Uyghurs at risk of deportation from Thailand say return to China would treat them like slaves
Activists warn that sending two more Uyghur men from Thailand to China would put their lives in grave danger, with one of them saying he would be “like a slave” if deported. Last year Thai authorities forcibly returned 40 Uyghur men despite pleas from the men and the UN, while the US and Canada had reportedly offered resettlement. Bangkok appeared keen not to upset Beijing; the UN says those returnees’ whereabouts remain unknown. The two men were recently moved to an immigration detention centre amid fears Thailand may again yield to Chinese pressure.
They had been serving seven-year sentences for offences linked to an attempted escape from immigration detention in January 2020. They belonged to a group of more than 200 Uyghur men, women and children intercepted by Thai police in 2014 near the Malaysian border after fleeing China. Since then, women and children have been released to Turkey, while men have been deported in batches, drawing criticism from the UN and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The UN has condemned China’s crackdown on the largely Muslim Turkic minority from Xinjiang as a potential crime against humanity, including mass detention aimed at erasing cultural identity. Beijing says its policies target poverty and terrorism.
One man’s girlfriend, Marzeyya Kasem, shared a July letter in which he wrote he wanted to go “anywhere else but China.” Human Rights Watch Asia director Elaine Pearson said previous Thai governments held Uyghurs in inhumane detention for years then sent them to China, where they were forcibly disappeared, and called for the men to reach a safe third country. The pair reportedly pleaded their case on Wednesday to Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission. National security council chief Chaipruak Doungprapat said they and three other Uyghurs still in prison have Chinese arrest warrants; it is unclear whether Beijing has formally sought extradition. Kasem noted her boyfriend was a minor when he left China and asked why no Interpol red notice was issued in 2014. China’s foreign ministry said China–Thailand cooperation against cross-border crime accords with both countries’ laws and international practice. Thailand’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
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