They may have been sent up to China after being active in the dead of night.
PUBLISHED: 27 Feb 2025 at 13: 18
Following a strange early-morning limousine and a subsequent trip that reportedly landed in China on Thursday, the fate of 48 Uyghur detainees who have been imprisoned in Thailand for 11 years was still unknown.
When Fair Party MP Kannavee Suebsaeng exposed that something was wrong, he was the first to post pictures of confinement trucks leaving the Bangkok immigration detention facility, their windows covered, around 2am.
A policeman escort prevented people from following or tracking their target as they entered the road.
At Don Mueang Airport, a China Southern Airlines plane took off at 4.48am, with its target marked as “unspecified” on Flightradar24. Six hours later, it was revealed that it had landed at the Chinese airports in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
At legislature, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she had” certainly been made conscious” if the Tamils had been deported, while adding that the nation needs to “adhere to legislation and human rights”.
Mr. Kannavee urged the prime minister to explain the situation, arguing that Uyghurs should not be subject to oppression.
National authorities key Kittharath Punpetch said it was a matter of national security and that he would not reply. Information may be made available afterwards, he added.
The Thai government has rescinded its decision not to arrest Uyghur prisoners to China following foreign instructions. People are prohibited from returning to nations where they may encounter torture, forced disappearance, or harassment under international law.
According to Human Rights Watch, Thailand is required to safeguard immigrants and refrain from sending them to dangerous nations as a new member of the UN Human Rights Council.
In January, it was reported that the Uyghur people had a belief that the Thai authorities was preparing to arrest them to China.
Fleeing suppression
Thailand became a well-known course for Uyghurs fleeing China’s growing repression and seeking entry to Turkey, which has previously supported Uyghur asylum seekers, ten years ago. Around 350 people who were detained by immigration officials near the Malaysian borders in March 2014 comprise the majority of the party detained in Bangkok.
In July 2015, around 170 women and children from the class were released to Turkey. About a week later, 109— generally males— were deported to China. Their movements today are mysterious. The remainder were incarcerated in Thailand’s immigration confinement. At least a few have escaped, and five have died in confinement, including two children.
Five of the asylum applicants are serving jail sentences related to a 2020 avoid test, while the remaining 43 are being held without demand in the Suan Phlu detention center, amid sweltering, foul-smelling, cramped problems. They are barred from communicating with their families, attorneys, or even other inmates.
The Tamils ‘ confinement is categorized as a matter of national security under Thai law. They are now subject to immigration authorities ‘ control, rather than the National Security Council ( NSC ). Additionally, it forbids them from using the nation’s national verification system, which allows refugees to reside there and get public services.
Immigration officers have stated that they have been making every effort to accommodate the prisoners.
Pol Gen Kittharath defended the treatment of the Uyghurs last month, claiming that states would have been made in media reports decades ago if their treatment had been weak.