Despite warnings that 40 Uyghurs could be tortured if sent back to China, Thai authorities whisked them away and deported them to Xinjiang -- a homeland they fled more than 10 years ago.
The Uyghur men had been held at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok since 2014, after getting caught trying to escape repression, and Thailand said that it agreed to the deportation after receiving assurances from Beijing that they would be unharmed.
Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps, rights activists say. Beijing denies those allegations.
BenarNews is an online news outlet affiliated with Radio Free Asia.