Thailand deports 40 Uyghur detainees to China despite warnings from U.S. and rights groups

Thailand deported 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China on Thursday, despite warnings that they faced torture and possible death if they were returned.

BANGKOK — Thailand deported 40 Uyghur asylum-seekers to China on Thursday, activists and Thai officials said, despite warnings from rights advocates and U.S. officials that they could face torture and imprisonment if they were returned.

The Uyghurs, who had been detained for more than a decade, were part of a group of more than 300 people who were arrested in 2014 after fleeing China to seek protection in Thailand.

The Chinese government denies accusations that it has committed large-scale abuses against Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group who live mainly in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

The Thai national police chief, Kitrat Phanphet, told reporters that 40 people had been deported and that officials in China “showed the sincerity and the intention to take care of this group of Chinese Uyghurs.”

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said 40 Chinese nationals who had entered Thailand illegally had been deported, without saying whether they were Uyghurs.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/thailand-uyghur-detainees-china-warnings-rights-groups-rcna193958

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