Thailand deports dozens of Uyghurs to China

At least 40 Uyghur has been deported to China, and the Thai authorities confirmed, despite warnings of rights groups facing potential torture and even death.

The group is believed to have been transferred to the Chinese area of ​​Xinjiang on Thursday, after it was held for 10 years at the Bangkok detention center.

China has been accused of crimes against humanity and perhaps genocide against Ouigor residents and other Islamic ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Beijing denies all allegations.

This is the first time that Thailand has been deported by Ouigor since 2015.

The deportation was deported in secrecy after the United States and the United Nations raised serious fears.

The Thai media reported that many trucks, some of them with windows blocked with black plastic leaves, left the main immigration detention center in Bangkok in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Hours later, Flightrader24 tracking showed southern unpleasant airline flights to leave Bangkok, in the end he reached Xinjiang. It was not immediately clear how many people were deported.

The Thai government later said it decided to send forty years of age to China because it is not right to have been seized for more than a decade, but no other third country has advanced forward to take them. This includes Türkiye, which gave asylum in the Uighurs in the past.

Eight Ouigor remains in Thailand, including five who are in prison terms for the crimes they committed during detention.

The government also said that Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra had assured that the Uighurs would be taken care of if she returns to China during its recent visit to the country.

It was not at first confirmed that any deportation had occurred when journalists requested on Thursday.

“In any country in the world it must adhere to the principles of law, international operations and human rights,” Shinwatra said.

Beijing said that 40 illegal Chinese immigrants were returned from Thailand, but they refused to confirm that the group was Ogur.

The Foreign Ministry said: “A return was conducted to the laws of China and Thailand, international law and international practice,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Chinese media said that the group was “enchanted” by criminal organizations and decreased in Thailand after leaving the country illegally.

The group that was returned consists of more than 300 UYGR who were detained on the Thai border in 2014 after fled from the repression in Xinjiang.

A lot was sent to Türkiye, while others were Deportation to China In 2015 – a storm of protests from governments and human rights groups pushed.

“What do the Thai government do?” The opposition legislator asked Kannavee Suebsang on social media on Thursday.

“There should be no deportation of Ouigor to confront persecution. They have been imprisoned for 11 years. We have been a long time for human rights.”

It was known that the detention center was known to have been known that Ouigor – who directed him any crime, regardless of the entry of Thailand without a visa – is unhealthy and overcrowded. Five Uyghur died in the reservation.

In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the group is now facing a great danger of torture, enforced disappearance and long -term imprisonment.

“The transfer of Thailand to Ouigor to China is a flagrant violation of Thailand’s obligations under local and international laws,” said Eileen Pearson, the organization’s director of Asia.

To yesterday [Wednesday]Senior Thai officials have made multiple general assurances that these men will not be transferred, including allies and United Nations officials.

Phil Robertson, director of a group of human rights and employment lawyer in Asia, said that the deportation was “completely destroyed” that the current Thai government was different from the previous group, “when it was related to national repression and cooperation with authoritarian neighbors.”

Amnesty International described the deportation as “cruel unimaginable.”

On Wednesday, the members of the US Committee of the American China Committee issued a statement that the deportations “will be a clear violation of international human rights standards that the Kingdom of Thailand is obliged under international law.”

The United Nations said it is “strongly regret” the deportation.

There are about 12 million Uyghur, most of them Muslims, living in Xinjiang, officially known as the independent Xuar Xuar region (Xuar).

Uyghurs speaks their own language, which resembles Turkish and see themselves as culturally close to Central Asian countries. It forms less than half of the Xinjiang population.

Recent decades have witnessed a mass migration from the Chinese Han (the ethnic majority in China) to Xinjiang, which it claims to be published by the state to reduce the residents of minorities there.

China has also been accused Targeting Muslim religious figures And prohibiting religious practices in the region, as well as the destruction of mosques and cemeteries.

With additional reports from ThanyArat Doksone in Bangkok