BANGKOK — United Nations human rights experts have urged Thailand not to return 48 Uighurs it has detained to China, warning they would face torture, ill-treatment and “irreparable harm” if returned. “There is a risk of
Human rights groups and some Thai lawmakers expressed concern last week that the transfer to China of the Uighurs, who have been held in immigration detention for more than a decade, is imminent. The government has said that it has no such plans.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread mistreatment of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including mass surveillance and forced labor in camps. Includes use at scale. Beijing denies any abuses.
UN experts said that these people should not be returned to China. said in a statement 48 Tuesday on the Uyghurs.
“Instead, they should be given access to asylum procedures and other humanitarian assistance,” the experts said, adding that half of the group had serious health conditions.
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phomatham Wichayachai said last week that there were no immediate plans to deport the Uighurs to China, while National Police Chief Kitirat Panpech said on Monday that there was no government order to deport them. .
Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, said last week that Thai authorities had assured the agency that they would not be transferred to China.
The Chinese embassy in Thailand did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during his confirmation hearing last week that he would use stronger U.S. ties with Thailand to prevent Uighurs from being deported.
The detainees were part of a group of 300 Uighurs who fled China and were arrested in Thailand in 2014.
Thailand deported more than 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015, drawing international condemnation and risking torture upon their return. Their fate is unknown.
More than 170 others, mostly women and children, were sent to Turkey in June 2015, with more than 50 Uighur Thais detained. At least five of them have died in custody in Thailand over the past 11 years, including two children, UN experts said.
At the time, Chinese officials said many Uyghurs who had fled to Turkey through Southeast Asia planned to bring jihad back to China, saying some were involved in “terrorist activities.”
Over the years, hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uyghurs have fled Xinjiang by secretly traveling to Turkey via Southeast Asia.
Diplomats and security analysts said Thailand deported the Uighurs to China in 2015, a month after a deadly bomb attack at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people was the first of its kind on Thai soil. The worst attack was.
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Two men of Uyghur origin were arrested, and charged with murder and illegal possession of explosives. His trial, which has been repeatedly delayed, is ongoing.
