Indian authorities have detained a Uighyur refugee living in Delhi, and human rights groups fear he may be imprisoned, tortured or even executed if deported back to China.
Aimaiti Alimu hails from the Xinjiang province in China and is a member of the Uighyur Democratic Party, which, according to law, is not allowed to function in China.
Alimu fled China fearing police action and landed up in Delhi.
On 9 May, 2005, Alimu went to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in south Delhi possibly with the intention of getting himself registered.
He was seen going into the FRRO around 2 pm that day.
However, he failed to emerge from that office, says human rights group South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.
Alimu's whereabouts were unknown until the late afternoon of 10 May 2005, when he was allowed to call a friend and inform him about his situation.
It is now known that he was sent from the FRRO to the Lampur Detention Centre near Narela in north Delhi, where foreigners are typically detained for overstaying or pending a decision on their deportation, an SAHRDC member told rediff.com.
To show its cooperation with Beijing, New Delhi may deport Alimu back home.
In view of the manner in which Beijing has been dealing with Uighyurs and cracking down on peaceful protests, Alimu felt compelled to leave China, and sometime in late 2004, left Xinjiang for Hong Kong.
He then went to Dubai where he spent one month.
While in Dubai, he obtained a visa for India, valid for three months, from the Indian Embassy.
He arrived in New Delhi on 14 February, 2005.
The following day, on 15 February, Alimu applied at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi for refugee status.
His application was under consideration as of 9 May, 2005, the day he was detained. (UNHCR has since reached a decision on Alimu's application and has granted him refugee status as of 11 May 2005.)
Foreigners are required to register with the FRRO, under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs, if they intend to stay in the country for more than 180 days.
Alimu had gone to the FRRO from where he was detained.
Human rights groups say Alimu's detention is illegal as he was holding a valid Indian visa as of 9 May 2005, and had committed no offence.
He is not known to have been produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of his detention.
Alimu was also not allowed to contact a friend until around 3 pm on 10 May, more than 24 hours after he was detained.
This is of particular concern as Alimu speaks and understands no language apart from Uighyur.
When his friend went to see him in the late evening of 10 May 2005, he was not allowed to speak to him for more than a few minutes.
These restrictions are contrary to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and international human rights laws.
With his refugee status now certified by the UNHCR, Alimu should be released immediately, says SAHRDC.
Although the government of India has not signed either the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 or the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1967, India is still obliged to uphold the principle of non-refoulement of refugees, which has passed into customary international law.
India is also a signatory to the Convention Against Torture, which contains explicit provisions against expelling, returning or extraditing a person to a country, 'where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture'.
