Moroccan Court Overturns Deportation Order for Uyghur Activist, Orders Release

A Moroccan court on Thursday overturned a decision to deport Yidiresi Aishan, a member of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority, and ordered his release from prison, Arab News reported citing his lawyer Miloud Kandil.

Aishan, a father of three in his thirties, had been detained in Morocco since 2021 after arriving in Casablanca from Turkiye under an Interpol arrest warrant that was later rescinded.

Morocco had initially agreed to extradite Aishan to China, where he is accused of “terrorist acts committed in 2017” and belonging to a terrorist organization—allegations he denies. However, the Rabat court annulled the deportation order, citing concerns over human rights violations.

In 2021, UN human rights experts urged Morocco to halt the extradition, warning of a “credible risk of grave violations,” including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture. China has been accused of detaining over a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, a campaign the UN has said may constitute “crimes against humanity.”

Aishan has since left Morocco, though details of his whereabouts remain undisclosed. China denies allegations of human rights abuses, claiming its policies in Xinjiang have combated extremism and spurred economic development.