Thai National Security Council Secretary General Anusit Kunakorn
The 109 ethnic Uighur refugees whose deportation to China by Thailand this month sparked an international outcry are being been treated well at a rehabilitation center where they’ve been held since their return, Thailand’s national security chief said yesterday. He said some were being investigated for their alleged involvement in terrorism.
Thai authorities sent back the Uighurs, who had been in Thailand for over a year and claimed to be Turkish, after determining they were Chinese. The repatriations were criticized by the U.N. refugee agency, the United States and others. In Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, protesters ransacked the Thai Consulate to denounce the decision.
National Security Council Secretary General Anusit Kunakorn was among five Thai officials who traveled to China last Wednesday to follow up on the Uighurs. They also met with top Chinese officials to discuss the issue.
Anusit told reporters yesterday that the Uighurs were living under good conditions at a rehabilitation center in Xinjiang province in western China.
The security chief said the Thai officials had been granted “unprecedented” access to the returned refugees by the Chinese authorities, noting that China’s government does not usually permit foreign governments or organizations to visit the center.
China’s position is that the Uighurs who were sent back by Thailand had left the country illegally. Beijing has accused Uighur separatists of terrorism in Xinjiang, where ethnic violence has left hundreds of people dead over the past two years. Thanyarat Doksone, Bangkok, AP
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