Key facts
- Two Uyghur men were recently transferred to an immigration detention centre in Thailand, putting them at risk of deportation, rights groups said.
- The men had served a seven-year sentence for offences tied to an attempted escape from immigration detention in January 2020.
- They were among more than 200 Uyghurs apprehended by Thai police in 2014 near the Malaysian border after fleeing China.
- Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch called for the men to be allowed to travel to a safe third country.
- Chaipruak Doungprapat said the two men and three other imprisoned Uyghurs had arrest warrants outstanding in China.
- China's foreign ministry said China-Thailand cooperation against cross-border crime is consistent with the laws of both countries.
Two Uyghur men held in Thailand are at risk of deportation to China after recently being transferred to an immigration detention centre, human rights groups said, according to a Guardian report published on November 8, 2026. One of the men wrote in a July letter that he would be "like a slave" if sent back to China, the report said.
The men had been serving a seven-year prison sentence for offences related to an attempted escape from immigration detention in January 2020. They were part of a group of more than 200 Uyghur men, women and children apprehended by Thai police in 2014 near the border with Malaysia after they fled China. Since 2014, women and children in the group have been released to Turkey, while the men have been deported to China in separate batches, drawing criticism from the United Nations and US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, called for the men to be allowed to travel to a safe third country. "Previous Thai governments have kept Uyghurs in inhumane detention for years and then complied with Beijing's demands to send them to China, where they were forcibly disappeared," she said, according to the report.
The two men reportedly pleaded their case to Thailand's office of the National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. Chaipruak Doungprapat, Thailand's national security council chief, told reporters that the men, along with three other Uyghurs still in prison, had arrest warrants outstanding in China. It is not clear whether China has issued a formal extradition request.
Marzeyya Kasem, who asked to be referred to by her Islamic alias, questioned whether the warrants were credible, noting that her boyfriend was a minor when he left China. "If they are really wanted for a crime in China, why didn't China immediately issue a [Interpol] red notice [when they were detained in 2014]?" she asked, according to the report. She believes Thai authorities are trying to establish a more credible legal basis for deportation after criticism of last year's mass deportation.
A spokesperson for China's foreign affairs ministry said: "The cooperation between China and Thailand in combating cross-border illegal and criminal activities such as smuggling is consistent with the laws of the two countries, international law and international practice." A spokesperson for Thailand's foreign affairs ministry declined to comment.