Yidiresi Aishan (, zh, 伊迪热斯∙艾山) is a

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

activist and computer engineer. He had lived in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

since 2012, having residency papers and working as a web designer on a Uyghur diaspora online newspaper. Aishan also assisted other activists collecting testimonies and of abuse against Uyghurs in the Chinese

Xinjiang autonomous region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...

. After repeated arrests in Turkey, Aishan flew from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, Morocco, on 19 July 2021. Upon his arrival at

Mohammed V International Airport Mohammed V International Airport is an international airport serving Casablanca, Morocco. Located in Nouaceur Province, it is operated by ONDA (). With about 7.6 million passengers passing through the airport in 2022, it was the busiest airp ...

, Moroccan authorities arrested Aishan in response to an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

red notice An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...

issued at China's request. Activists said that the arrest was politically driven as part of a broader Chinese campaign to persecute perceived dissidents abroad. The

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Safeguard Defenders Safeguard Defenders is a not-for profit human rights organization that monitors disappearances in China. Co-founded by Michael Caster and Peter Dahlin in June 2019 in Madrid, Spain, it operates as a private foundation. History In 2009, activis ...

, asked the Moroccan ambassadors in Washington and Paris and Brussels not to extradite him. Human rights organizations urged Morocco not to extradite Aishan to China;

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

declared that Aishan faced "arbitrary detention and torture" if he was forcibly returned to China, and Joanne Mariner, its Crisis Response Program director, said in a statement that his deportation "would violate international law". The

World Uyghur Congress The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is a international organization of exiled Uyghur groups that claims to "represent the collective interest of the Uyghur people" both inside and outside of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's ...

also demanded Moroccan authorities to halt any deportation procedures. In August 2021, Interpol suspended Aishan's red notice. Its General Secretariat said that "Given that new information has been brought to the attention of the General Secretariat, the red notice previously issued for Yidiresi Aishan has been suspended while a new review is undertaken."

Personal life

Aishan has three children.

References

{{reflist Uyghur activists Computer engineers 2021 in Morocco July 2021 in Africa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 1980s births Chinese people imprisoned abroad