Thailand deports 40 Uyghurs to China despite fears of torture

UPDATED at 12:38 p.m. ET on 2025-02-27

Thailand deported 40 Uyghurs to China on Thursday, ignoring warnings from the U.S., U.N. and human rights groups that the men, who had been in Thai detention 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 had been held at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok 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 rights 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 Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed that the 40 Uyghurs had been sent back to China.

Thailand had been holding 48 Uyghurs and it was not clear why both China and Thailand said 40 were sent back on Thursday.

“They [China] submitted an official diplomatic letter from the Chinese government, asking us [to send the Uyghurs back to China]. They [China] have confirmed to take those [Uyghurs] back, [and] also confirmed that they would voluntarily return to their homeland. Those [Uyghurs] would see their relatives and they will be provided with jobs,” he said during a press conference at around 7 p.m. Bangkok time on Feb. 27.

Phumtham said that the process took the Thai government months to ensure the safety of the Uyghurs and that it complied with local and international laws.

“When the [Thai] Prime Minister visited China [earlier this month], they talked [about the process],” Phumtham said, without elaborating. “Premier Li Qiang also talked to our Prime Minister and confirmed that there is no need to worry.” 

“These people are also Chinese citizens, not other people.”

Police chief Kitrat Penphet earlier confirmed to reporters that 40 Uyghurs had been deported. 

Kitrat said Chinese authorities wrote to the Thai government to assure it the 40 Uyghurs 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.

China later reported that 40 “illegal immigrants” had been sent from Thailand but it did not identify them as Uyghurs.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declined to confirm or deny that the Uyghurs had been sent back.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Thailand’s move.

“As Thailand’s longstanding ally, we are alarmed by this action, which risks running afoul of its international obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,” Rubio said in a statement on Thursday.

Rubio accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity by targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. 

“We call on Chinese authorities to provide full access to verify the well-being of the returned Uyghurs on a regular basis,” he said. “The Thai Government must insist and fully verify continuously that Chinese authorities protect the Uyghurs’ human rights.”

Thailand has been a close U.S. ally for decades and also has warm relations with China.

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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.”

Volker Türk, the United Nations human rights chief, said the deportation violated international human rights laws and standards.

“This violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

Türk called on China to disclose the whereabouts of the deported Uyghurs and ensure their rights were protected. 

“The Thai authorities must ensure there are no further deportations and the remaining members of the group, including potential refugees and asylum-seekers, being held in Thailand are fully protected in accordance with their obligations under international law,” Türk also said.

Thailand should resign from its new seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council following the deportation, Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates director Phil Robertson said.

Last month, Thailand began its three-year term as a new member of the council.

“This massive human rights violation blows apart any pretense the Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her Thai government has made to be a rights respecting member of the UN Human Rights Council,” he said in a statement. 

“Totally destroyed now is the charade that the current Pheu Thai Party government is different from the previous NCPO coup government of Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha when it comes to transnational repression and cooperating with authoritarian neighbors,” Robertson also said.  

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.

Nontarat Phaicharoen and Jon Preechawong in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Radio Free Asia is an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.