Extradition of Political Opponent

Freemuslim’s Inclusion Forum calls upon countries to revisit their extradition policies of political opponents. Extradition is the formal process of one state surrendering an individual to another state for prosecution or punishment for crimes committed in the requesting country’s jurisdiction. It typically is enabled by a bilateral or multilateral treaty. If and when a crime is committed by an individual, extradition of that individual helps put an stop to the wrongful acts they have committed and assist in solving a crime, but in case of political opponents to a country, it defeats the purpose of political asylum. 

Countries may have political ties with each other and ask for a criminal to be extradited but when that extradition is of an individual who has fled their country of birth due to political opposition; that extradition defeats the purpose of the initial asylum the individual has sought. We ask countries to revisit their extradition policies of people who have political disagreement with their countries since their extradition leads to torture in prison and at times confession under duress. Most recent cases of extradition that has lead to increased violation of human rights includes extradition of Uyghurs from Turkey or other countries China has Extradition Treaty with. Uyghurs who have extradited from Turkey towards China will face forced detainment in Chinese camps, forced to change religion, work in force-labor factories, often raped if they disobey orders ( regardless of their gender ) and are forced to let go of their heritage and culture. Extradition treaty is a useful means of ending a crime if is put into a good use, otherwise in case of political opposition to a country that repeatedly violates human rights laws, such extradition only leads to state-sponsored terror of those individuals.

We ask countries to be mindful of danger of extraditing individuals who are in political dispute with their countries and refer such requests to the United Nations for further review. China is not the only country who has abused inter-country relations for its agenda, but the most recent and brutal one.