'three forces' of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism.

Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have documented many abuses in the government's crackdown in Xinjiang over the past decade, including torture, disappearance and arbitrary detention of Uighurs.

Read more about Malaysia