40 Uyghur men detained in Thailand for more than a decade have been deported to China

“It is now important for the Chinese authorities to disclose their whereabouts, and to ensure that they are treated in accordance with international human rights standards,” he added.

Thai official says China gave assurances men won't be harmed

Thai police and security officials led by Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said at a news conference in the capital, Bangkok, that China had given assurances that the men wouldn't face penalties or be harmed.

They said that all of them voluntarily returned after being shown a translation of a written Chinese agreement requesting their repatriation and declaring they would be allowed to live normally.

Thai lawmakers, activists and lawyers had raised the alarm Wednesday that the men were about to be deported, and after midnight. trucks with black sheets covering their windows left Bangkok's Immigration Detention Center, where they had been held, amid visibly tighter security on the street outside, including briefly detaining an Associated Press journalist and searching his belongings.

It appeared that the truck drove them to Bangkok's Don Mueang airport, where a China Southern Airlines plane was waiting and then flew to the heartland of China's Uyghur population in northwestern Xinjiang province.

In a statement on Facebook, the Chinese Embassy acknowledged Thursday that 40 Chinese nationals who it said entered Thailand illegally were deported to Xinjiang by a chartered flight. It said the men had been detained in Thailand for more than 10 years because of “complicated international factors.”

Thai authorities release images

A video shown by Thai officials at a news conference on Thursday night showed what were said to be some of the men exiting the aircraft, with one awkwardly embraced by an unsmiling woman while at least a half-dozen photographers and cameramen hovered next to them.

Photos were also released of some eating a meal and undergoing health checks as unidentified officials stood by them. No photos were publicly available of the group's members departure from Thailand.

A total of 43 Uyghur men had been held at the Bangkok detention center in Bangkok. Five others stayed behind because they were serving prison sentences for an earlier escape attempt. It's unclear why China had only confirmed the deportation of 40.

Who are the Uyghurs?

The Uyghurs are a Turkic, majority Muslim ethnicity native to Xinjiang. After decades of conflict with Beijing over discrimination and suppression of their cultural identity, the Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs that some Western governments deem a genocide. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, possibly a million or more, were swept into camps and prisons, with former detainees reporting abuse, disease, and in some cases, death.

More than 300 Uyghurs fleeing China were detained in 2014 by Thai authorities. In 2015, Thailand deported 109 detainees to China against their will, prompting an international outcry. Another group of 173 Uyghurs, mostly women and children, were sent to Turkey, leaving 53 Uyghurs stuck in Thai immigration detention and seeking asylum.

Since then, five have died in detention, including two children. Advocates and relatives say the 48 remaining Uyghurs were subject to harsh conditions in Thai detention and were forbidden contact with relatives, lawyers and international organizations. The Thai government's treatment of the detainees may have constituted a violation of international law, according to a 2024 letter sent to the Thai government by U.N. human rights experts.

Secret deportation plans

For more than a decade, the Uyghur detainees have presented a diplomatic dilemma for Thailand, which is caught between China, its largest trading partner, and the U.S., its traditional military ally.

Beijing claims the Uyghurs are terrorists, but hasn't presented evidence of that in the cases of those just repatriated. Uyghur activists and Western politicians say the men are innocent and would face persecution, imprisonment and possible death in China.

Facing potential backlash from all sides, Thailand had detained them indefinitely.

Discussions to deport them restarted after Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra took office last year. Her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, maintains close links to top Chinese officials.

In December, shortly after Paetongtarn met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, Thai officials began secretly discussing plans to deport the Uyghurs, according to four people familiar with the matter. The people declined to be named for fear of retaliation to themselves or their contacts.

After the AP reported in January that Thai authorities were discussing deporting the Uyghurs. U.S. and other officials expressed concern, which was repeated this week following reports about the imminent deportation.

At his U.S. Senate hearing in January to confirm him as U.S. President Donald Trump's appointee for U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio pledged to press Thailand not to deport the 48 Uyghurs.

“Thailand is a very strong U.S. partner, a strong historical ally,” Rubio said. “That is an area where I think diplomacy could really achieve results because of how important that relationship is and how close it is.”

——-

Huizhong Wu reported from Mae Sot, Thailand. Jintamas Saksornchai in Mae Sot, and Grant Peck and Jerry Harmer in Bangkok, contributed to this report.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP