One-Month-Old Uyghur Baby Detained: Risk of Deportation to China

WISE NEWS PRESS / ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE

A one-month-old Uyghur baby, Enes Abdullah, and his mother, Müeyesser Ali, are facing the threat of deportation to China after being taken into administrative detention following a police raid in Istanbul.

The family was detained on the night of December 24 without any official justification provided. Despite possessing valid and active Turkish residency permits and living in the country for 11 years, the mother and her newborn infant were transferred to the Izmir Removal Center. Legal representatives have raised serious alarms regarding the health of both the mother, who lives with a single kidney, and the 30-day-old baby, who requires constant and regular medical check-ups. While other children in the family were released to relatives due to deteriorating health conditions, the infant remains in custody.

Legal Challenges and Human Rights Concerns

The family’s lawyer has filed an appeal with the Criminal Judgeship of Peace to challenge the extension of the administrative detention. Key points of the legal argument include:

• Legal Residency: The family has lived in Turkey for 11 years, holds long-term residency, and their children were born and educated in the country.

• Principle of Non-Refoulement: Deporting Uyghurs to China violates international law due to documented systematic human rights violations against the group.

  
  

• Health Risks: The detention of a newborn and a mother with chronic health issues is described as lacking legal and humanitarian sense.

• Discretionary Power: Although the Migration Management Directorate has the authority to release individuals without a court order, this power is reportedly used in only 30% of cases.

Ongoing Administrative Process

The case is currently in the "pre-trial" phase (tensip) following the registration of the appeal in the national judicial system (UYAP). Typically, such appeals are resolved within one to two weeks. Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer emphasizes that deportation to China is legally impossible given the high risk of persecution. The administrative detention continues even for individuals who were initially released after police questioning, pointing to a systemic issue in current immigration enforcement practices.

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