Relatives of Uyghurs detained in Thailand for more than a decade have begged the Thai authorities not to deport the 48 men back to China, after the detainees suggested their return appeared imminent.A UN panel of experts this week urged Thailand to “immediately halt the possible transfer”, saying the men were at “real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they are returned”.There are also concerns for the men’s health after some of them went on hunger strike on 10 January after they said they were asked and refused to sign “voluntary return” documents.Thai authorities have denied they are planning to deport the Uyghurs, while China’s foreign ministry has declined to comment. China has said it opposes “any act of condoning or even supporting illegal immigration”.China’s embassy in Thailand said reports about the Uyghurs detained in Thailand were “spreading false narratives”.However, Bilal Ablet, whose elder brother Shakir Hamid is being held in an immigration detention centre in Bangkok, said the men had been “forgotten by the world”.“The Chinese government doesn’t want the world to hear their stories,” said Ablet, who left China in 2016. “The Chinese government is always paranoid about Uyghurs going to a safe country in large numbers and living together. They always believe that’s a threat … that is the reason why the Chinese government wants them back.”The men fled China in late 2013 and early 2014 as part of an exodus of hundreds of Uyghurs who travelled through 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.Thai authorities arrested 220 Uyghur men, women and children near the border with Malaysia in March 2014 as rescue teams searched for the disappeared MH370 plane. They were charged with immigration violations and transferred to a holding facility in Bangkok. Dozens of other Uyghurs were arrested in Thailand during the same period, according to Human Rights Watch.In 2015, about 170 of the women and children were released to Turkey. But more than 100 men were returned to China, prompting an international outcry.Of the 48 Uyghurs, 43 are in legal limbo in immigration detention and five are serving prison sentences for crimes related to a 2019 escape attempt. Five Uyghurs detained since 2014 have died in detention, including a newborn and a three-year-old.Hamid, who turns 40 this year, is a “very kind-hearted person”, Ablet said. The brothers come from Yarkant county in southern Xinjiang, a region of China that is home to more than 11 million Uyghurs. The minority has faced severe repression from the Chinese government in recent years. Ablet said his brother, a chef and businessman, “was very serious about his own identity as a Uyghur, he embraced culture and religion”.China has strenuously denied charges by human rights groups and western lawmakers o
Relatives plead with Thailand not to deport 48 Uyghur men to China
