The Moroccan Court of Cassation has approved the extradition of a Chinese, member of the Muslim Uighur minority, arrested on his arrival in Morocco in July and wanted by China for “terrorist acts”, his lawyer announced. , Thursday December 16. “Justice confirmed yesterday [mercredi] the extradition of my client. We do not yet have the expectations of the judgment to know what motivates this decision, but it is psychologically very hard for him ”, explained Me Miloud Kandil.
Aged 34, this father of three children was arrested on July 19 on his arrival at Casablanca airport from Turkey, at the request of China, which blames him “Terrorist acts committed in 2017” and accuses him of being part of a “Terrorist organization”. The computer scientist, established in Turkey since 2012 with his family, refutes these accusations and “Ensures not to have returned to China since 2012”, according to his lawyer, who said he did not know the date of his extradition.
On his arrival in Morocco, this Uighur man, who holds Chinese nationality, was the subject of an Interpol red notice issued at the request of Beijing. But the international organization for police cooperation has “Since canceled the red notice issued in connection with the case concerning him, based on new information received by his secretariat”, according to Amnesty International.
Genocide of the Uighurs, according to a group of experts
More than a million Uighurs are or have been detained in political re-education camps in China’s Xinjiang province, foreign experts say. After several months of investigation, a group of lawyers and human rights experts gathered in London concluded last week that China’s treatment of Uighurs amounted to genocide, angering Beijing.
Amnesty considers that the Chinese arrested in Morocco “Runs a serious risk of being arbitrarily detained and tortured if forcibly transferred to China”. “According to the principle of non-refoulement, no one should be returned to a country where they would run a real risk of being tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or to other serious human rights abuses. human rights “, wrote Amnesty in a press release after his arrest, in July. The extradition request is motivated by “The work he has done in the past for Uighur organizations”, according to the human rights organization.
The plight of the Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim minority who make up just under half of Xinjiang’s 25 million inhabitants, has been denounced by human rights defenders around the world and is the subject of increasing confrontation. long live between the West and China.