He is bundled across the Kazakh border to China by Chinese secret police.

AFP: Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) toasts Kazakhstan President
Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing, Feb. 22, 2011.

Kazakhstan has deported to China an ethnic Uyghur wanted by Beijing
for speaking up on torture and death in Chinese jails, placing his
life in jeopardy, his lawyer and rights groups said Thursday.

Ershidin Israil, 38, had sought sanctuary in Kazakhstan after fleeing
his home in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) as he was
hotly pursued by Chinese authorities who accuse him of "terrorism."

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.

Citing Kazakh authorities, his lawyer, Yuri Sergeivich Stukanov,
confirmed that his client was taken across the Kazakhstan-China border
to the Xinjiang region.

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 riots in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi.

Sources said that Israil was taken from the Kazakh border town of
Korgas to Urumqi by Chinese state secret police.

"The team consists of 12 policemen," one source said in an interview.
The source even provided the names of two of the secret police
personnel involved in the deportation that took place on Tuesday.

On the day when Israil was brought to 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.

They said they were provided the information by sources who did not
elaborate on the links between Israil's deportation and the arrest.

Decision condemned

ershidinisrail250.jpgU.S. rights group Freedom House on Thursday
condemned Kazakhstan's decision to deport Israil even though he was
designated a refugee by the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR).

"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.

“The Kazakh authorities have an international obligation to grant
protection to those who seek refuge in their country and it has
shamefully shirked its duty," he said.

Kramer wanted the UN to further investigate Israil’s case and reform
its own procedures to more fully protect refugees from such types of
situations in the future.

"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.

urumqiAlmaty-400.gif

'Extremely concerned'

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 the Israil's safety, and for the broader human rights
impact of SCO practices, such as denials of asylum and forcible
returns.

Death by beating

On Sept. 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.

Plight of the Uyghurs

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive
religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite
China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Xinjiang is a strategically important desert territory that borders
Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan.

The region has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural
gas-producing region.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by
Dolkun Kamberi. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/deportation-06022011174917.html