The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of China to take all the necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 77/2023 concerning Halemaimaiti Yiliyasi, Abudureheman Kuerwanjiang, Mevlude Hilal and Paliden Yasheng, asking the Government of China to immediately and unconditionally release them, and to accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.
Read the full WGAD Opinion concerning Halemaimaiti Yiliyasi, Abudureheman Kuerwanjiang, Mevlude Hilal and Paliden Yasheng (China): Opinion 77/2023.
ARBITRARILY ARRESTED WITHOUT A WARRANT, HELD INCOMMUNICADO AND SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE
Halemaimaiti Yiliyasi, Abudureheman Kuerwanjiang and Paliden Yasheng are nationals of China, and Mevlude Hilal is a national of Turkey, but a Chinese native, all born between 1977 and 1989. Prior to their arrest, their residency was in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where they all practised a different professional activity.
Mr. Yiliyasi and Mr. Kuerwanjiang were both arrested in March 2017 at their respective houses by the authorities, and later transferred to one of the re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Ms. Hilal was first arrested at the end of 2018 and sent to a re-education camp. She was released in June 2019, however, a month later, in July 2019, she was arrested at her house by the authorities and transferred to a re-education camp. As for Ms. Yasheng, she was arrested in October 2016 by the police at her family home. She was transferred to a detention centre and released after her family paid $35,000 to the police, which had been established as the condition for her release. In April 2017, Ms. Yasheng was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment without a trial and transferred to an unknown detention location.
At the time of the source’s communication to the Working Group, all were still detained. The Government was given the opportunity to contest these allegations, which it did. However, since this response was given past the established deadline, the Working Group could not accept it as it had met the delay.
First of all, none of them were presented with an arrest warrant upon their arrest, nor were they informed of the reasons for their arrests. The Government did not address this and the Working Group thus found that the detainees' right to be promptly informed of the charges against them, enshrined in article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, had been violated.
Besides, according to the source, no formal charges were presented against the detainees to justify their arrest and detention. However, the Government argued that the detainees were convicted for disrupting public order and engaging in illegal and criminal activities. In this regard, the Working Group did not find a violation.
The source also alleged that since the detainees were sent to re-education camps, they have been held incommunicado. As such, they have been denied contact with their families and legal counsel. Concerning Ms. Hilal specifically, her family learned she was detained in the camp in Ciliyüzü three months after her arrest. The Government did not provide any information on this matter. Therefore, the Working Group considered that the four individuals were held incommunicado and subjected to enforced disappearance, in violation of article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Working Group also established that in such circumstances, none of them could challenge the legality of their detention before a legal authority, in violation of their right to be recognised as a person before the law, enshrined in article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Additionally, considering the impossibility to access legal representation within the re-education camps, the Working Group further found that their rights to challenge the lawfulness of their detention and enjoy fair trial rights, guaranteed under articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, had been violated.
Considering all the above, the Working Group found that the arrest and detention of the four individuals lacked a legal basis, rendering their deprivation of liberty arbitrary under category I.
VIOLATIONS OF THEIR RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL
As already mentioned, the detainees could not contact lawyers, which the Government did not refute. Considering this in light of the fact that the four individuals were allegedly convicted of disorderly conduct, the Working Group considered that denying them access to lawyers violated their right to legal assistance guaranteed under article 11 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The source alleged that the individuals were deprived of their right to proceedings before an independent and impartial court, to which the Government answered that their rights were respected. Considering very little is known concerning the legal proceedings taken against these four individuals, even by their own family, the Working Group found that their right to a public trial had indeed been violated, under articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The source alleged that following her arrest, Ms. Yasheng was subjected to torture for two months while detained in Aksu City, and further noted that in the two re-educational camps in this city, sexual violence, torture or forced sterilization were frequent. The source further stated that it is a well-established fact that detainees from re-education camps are subjected to torture and ill-treatment, which thus could be the case of these four individuals. The Working Group recalled that incommunicado detention risks leading to violations of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. However, the Working Group found that the source did not provide specific information that would connect acts of torture to violations of fair trial rights. Therefore, the Working Group declined to give any opinion or conclusion on this.
All in all, the Working Group thus found that the violations of the right to a fair trial of these four individuals were of such gravity that they rendered their detention arbitrary under category III.
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON THEIR ETHNICITY
Eventually, the Working Group recalled its previous findings concerning the persecution by China of the Uighur ethnic community, including cases where Uighurs citizens were transferred to re-education camps. Considering this in light of the non-refuted allegation of the source according to which these four individuals were targeted based on their ethnicity, the Working Group concluded that their detention had been carried out on a discriminatory basis, namely because of their Uighur ethnicity. As such, the Working Group established that their right to be equal before the law and equally protected by it without discrimination, protected under article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, had been violated.
Henceforth, considering the above, the Working Group found the detentions of these four individuals arbitrary under V.
CONCLUSIONS OF THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION
In light of the foregoing, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered that the detentions of Halemaimaiti Yiliyasi, Abudureheman Kuerwanjiang, Mevlude Hilal and Paliden Yasheng were arbitrary and fell under categories I, III and V because their deprivations of Liberty were in contravention of articles 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Working Group recommended that the Government of China take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Halemaimaiti Yiliyasi, Abudureheman Kuerwanjiang, Mevlude Hilal and Paliden Yasheng without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms. The Working Group considered that, taking into account all circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release them immediately and accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.
The Working Group, based on the violations of international law that have been happening in China in the last 30 years, would welcome the opportunity to conduct a visit in China, in particular due to the continuous violations of international law in relation to Uighur citizens. In this regard, the Working Group reminded that, under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of the rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity.
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