China asks Indonesia to deport detained Uighur terror suspect

JAKARTA — China has asked Indonesia to deport a suspected Uighur terrorist detained here since December and alleged to have links with Islamic State, authorities said Thursday.

"There was indeed a request from the Chinese embassy to deport a Uighur terrorist suspect currently under police detention," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said in a media briefing.

"We will see later whether we can meet their request after knowing his nationality," he said.

The man, identified as Alli, was arrested by counterterrorism police in December for allegedly planning to launch terrorist attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

They said he had spent two months in Indonesian prior to his arrest before which time he was in Thailand and Malaysia.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government turned down a request from China to exchange a fugitive Indonesian tycoon for four Uighurs currently serving six-year jail terms each for terrorism-related convictions.

When they were on trial, the only identifying documents found on them were Turkish, not Chinese, which prevented them from being deported to China as Chinese citizens.

Uighurs are a Muslim ethnic group in China's restive far-western region of Xinjiang where scores of violent incidents linked to separatism have occurred in recent years.

China has also exerted pressure on other Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Thailand to get them to deport Uighurs, even those who had been issued "Persons of Concern" letters by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, sparking international concern about the whereabouts and wellbeing of those who were deported.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said these cases violate the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of a refugee to a country where he or she is likely to face persecution or torture, under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that came into effect in 1987.

It has urged governments to stop deporting individuals, including potential refugees and asylum seekers, to countries like China "where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face an imminent risk of grave human rights violations, including torture."

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/951749/china-asks-indonesia-to-deport-detained-uighur-terror-suspect