Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign Condemns Germany’s Deportation of Uyghur Arafat Adil to China

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 22, 2026)

Justice For All’s Save Uyghur campaign strongly condemns the German government’s decision to forcibly deport Arafat Adil (legally identified as Alifa Adili), a 21-year-old Uyghur man, to China. This action represents a catastrophic failure of international human rights protections and a direct violation of Germany’s previous commitments to halt the repatriation of vulnerable Uyghurs to a state committing active genocide.

On the morning of July 21, 2026, German police arrived at an immigration detention camp in Kandern, instructing Arafat to gather his belongings under the guise of a routine move. He was subsequently transported to Frankfurt Airport, where he made a final, desperate phone call to his uncle, Muhtar Mamatjan, confirming his imminent deportation to Beijing. According to official reports, Arafat was placed on Air China flight CA966, which departed Frankfurt at 2:17 pm local time and landed in Beijing on the morning of July 22.

The Save Uyghur campaign is particularly outraged by the fact that German authorities proceeded with this deportation despite being explicitly informed of Arafat’s Turkish citizenship. 

Arslan Hidayat, Team Lead for Justice For All’s Save Uyghur campaign, issued the following statement:

“Germany has essentially signed a death warrant for a 21-year-old youth who sought nothing more than safety and a future. By deporting Arafat Adil to Beijing, despite clear evidence of his Turkish citizenship and his handwritten pleas to remain where he had ‘built a life,’ the German government has prioritized administrative convenience over human life. We demand that Germany immediately account for its failure to protect Arafat and explain why he was sent to a regime that is committing genocide.”

This marks the third documented instance of Germany deporting an Uyghur asylum seeker to China since 2018. This disturbing pattern includes the 2018 deportation of a 22-year-old man, whose fate remains unknown, and the November 2025 deportation of Rizwangul Bekri, a 56-year-old woman whose legal proceedings were abruptly cancelled just days before she was sent back to China.

Justice For All’s Save Uyghur Campaign urges:

• The German Federal Government to immediately disclose how this deportation was approved and identify those responsible. 
• The European Union to review its member states’ compliance with non-refoulement obligations under international law. 
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to intervene and strengthen protections for Uyghur asylum seekers worldwide. 

Contact: Arslan Hidayat, arslan@justiceforall.org  Phone: 202-908-JUST

Website: https://www.justiceforall.org