Thailand sent back 40 “illegal immigrants” to China on Thursday, Chinese state media reported after Chinese state media warned that rights groups were on the crisis of repatriation of dozens of Uyghur men who had fled persecution in China.
Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China, face the possibility of torture and long-term imprisonment when they return to the country, rights groups said. They were part of a wave of over 300 Uyghur asylum seekers who fled China in 2014.
They wanted to use Thailand as a transportation system to arrive in Türkiye. Turkey is home to a considerable Uighur community. However, more than 40 of them were detained in Bangkok for over a decade. Last month, some of the men went on a starving strike amid fears of being returned to China.
At about 2am on Thursday, reporters witnessed six trucks. Six trucks left the immigration detention centre in Bangkok, where windows were covered in Bangkok, and witnessed six trucks held by detained Uyghurs. Several police cars accompanied the truck, keeping the surrounding traffic in close contact.
Around 5am, an unscheduled flight of China Southern Airlines took off from Bangkok to Kasugar in Xinjiang, the home of Uighurs, according to Flightradar24, which tracks flights around the world. We landed just after 12pm local time.
“All indications point to at least 40 men being deported,” said Julie Millsap, a businessless with Genocide, who has lobbyed the government to free Uyghur people.
In a statement, Human Rights Watch criticized Thai authorities for ousting them, despite previously guaranteeing public assurances that they would not.
“Thailand's transfer of Uyghur detainees to China constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand's obligations under domestic and international law,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “Now men are at high risk of torture, executed loss of failure and long term incarceration in China.”
Thai police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to repeated requests for comments.
The Chinese report, issued by the official Xinhua Communications Agency, was deliberately vague about the decoy, providing no details about their identity or where they came from in China. “The repatriation was carried out in accordance with Chinese and Thai laws, international law and international practices,” he said.
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Pirada Anuwech I contributed a report from Bangkok.
