Thailand condemned for ‘shameful’ mass deportation of Uyghur refugees to China

The family of one of dozens of Uyghurs feared to have been forcibly deported from Thailand to China have condemned the decision as “shameful”. The deportations came despite a UN statement saying those being sent to China faced a “real risk of torture” on their return.

Thailand ignored protests by the UN refugee agency, EU and US in deporting 40 Uyghurs who had been detained in the country for a decade, claiming they had returned voluntarily “to their normal lives” with their families.

However, speaking to the Guardian, the family of one of those thought to have been deported said it was “impossible” that the men would want to be sent back to China.

Mihriman Muhammed. Photograph: Emre Çaylak/Guardian

“Who wants their family to be sent back to a place like that, with no freedoms and where everything is monitored by the government? It’s a lie.

“Their families in China know what hardships they face,” said Mihriman Muhammed, 38, who fled the country in 2014.

There has been exodus of Uyghurs from China’s Xinjiang region over the past decade, where China is accused of committing human rights abuses including torture and the incarceration of an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. China denies the accusations.

Muhammed said she and her then husband, Polat, 39, left Korla, the second-largest city in Xinjiang after she was arrested and forced by police to remove her hijab and Polat was banned from attending prayers at a mosque.

While Muhammed, who was pregnant with their second child, and their son made it to Turkey, Polat was arrested and has been detained in Thailand ever since.

Polat Muhammed, seen on Mihriman Muhammed’s phone. Photograph: Emre Çaylak/The Guardian

“We just wanted a peaceful life where we could raise our children and not be seen as a criminal,” said Muhammed, who shared one of the final exchanges of messages between her now 10-year-old daughter and Polat. Her daughter has never met her father.

“Father, I am 10 years old now without you looking after me,” she wrote. “I promise to come and look after you,” Polat replies. “OK, don’t lie to me, father,” she says. After he insists he will, she replies: “Very well, dear father, I will wait for you. May Allah bring us together.”

“There is no way Polat or his family still living in China would have wanted him to return there. He just wanted to see his children again,” said Muhammed.

Since Polat’s arrest, Muhammed said she has had no information from either the Chinese, Thai or Turkish authorities about his fate. None of the people deported has yet been named, so she is still not certain if he has been sent back.

“It’s shameful for Thailand to send these people to China, even though the family and whole world knows it is an unsafe place for Uyghurs,” she said.

“Everything China has done has been staged. The world should be more careful because after they are deported there is no way back.”

In handwritten letters shared with the Guardian apparently from three other Uyghurs being held in Thailand, the detainees also pleaded not to be sent back to China.

They said they had been asked to sign a document consenting to be voluntarily repatriated but had refused to do so. Returning to China would mean imprisonment or death, one wrote.

Thailand said it had received reassurances from China that the deported Uyghurs would be cared for and not mistreated.

China’s embassy in Thailand said those who had been repatriated were illegal border crossers “not refugees”.

It said those who had returned would be assisted with reintegration into their former lives “as soon as possible” and would be given “employment support and vocational training”. Vocational training is a term which has been associated with the Chinese authorities’ detention camps and forced labour transfer programmes.