More than 40 Uyghurs have been deported to China by Thailand, officials have confirmed, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights groups.
The group had been held in Thailand for more than a decade after they tried to cross the border in 2014 to seek asylum.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, with some Western governments deeming it a genocide. Beijing denies any abuses.
Thailand's National Police Chief, General Kitirat Phanphet, said that the group had been deported at the request of the Chinese government.
Early on Thursday, several trucks with windows covered in black tape were seen leaving the Bangkok immigration centre where the 40 Uyghurs had been held, images accompanying domestic media reports showed.
A few hours later, at 4.48am, an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight left the Don Mueang airport in the Thai capital to land six hours later in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region, tracker Flightradar24 showed.
"The Australian government strongly disagrees with to the decision of the Thai government to transfer a cohort of 40 Uyghurs to China against their will," said a statement from Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
"The Australian government has consistently expressed our grave concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, and the treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in China.
"We continue to raise these concerns at the highest levels with China."
Polat Sayim from the World Uyghur Congress told the ABC that he was exchanging messages with the detainees twice a day on a secret mobile phone. He said he hadn't heard from them since the afternoon of February 25.
'A death sentence'
Executive director of the human rights group Campaign for Uyghurs, Rushan Abbas, said the deportation marked "yet another dark chapter in the ongoing Uyghur genocide", describing it as "a death sentence carried out in plain sight".
"These individuals fled persecution seeking safety, only to be handed back to their oppressors — delivered straight into the hands of a regime that has orchestrated mass atrocities against our people."
"It is a shameful stain on the conscience of humanity … Thailand must face a global condemnation from the world community."
Since 2017, Chinese authorities have waged what they call a "people's war on terror" aimed at stamping out alleged extremism among Uyghurs.
At least 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities are estimated to have been detained extrajudicially in detention camps, which Beijing says are vocational training centres.
Asia director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said Thailand's decision "constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand's obligations under domestic and international laws".
"The men now face a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and long-term imprisonment in China," Ms Pearson said.
"Senior Thai officials had made multiple public assurances that these men would not be transferred, including to allies and UN officials.
"The government's actions undermine Thailand's credibility on the international stage and as a member of the UN Human Rights Council."
When asked about the deportation earlier on Thursday, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra didn't confirm it had taken place.
"This sort of issue, for any country, one has to follow the law, international process and human rights," she told reporters, without elaborating.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the deportation had taken place with China and Thailand working together to "combat human smuggling and other cross-border crimes".
He denied China mistreats Uyghurs.
"Some political forces and institutions fabricate and spread Xinjiang-related lies for no other reason than destabilising Xinjiang," Mr Lin said.
"We stand firmly against the attempts to use human rights as a pretext to interfere with China's internal affairs and to use Xinjiang-related issues to disturb normal law enforcement cooperation between countries."
Thailand has deported Uyghurs before
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday that the 40 repatriated Chinese had been "bewitched by criminal organisations" and were stranded in Thailand.
It said their families had repeatedly asked the Chinese government to assist in their return.
The 40 Uyghurs held in Thailand were part of a group of 300 who fled China and were arrested in 2014. Some were sent back to China and others to Turkey, with the rest kept in Thai custody.
Thailand's government has recently said there was no immediate plan to deport them, although it had not ruled out their return.
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 UN human rights experts.
Some diplomats and security analysts believe Thailand's deportation of 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015 led to the bombing of a busy Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people in the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Thailand was widely condemned for the deportation of the 100 Uyghurs, amid international concern that they could be tortured. Their fate is unknown.
Thai authorities at the time concluded the shrine attack was linked to their crackdown on a human trafficking ring, without specifically linking the group to the Uyghurs.
Two ethnic Uyghur men were arrested, and charged with murder and illegal possession of explosives and their trial is proceeding, despite repeated delays.
ABC/wires
