A group of Uyghur men detained in Thailand have made a plea to halt their deportation to China, according to the Associated Press. Beijing has accused the men of terrorism, without offering evidence. To learn more, TaiwanPlus spoke to Salih Hudayar, foreign minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile.
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00:00What do we currently know about the detained Uyghurs in Thailand, and why are they held there in the first place?
00:05These Uyghurs, they were the ones who were trying to flee China's ongoing campaign of genocide and mass internment,
00:14and they ended up being apprehended in Thailand.
00:19Some of them were sent back already, back at that time period.
00:25Others managed to seek refuge in Turkey and other places.
00:30China has long been demanding the return of these Uyghurs,
00:35or that the Thai government hand these Uyghurs back to the Chinese government.
00:41What potential consequences could this group of Uyghurs face if deported back to China?
00:45If sent back, or if handed over to the Chinese government,
00:49there's no doubt that they will be paraded as so-called terrorists,
00:54in the same way that they did with previous Uyghurs that were forced back.
00:58Then they will no doubt be interned in a prison, maybe in a concentration camp,
01:04maybe in a forced labor camp, where they will face no doubt torture and other horrible conditions.
01:12And at most, the gravest risk is that they might even be executed.
01:17What is your plea to the Thai government and the international community in response to the potential deportation?
01:23It's crucial that the Thai government refrains from sending, handing over these Uyghurs to the Chinese government,
01:31and instead upholds its international bound duties on the Treaty of Non-Refoulement,
01:37and seeks to release them to a third country where these Uyghurs can have safe refuge.
01:46This is where we call on the international community, especially governments like the United States, Japan, the EU, the UK,
01:54and other democratic nations to grant refuge and asylum to these Uyghurs that are fleeing persecution.