Dozens of Uyghurs have been deported from Thailand to China in the face of warnings from human rights experts that there is a high risk they will suffer torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment.
Local media reported that several trucks with their windows covered were seen in the early hours of Thursday leaving the Bangkok immigration centre where 48 Uyghurs had been held during their more than 10 years in Thai detention.
A few hours later, at 4.48am, an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight took off from Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, and it landed in Kashgar, in China’s Xinjiang region, about six hours later, according to Flightradar24.
A video posted online showed handcuffed men being escorted off a China Southern Airlines plane.
The Thai deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed the deportation, telling Reuters that China had assured Thailand the 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after.
“It was done in accordance with Thai law and international principles. There are no problems. They will be looked after well because they are their people,” Phumtham said. “There are undergoing health checks. After that, they will be sent home. Their relatives have received them.”
China’s government had earlier announced that a group of 40 “illegal immigrants” had been repatriated from Thailand. China’s public security ministry said it attached “great importance” to their return and the “repatriation” was “in line with the laws” of China and Thailand and international practice.
The security official did not mention that the group were Uyghurs, and many people who commented on social media appeared to presume they were linked to scam farms.
At a separate press conference, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected criticisms from “so-called human rights advocates” and said all ethnic groups in China enjoyed rights and freedoms as Chinese citizens.
“Certain political forces have been spreading lies concerning Xinjiang in order to disrupt the order in Xinjiang. We are firmly opposed to such interference,” he said.
The Thai prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, said only that “the law, international process and human rights” must be followed.
The 48 detainees were among hundreds of Uyghurs who fled China in late 2013 and early 2014, travelling to south-east Asia with the help of people smugglers. Many had been told that if they could make it as far as Malaysia they could be resettled to Turkey.
The groups were arrested in Thailand in 2014 and the following year 109 were sent back to China, prompting global outcry. Photographs at the time showed some of them hooded, handcuffed and guarded by Chinese police. Others were sent to Turkey.
The rest have remained in Thai custody for a decade. Five detainees died during that period, including a newborn and a three-year-old.
The detained were part of an exodus of Uyghurs fleeing Xinjiang, where China is accused of committing human rights abuses, including the incarceration of about 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
Some governments have labelled the crackdown as a genocide and the UN found that it possibly amounted to crimes against humanity. China denies the accusations.
Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch said she feared the returned group now faced “a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and long-term imprisonment in China”, having already enduring a decade in immigration detention in Thailand.
“Thailand’s actions constitute a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under domestic and international laws,” Pearson said. She said that until Wednesday, senior Thai officials had made public assurances that these men would not be transferred, including to allies and UN officials.
Last month UN human rights experts urged Thailand to halt the deportation, warning the detainees were at risk of “irreparable harm” if returned.
Officials from the Chinese public security ministry claimed relatives of the group had asked for their return. “They and their families have suffered great harm. Their relatives have repeatedly requested the Chinese government to provide assistance so that they can return to the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible and reunite with their loved ones. Promoting repatriation is a reflection of the Chinese police’s effective protection of the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens,” an official said.
Many relatives of the Uyghurs had pleaded with authorities not to return them to China. “The Chinese government doesn’t want the world to hear their stories,” the brother of one detainee told the Guardian in January.
“The Chinese government is always paranoid about Uyghurs going to a safe country in large numbers and living together,” said the man, who left China in 2016. “They always believe that’s a threat … That is the reason why the Chinese government wants them back.”
Earlier this month Paetongtarn made an official visit to China and met Xi Jinping in Beijing. The two countries are marking 50 years of diplomatic relations.
Peter Irwin, an associate director for research and advocacy at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said past experience suggested the 40 would be jailed.
“I would imagine they will be in prison for the rest of their lives,” he said. “We know this because this has been the case for people who have been deported previously – you just don’t hear from them. The Chinese government treats people who try to flee the country as criminals … There is absolutely no way, from my perspective, that these people will be treated fairly.”
