Updated Feb. 27, 2025, 05:20 a.m. ET
BANGKOK – Thailand deported 40 Uyghurs to China on Thursday, ignoring warnings from the U.S., U.N. and right groups that the men, who had been detained in Thailand for more than a decade, faced torture if sent back.
The men of the mostly Muslim minority from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China have been held at Thailand’s Immigration Detention Center since 2014, after attempting to escape Beijing’s persecution through Thailand.
A rights group said in early January that reports from the men indicated that Thai authorities were preparing to deport them but Thailand repeatedly dismissed the concerns and said there was no plan to send them to China.
But early on Thursday, human rights activists and a Thai media outlet reported that several trucks, some with windows blocked with sheets of black plastic, left Bangkok’s main immigration detention center after 2 a.m. and headed north towards the city’s Don Mueang airport.
An elevated highway to the airport was blocked off to other traffic as the trucks passed, said a human right activist.
Media later cited a flight tracker app as showing a chartered China Southern Airlines flight left Don Mueang at 4.48 a.m. The app did not give the flight’s destination but it later showed it had landed in Xinjiang.
Thai officials were tight-lipped with both Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and police chief Kitrat Penphet declining to confirm or deny that the Ughurs had been sent back.
China later reported that 40 “illegal immigrants” had been sent from Thailand but it did not identify them as Uyghurs.
Later in the afternoon, Kitrat confirmed to reporters that 40 Uyghurs had been deported. Thailand has been holding 48 Uyghurs and it was not clear why both China and Thailand said 40 were sent back on Thursday.
Kitrat said Chinese authorities wrote to the Thai government to assure it the 40 Uygurs would be taken care of.
“They promised to ensure their safety and conduct health examinations when they arrive in Xinjiang,” he said.
“After the government received the letter, we considered it according to human rights principles. Then the government held a meeting through the National Security Council, which subsequently resolved to repatriate the Uyghurs,” he said.
Kitrat said “the extradition of illegal immigrants” was normal.
“It’s no different with the Uyghurs. How many more years should we detain them? They should be able to return home,” he said.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday that the U.S. was deeply concerned about reports the Uyghurs were about to be deported and it called on Thailand to respect the principle of non-refoulement – or not deporting people to places where they risk torture and other abuse – and to uphold its international obligations.
Thailand has been a close U.S. ally for decades and also has warm relations with China.
RELATED STORIES
Thai court sees merit in bid to free detained Uyghurs, seeks information
Thai court considers petition to free detained Uyghurs
Thai PM to visit China as groups fear Uyghur detainees may be sent back
Questions for government
Thai opposition lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang said the government had questions to answer.
“What is the Thai government doing? The prime minister must answer to the people urgently,” Kannavee said in a post on Facebook after the rights activists reported the trucks leaving the Bangkok detention center.
“They were jailed for 11 years. We violated their human rights for too long. There must be a better way out.”
Human Rights Watch said the situation was “very concerning”.
“It has been 48 hours since we’ve been able to contact the Uyghurs in detention,” Sunai Phasuk, senior Thailand researcher at Human Rights Watch, told BenarNews before the deportations were confirmed.
A Thai court has been considering a petition filed by a Thai lawyer for the men to be freed. It said last week it saw merit in the petition and had asked for more information from authorities and scheduled the next hearing for March 27.
“Thailand has laws preventing people from being sent back to face danger,” Sunai said, referring to a 2022 law on the prevention of torture that contained a provision on non-refoulement
“It means the government is not only violating international law but also its own domestic laws,” he said.
The 48 were part of a cohort of more than 350 Uyghur men, women and children, who left China in the hope of finding resettlement abroad and were stopped in Thailand.
Uyghurs in China’s vast Xinjiang region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps. Beijing denies that.
Turkey did accept 172 of them while Thailand sent 109 of them back to China in 2015, triggering a storm of international criticism for the decision.
Thailand had in recent weeks brushed off the concern of rights groups that the Uyghurs being held would also be deported. U.N. experts on Jan. 21 urged the kingdom not to repatriate them saying they would likely face torture in China.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
Nontarat Phaicharoen and Jon Preechawong in Bangkok contributed to this report.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
Updated to include comments from Thai police chief.