Israil, a former history schoolteacher, was granted refugee status by the United Nations, but a court in Kazakhstan, which is a China ally, refused to provide him political asylum.
He was taken across the Kazakhstan-China border to the Xinjiang region. Chinese officials accompanied him as he was taken out of a detention center in Kazakhstan.
Israil’s family members also said that he had been taken to Xinjiang, where he is likely to face harsh punishment in a specific case of informing Radio Free Asia about the death in custody of a fellow Uyghur held by Chinese authorities for alleged involvement in July 2009 unrest in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi.
On the day when Israil was brought to the Kazakh border town Korgas, more than 20 Uyghur youths were detained in Suydung (in Chinese, Shuiding) county in Ili prefecture where he had lived previously, according to his relatives.
Background
On September 24, 2009, Israil fled on foot to Almaty from Xinjiang, crossing the border without a passport after four nights of walking.
Chinese authorities in Ghulja, in Qorghas (in Chinese, Huocheng) county, Ili prefecture had been looking for Israil for allegedly releasing details of the Sept. 18 beating death of Shohret Tursun, according to
Israil’s sister-in-law.
Tursun was detained among a group of about 40 Uyghurs in July 2009 following ethnic riots in Urumqi that left some 200 dead.
Tursun’s badly bruised and disfigured body was released to his relatives nearly two months later, prompting a standoff between authorities who wanted him buried immediately and family members who refused and demanded an inquiry into whether he had been beaten to death.
The family was forced to hold a burial for Tursun the following day.
In a previous interview with Israil, he said he fled his hometown fearing harsh punishment from Chinese authorities as a two-time offender. Israil had previously served a six-year jail sentence in 1999 for “separatism.”
After meeting with the UNHCR office in Almaty, Israil was granted refugee status in March 2010 and accepted for resettlement in Sweden that April.
But while making final preparations to leave Kazakhstan, a UNHCR official informed Israil that Kazakh authorities had refused to supply him with the necessary documents to leave the country.
U.N. refugees office in Kazakhstan criticized
The Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) accused the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, of effectively relenting to the demands of China.
“We know that China had its hand in the case. We were not surprised by Kazakhstan’s decision but we were surprised that UNHCR officials in Almaty and Geneva believed China’s allegations and followed China’s orders in Ershidin’s case,” WUC secretary Dolkun Isa said in an interview.
“The UNHCR also violated international law by not taking any action while the deportation was taking place. Kazakhstan should not have returned Ershidin to China whether or not he was recognized as a refugee, because the Convention Against Torture applies whether or not the person is a bona fide refugee,” he said.
“Ershidin is not a criminal or a terrorist, but even if Kazakhstan claims that he is, he still should not have been returned to China because he may face torture there.”
U.S. human rights group Freedom House has also condemned Kazakhstan’s decision to deport Israil.
“It is unacceptable that a person who has been accorded refugee status by the UNHCR should be forced to return to a country where he is likely to face harsh treatment and possibly torture,” said David Kramer, executive director of Freedom House.
Usual China’s practice
“Israil’s deportation highlights a disturbing trend of China’s influence in the region to pressure 
neighboring governments to repatriate members of persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, despite international legal norms prohibiting the return of an individual to a country where he or she may be tortured,” Freedom House said.
In April 2009, Pakistan extradited as many as nine Uyghurs to China after accusing them of involvement in “terrorist activities.” Later that year, 20 Uyghur asylum seekers fleeing the crackdown following the ethnic violence in Xinjiang were deported from Cambodia. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
“In each instance, Chinese authorities accused the individuals of involvement in terrorist activities, but did not provide evidence to support such claims. In several of the cases, asylum seekers had reportedly revealed details of human rights violations committed by Chinese security forces against the Uyghur community,” Freedom House said.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization more important than UN?
The New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) group said it was “extremely concerned” over the deportation, slamming Kazakhstan, which together with China are fellow member states of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
“Deportation of Israil by the authorities of Kazakhstan—which currently holds the rotating presidency of the SCO and will host the upcoming 10th anniversary ‘Jubilee Summit’ of the organization—raises serious questions about the impact of the SCO framework on respect for human rights,” it said.
Based on SCO agreements, Kazakhstan is obliged to extradite individuals accused by another member state government of “terrorism,” “separatism,” or “extremism,” and to “prevent the granting of refugee status and corresponding documents” to persons alleged to be involved in offenses related to terrorism, HRIC said.
It also called on the international community to demand an accounting by the SCO for Israil’s safety, and for the broader human-rights impact of SCO practices, such as denials of asylum and forcible returns.
“This is a shocking disclosure and irresponsible behaviour on the part of UNHCR,” T. Kumar, director for international advocacy in Washington, said in an interview.
“Instead of protecting refugees, it is look
ing like the agency is being complicit in abuses inflicted on refugees forcibly expelled to their home countries where they could be tortured,” he said.
Kumar said Amnesty International had documented cases of political prisoners tortured and even executed after their expulsion to the Xinjiang region.
It is the only region in China where political prisoners can be executed, he said.
Kumar asked the UNHCR to provide the basis for its decision to withdraw Israil’s refugee status, saying it should not “hide behind its policy of confidentiality.”
UNHCR’s explanations
The UN office for protecting refugees confirmed on 6 May that it has withdrawn the refugee status of a Uyghur schoolteacher. It was made “in light of new information that has become available,” Babar Baloch, spokesman for the Geneva-based agency said in a email reply to RFA.
“He is not eligible for international refugee protection,” Baloch said, refusing to provide the basis for UNHCR’s decision.
“Due to UNHCR’s policy of confidentiality, we are not in a position to disclose further information on the individual case,” he said.
UNHCR’s Baloch declined to provide details of Israil’s whereabouts.
“Also, we are not in a position to provide any information on the individual’s whereabouts. UNHCR does not have a mandate for persons for whom it has been determined that they are not refugees,” he said.
Read more about Israil’s case here, here, here and here.
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