Washington, Nov 5 (IANS) US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Thailand to not forcibly return two Uyghur men to China, where they face grave risks of torture and other serious concerns.
The two individuals, whose names have not been revealed in public due to security concerns, were shifted from prison to immigration detention in Bangkok after they were given a royal pardon, apparently in preparation for deportation.
Asia director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said, “Previous Thai governments have kept Uyghurs in inhumane detention for years and then complied with Beijing’s demands to send them to China, where they were forcibly disappeared.”
“Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul should end forced returns to China and allow the two Uyghur men to travel to a safe third country,” she added.
Two Uyghur men have been detained by Thai authorities since 2014, when one of them was just 14 years old. Both of them were serving a prison sentence for offences linked to an escape attempt from immigration detention in January 2020, according to the statement released by HRW.
On October 21, 2026, the Thai authorities shifted the two men from Bangkok Central Prison to the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre Suan Phlu after they had served most of their seven-year sentence. Thai Foreign Ministry officials told a parliamentary committee that the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok in August had demanded the return of two men to China.
Under Thailand’s immigration law and regulations, two Uyghur men will be deported to China if they do not object to their deportation to Beijing. Lawyers representing the two Uyghur men have told HRW that they have already informed Thai authorities that they do not want to be deported to China. Thai immigration authorities have repeatedly not allowed the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to meet the men to determine their refugee status.
“The Thai government is obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, barring anyone’s forcible return to a place where they would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life or other comparable serious human rights violations. Refoulement is prohibited by the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Thailand is a party, as well as customary international law. Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act prohibits deportation when there is a substantial risk of torture or ill-treatment,” HRW mentioned in a statement.
–IANS
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