On Thursday afternoon, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that “40 Chinese illegal immigrants” had been repatriated, quoting a police official who said they had been ”deceived by criminal organizations" and stranded in Thailand. The report did not state their ethnicity, though a photo of those repatriated published by CCTV appeared to show people of Uyghur ethnicity.
Last month, the detained men made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation, saying they faced imprisonment and possible death in China. Several Thai lawmakers called on the Thai government to halt any plans for deportation.
“What is the Thai government doing? The Prime Minister must answer the people urgently,” Thai lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang wrote in a post on X. “The Uyghurs must not be returned to face persecution. They have been held in detention for 11 years. We have violated their human rights enough. There are better solutions.”
On Tuesday, an advocate who was in contact with the Uyghurs daily said she lost contact with the men. On Wednesday evening, an AP journalist witnessed heightened security around the detention center where the men are being held, with police briefly detaining the journalist and searching his belongings. Around 2 a.m. Thursday, trucks with black sheets covering the windows left and headed for an airport, according to staff working for Suebsang and Uyghur activist Polat Sayim.
The AP was not able to verify whether the trucks were carrying Uyghur detainees.
On Thursday morning, Thai lawmaker Romadon Panjor expressed concern that the Uyghurs had been deported, mentioning a “mysterious flight” bound for China. A China Southern plane made an unscheduled flight from Bangkok to China's far western Xinjiang region Thursday morning, according to tracking site FlightAware.
Potential violation of international law
The Uyghurs are a Turkic, majority Muslim ethnicity native to Xinjiang. After decades of conflict with Beijing over discrimination and suppression of their cultural identity, the Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs that some Western governments deem a genocide. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, possibly a million or more, were swept into camps and prisons, with former detainees reporting abuse, disease, and in some cases, death.
More than 300 Uyghurs fleeing China were detained in 2014 by Thai authorities. In 2015, Thailand deported 109 detainees to China against their will, prompting an international outcry. Another group of 173 Uyghurs, mostly women and children, were sent to Turkey, leaving 53 Uyghurs stuck in Thai immigration detention and seeking asylum.
Since then, five have died in detention, including two children. Advocates and relatives say the 48 remaining Uyghurs were subject to harsh conditions in Thai immigration detention and were forbidden contact with relatives, lawyers, and international organizations. The Thai government's treatment of the detainees may constitute a violation of international law, according to a 2024 letter sent to the Thai government by U.N. human rights experts.
Schoochart Kanpai, an attorney representing the men, said if confirmed, their deportation would be a violation of Thai and international law.
“Any action to deport them without due process would not only violate Thai law but also severely damage Thailand’s international reputation," Kanpai said.
The Thai and Chinese ministries of foreign affairs have not responded to requests for comment.
Secret deportation plans
For over a decade, the Uyghur detainees have presented a diplomatic conundrum for Thailand, which is caught between China, its largest trading partner, and the U.S., its traditional military ally.
Beijing claims the Uyghurs are jihadists, but has not presented evidence of that. Uyghur activists and Western politicians say the men are innocent and have repeatedly expressed alarm over their possible deportation, saying they face persecution, imprisonment, and possible death in China.
Facing potential backlash from all sides, Thailand detained them indefinitely.
Discussions to deport them restarted after Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra took office last year. Her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, maintains close links to top Chinese officials.
In December, shortly after Paetongtarn met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, Thai officials began secretly discussing plans to deport the Uyghurs, according to four people familiar with the matter, including one from the Thai government and three others in touch with Thai authorities. The people declined to be named for fear of retaliation to themselves or their contacts.
But pressure mounted on the Thai government after AP reported in January that Thai authorities were discussing deporting the Uyghurs. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture and Japanese, American and European officials issued statements expressing concern.
U.S. and other officials expressed concern again this week following reports about the possibility of imminent deportation.
“These men face torture, imprisonment, and even death upon return to China,” U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen said Tuesday. They said the men's deportation would be “ill-advised” and that the U.S. had proposed practical options to resolve the status of the Uyghurs in Thailand, their statement said.
Rayhan Asat, an attorney who had petitioned the U.N. to block the deportation of the men, said she had notified contacts in the U.S. government on Thursday.
“If the deportation occurs, Thailand will effectively issue death sentences, thereby aiding and abetting the Chinese government in committing atrocities,” Asat said.
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Wu reported from Mae Sot, Thailand. Associated Press journalists Grant Peck and Jerry Harmer in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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