US President Donald Trump's incoming secretary of state is among those calling for Thailand not to deport a group Uyghurs to China, where it is feared they would face persecution.
Five Uyghur detainees including two children have died in Thai detention over the past 11 years, according to the UN.A group of 48 Uyghurs , detained in Thailand since 2014, say they fear death if returned to China .
"We are concerned they are at risk of suffering irreparable harm," United Nations experts, including the special rapporteur on torture, said in a statement on Wednesday.The UN rights experts say around half the detainees have "serious health conditions".The Uyghurs are a mostly Muslim, Turkic ethnic group, whose culture and language are distinct from China's ethnic Han majority.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Bangkok said in a statement that the Uyghur detainees were terrorists, declaring Western media coverage of their situation "unfounded and irresponsible".US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sworn in on Tuesday last week, told his confirmation hearing in the US Senate that he would pressure Bangkok not to follow through with the deportations.
Mr Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, is one of the leading US critics of Beijing and has long championed the rights of Uyghurs.
Thailand China Deportation Marco Rubio Human Rights Watch United Nations Refugees Human Rights Xinjiang Genocide Persecution
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