UAE: Two Chinese Uyghur Face Death Sentence if Deported to China

Chinese Uyghur Face Death Sentence

On 2 February 2016, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues (SR Minority), Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, asking her to call upon the Emirati authorities not to deport two Chinese citizens from the Uyghur Muslim Community, who could face the death penalty back in their country. Arrested in the United Arab Emirates in between June and July 2008 for their alleged involvement in terrorist acts, both men, who are to be released on 13 April 2016, face deportation to China, where they are likely to be retried and could be sentenced to death.

41-year-old Chinese citizen Shemsi Ahmed Abdumijit moved to the UAE in late 2007 to work as a salesman in the country. While spending some time in Dubai, Abdumijit met 33-year-old construction worker Wumaier Jiang Aikemilai, who had moved to the UAE earlier in 2007 and helped him find accommodation in the city. A few months later, in late June 2008, Abdumijit was arrested by police forces for allegedly "planning an attack" and "intending to damage a symbolic statue installed at the main entrance of the Dubai Dragon Market in the wake of the Olympics held in China." Shortly after, in July 2008, Aikemilai was taken into custody for helping him when he first arrived in the country. Both men were charged with supporting terrorism and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment following an unfair trial, during which they had no access to legal counsel or to diplomatic representation.

After serving nearly their entire sentences, Abdumijit and Aikemilai are both supposed to be released on 13 April 2016, when they may be deported to China, where they are likely to face further prosecution and be executed. It should be noted that the Uyghur community is largely marginalised in China and that the country has a record of persecuting returned Uyghurs under charges of "terrorism", "separatism", or other vaguely defined criminal acts. Alkarama is extremely concerned over their fates given that in 2009, our organisation reported the cases of two individuals from the Uyghur community, Abdelsalam Abdallah Salim and Akbar Omar, who were deported to China after their detention in the UAE and were subsequently charged with terrorism, sentenced to death and executed.

Considering the present facts and the situation of Uyghurs in China, Alkarama requested the urgent intervention of the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues (SR Minority) with the Emirati authorities, to ask them not to deport Abdumijit and Aikemilai.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).