Morocco Releases Uyghur Activist After Three Years in Detention

Yidiresi Aishan is now free to move around. Morocco has decided to release him, after his arrival in Washington. A decision welcomed by the National Human Rights Council. In a post on his Facebook account, he "welcomes the decision of Morocco to release Mr. Idris Hasan". He took the opportunity to recall that he had "addressed, as part of constant advocacy, a previous letter to the head of government, calling on him not to extradite (the Uyghur activist) to the authorities of his country".

Yidiresi Aishan had been arrested on the night of July 19 to 20, 2021, on his arrival from a flight from Turkey where he had taken refuge with his family since 2012. He was the subject of a red notice issued by Interpol at the headquarters of China, "for belonging to a terrorist organization". After his arrest and appearance before the public prosecutor at the court of first instance in Casablanca, he was placed in detention in the Tiflet prison.

In August 2021, Interpol canceled the red notice issued against the Uyghur activist, on the grounds that it "violated Interpol’s constitution" and that the person concerned had "filed an application for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)". Despite the cancellation of the red notice, the Court of Cassation had confirmed the extradition decision on December 15, 2021. Enough to provoke the reaction of human rights defenders, both nationally and internationally. They had expressed their opposition to Idris’ extradition to China for fear of "reprisals from the Chinese authorities".

Justifying its decision, the Court had explained that the crimes for which the Uyghur activist was being prosecuted "did not fall under political crimes", but were related to "terrorism crimes".