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Lebanon, on charges of illegal entry. In reply to the joint urgent appeal sent together with the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, and the
Special Rapporteur on torture, Sir Nigel S. Rodley, the Government of Lebanon, in a letter
dated 7 May 2001, set out the details of the situation of the Sudanese asylum-seekers who had
allegedly entered the country illegally and who were said to have been returned to their countries
of origin, including Trapol Ibraham Lako. In a letter dated 26 November 2001, it also reported
that there is no law in Lebanon relating to guarantees applicable to illegal migrants. The
Government stated that, under the Law of 10 July 1963 concerning the entry, residence and exit
of aliens, all aliens must enter the country through a public security checkpoint, bearing proper
documents, or face a fine and deportation. The Government of Lebanon reiterated that the
allegations of ill-treatment and torture of Sudanese nationals referred to in the urgent appeal
were groundless.
Islamic Republic of Iran
67.
On 27 June 2001, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint appeal together with the Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, and the
Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in
the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Maurice Copithorne. The rapporteurs had received information
indicating that a 14-year-old minor of Pakistani nationality had been sentenced to death by an
Iranian court. They had also received information concerning the alleged execution of
an 18-year-old boy, Mehrdad Yusefi, on 29 May 2001, reportedly for an offence he had
committed when he was 16 years old.
Tonga
68.
On 30 November 2001, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government
of Tonga in relation to the situation of some 600 Chinese migrants who had allegedly been
subjected to racist and violent acts and whose property was said to have been destroyed by
Tongan nationals. It was also reported that Tonga’s Immigration Office had requested that the
Chinese families should leave Tonga for their own safety and protection.
69.
By a letter dated 4 January 2002, the Government of Tonga replied to the Special
Rapporteur that the country’s migration policies applied irrespective of race, colour, descent or
ethnic origin, adding that such policies applied equally to Chinese and to other nationalities.
Turkey
70.
On 27 July 2001, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of
Turkey, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention, after receiving information on the situation reportedly experienced by 7 persons of
African origin who were said to have been detained in a police round-up together with 200 other
immigrants. The seven persons were reported to have been held for a week in the police
headquarters in Istanbul, to have remained there in poor conditions and to have been subjected to
beatings and rapes. It is alleged that while in detention they were made to sign documents
written in Turkish acknowledging that they had entered Turkey from Greece. In addition, police
were said to have refused access to a lawyer who tried to visit the detainees to obtain