Amnesty International has cautioned Moroccan authorities against transferring Uyghur activist, Yidiresi Aishan, to China where he is at risk of torture.

The 33-year-old father of three was arrested at Casablanca airport on 19 July after flying to Morocco from Turkey.

The computer designer, who holds Chinese nationality and a Turkish residency permit, was arrested on the basis of an International Police (INTERPOL) red notice after landing in Casablanca.

INTERPOL has since cancelled the red notice issued in Aishan’s case based on new information its secretariat received.

However, Aishan is still held in a prison near the town of Tiflet.

The government of China, which ratified an extradition treaty with Morocco in 2017, reportedly considers Aishan a ‘terrorist’ because of work he has previously done for Uyghur organisations.

‘The plight of [Yidiresi Aishan] is indicative of China’s efforts to control the Uyghur diaspora community’, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director, Joanne Mariner, said.

‘The threat to extradite or otherwise remove Uyghurs creates an atmosphere of fear that dissuades people overseas from speaking out.

‘For Morocco to send [Yidiresi Aishan] to China – where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are facing a horrifying campaign of mass internment, persecution and torture – would violate the country’s obligations under international law’.

The principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face a real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman treatment and other serious human rights violations.

‘I fear that if my husband is sent back to China, I will never see him again’, Amnesty International quoted his wife, Zaynura, as saying.

Morocco is one of the Convention against Torture Initiative core states.

Source: Amnesty International

Photo source: Handout