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28-02-2025
BANGKOK/ BEIJING: At least 40 Uyghurs have been deported to China, the Thai authorities have confirmed, despite warnings from rights groups that they face possible torture and even death.
The group is thought to have been flown back to China’s Xinjiang region on Thursday, after being held for 10 years in a Bangkok detention centre.
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur population and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Beijing denies all of the allegations.
It is the first time Thailand has deported Uyghurs since 2015.
The deportation has been shrouded in secrecy after serious concerns were raised by the United States and United Nations.
Thai media reported that several trucks, some with windows blocked with sheets of black plastic, left Bangkok’s main immigration detention centre in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Hours later, tracker Flightrader24 showed an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight leaving Bangkok, eventually arriving in Xinjiang. It was not immediately clear how many people had been deported. The Thai defence minister told media that Beijing had given assurances the deportees would be looked after.
Beijing said that 40 Chinese illegal immigrants were repatriated from Thailand, but refused to confirm that the group were Uyghurs.
“The repatriation was carried out in accordance with the laws of China and Thailand, international law and international practice,” the foreign ministry said.
Chinese state media said the group had been “bewitched” by criminal organizations and were stranded in Thailand after illegally leaving the country.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra did not initially confirm any deportations had taken place when asked by reporters.
“In any country in the world actions must adhere to the principles of law, international processes, and human rights,” she said. The group is thought to be the last of more than 300 Uyghurs who were detained at the Thai border in 2014 after fleeing repression in Xinjiang.
Many were sent to Turkey, which usually offers Uyghurs asylum, while others were deported back to China in 2015 prompting a storm of protest from governments and human rights groups. “What is the Thai government doing?” asked opposition lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang on social media on Thursday.
“There must not be Uyghur deportation to face persecution. They were jailed for 11 years. We violated their human rights for too long.”
The detention centre where the Uyghurs who had been charged with no crime, apart from entering Thailand without a visa were kept was known to be unsanitary and overcrowded. Five Uyghurs died in custody.
In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the group now face a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance and long-term imprisonment.
“Thailand’s transfer of Uyghur detainees to China constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under domestic and international laws,” said the organization’s Asia director, Elaine Pearson. “Until yesterday (Wednesday), senior Thai officials had made multiple public assurances that these men would not be transferred, including to allies and UN officials.”
Phil Robertson, director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA) group, said that the deportations “totally destroyed” the “charade” that the current Thai government was different to the previous one “when it comes to transnational repression and cooperating with authoritarian neighbors”. (Int’l News Desk)
