China seeks to arrest 5 Uyghurs detained in Thailand; Thai court will decide whether to deport them

Human rights groups have expressed concern about the situation of the five men. They belong to a Muslim minority group that activists say is persecuted in China. Last month, two of them were pardoned by Thailand.

They were among more than 300 Uyghurs detained in Thailand in 2014. Most have since left Thailand - including about 40 who were sent to China last year, a move that sparked strong international condemnation.

The five people were jailed for trying to escape from an immigration detention center in 2020. Under Thai law, they must serve their sentences before being deported.

Two of them were pardoned last month and are currently being held in an immigration detention center awaiting their fate.

"These five people face arrest warrants in China and they have not been granted refugee status," Chaipruak Doungprapat, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, told reporters on Wednesday.

He said that if China makes an extradition request, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs will conduct an assessment and the court will subsequently make a ruling.

"If the court finds them guilty, they will be handed over to China in accordance with the extradition treaty," Chaipluk said.

"If they win the case, the final outcome will depend on whether other countries are willing to take them in."

Asked on Wednesday about the fate of the five, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning did not provide details.

She said: "The cooperation between China and Thailand in combating illegal immigration and other cross-border criminal activities is in line with the laws of the two countries, international law and international practices."

'serious risk'

Thailand is not a party to the United Nations Refugee Convention but is bound by the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning people to places where their life or freedom may be in danger.

Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday that the Uyghurs face "significant risk of torture and other serious ill-treatment" in China and should be allowed to travel to a safe third country.

Beijing is accused of detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017, an action the United Nations has previously said may amount to "crimes against humanity."

China has firmly denied the accusations, saying its policies have boosted economic development and stamped out extremism in the Xinjiang region, home to the majority of Uighurs.

In letters written by the two pardoned men, shared with AFP by the Peace Rights Foundation, they said they did not want to return to China. The foundation provides them with legal representation.

One of the letters read: "If we return to China, we and our parents will definitely be sentenced to death."

“Uyghurs have no human rights and are treated even worse than animals.”

The letter also stated: "China is slandering us. We are not terrorists."

"I would rather die than go back."

Thailand's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from AFP.

But according to parliamentary minutes, a foreign ministry official told a parliamentary committee on September 16 that both China and a Western country had requested that five detained Uyghurs be handed over to them.

Kannavee Suebsang, president of the Peace Rights Foundation, said defense lawyers have been unable to meet with the two pardoned men since they were transferred to immigration detention on October 21.

The pair told a Thai human rights commissioner on Wednesday that they wanted to be resettled to a third country, Subhusan told AFP.

"They refuse to return to China and would rather die than go back."