The US embassy in Bangkok warned Americans on Friday of a “violent retaliation attack” after a group of 45 Uighurs were deported to China by Thailand, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was condemned for “the strongest possible conditions.”
Thai police and security officials said China has given assurances that men who have been detained for more than a decade will not face penalties or be harmed. They said at a press conference on Thursday they all returned voluntarily after being shown a translation of the Chinese agreement, which declared that they were allowed to live normally.
“Similar deportation has spurred violent retaliatory attacks in the past,” the US embassy warned Friday. “Most notable is that, in the wake of the deportation of Uyghurs from Thailand in 2015, an explosive device that exploded at the Erawan Temple in Bangkok killed 20 people and injured 125 people as the shrine is frequently visited by tourists from China.”
The embassy is now encouraging Thai Americans to “exercise caution and vigilance in busy areas that are frequented by tourists, especially as there is a possibility of increased collateral risk.”
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The truck with black tape covering the windows will be seen leaving the detention centre in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, February 27th. (via ap/nuttaphol meksobhon/prachatai
Rubio condemned the deportation on Thursday, describing it as “where at least 40 Uighurs are forced return to China, where they lack the right to a legitimate process and where Uighurs face persecution, forced labor and torture.”
“As a longtime ally of Thailand, we are uneasy about this lawsuit, which risks violating international obligations under the UN treaty against torture and violating the international treaty on protection from forced disappearance of all people,” Rubio continued. “This behavior violates the Thai people’s long-standing tradition of protection for the most vulnerable people and contradicts Thailand’s commitment to protecting human rights.”
“We urge all governments in countries that seek protection so that Uyghur people do not forcefully return their ethnic groups to China,” he added.
“We are calling on Chinese authorities to provide full access to regularly verify the well-being of Uyghur people returned,” Rubio said. “The Thai government must continue to insist and fully verify that Chinese authorities protect the human rights of Uyghur people.”
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Thai soldiers inspected the scene after a bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in central Bangkok on August 17, 2015. (Pornchai kittiwongsakul/afp via Getty Images)
Thai lawmakers, activists and lawyers issued warnings on Wednesday that the man was about to be deported, and after midnight a truck with black sheets covering the window left the immigration detention centre in Bangkok, where they were held.
The media reported that the truck appears to have driven them to Bangkok’s Don Muean airport. There, airlines in southern China were waiting, then flew to the heart of China’s Uyghur population in northwestern Xinjiang Province.
In a statement on Facebook, the Chinese embassy confirmed on Thursday that 40 Chinese citizens whom Thailand has said they have entered illegal have been deported to Xinjiang by chartered flights.
He was standing for police outside the US Embassy in Bangkok on January 28th, 2015. (Reuters/Chaiwat subprasom)
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He said the man had been detained in Thailand for more than a decade due to “complex international factors.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
