U.N. experts urge Thailand not to deport 48 Uyghurs to China

United Nations experts urged Thailand not to send 48 Uyghurs in its custody back to China, warning they are at risk of torture and ill treatment if returned.

BANGKOK — United Nations human rights experts have urged Thailand not to send 48 Uyghurs in its custody back to China, warning they are at risk of torture, ill treatment and “irreparable harm” if returned.

Human rights groups and some Thai lawmakers have raised concerns in the past week that the transfer to China of the Uyghurs, who have been held in immigration detention for more than a decade, was imminent. The government has said it has no such plans.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of surveillance and forced labor in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.

“These persons should not be returned to China,” the U.N. experts said in a statement Tuesday on the 48 Uyghurs.

“Instead, they must be provided with access to asylum procedures and other humanitarian assistance,” the experts said, adding that half of the group had serious health conditions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/un-experts-urge-thailand-not-deport-48-uyghurs-china-rcna188689

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