Children, part of a group of asylum seekers, sit in a truck as Thai Immigration officials escort them to a court in Songkhla province on March 15. Photo: Tuwaedaniya Meringing / AFP
A Chinese embassy official yesterday said almost half the 218 refugees found in Songkhla province are indeed Chinese Uighurs after visiting them at an immigration dentention center.
Due to the sensitivity of the issue, Thai authorities have yet to officially recognize the nationality of the refugees, mostly comprised of families with children.
But Chinese official Zhang Yiming went one step further: He said authorities in China already know the home addresses of most of the parents of the group, according to the Bangkok Post.
The refugees are widely believed to be Uighurs fleeing China’s Xinjiang province due to persecution, and human rights advocates say they’ll likely face abuse and possibly torture if China succeeds in convincing Thailand to deport them back to Xinjian
At the time of their arrest, the group identified themselves as Turkish, which urban refugee organizations attribute to their fear of forced return to China.
Nearly 300 suspected Uighurs have been arrested this year, many of whom are now incarcerated at an immigration jail in downtown Bangkok, with about 150 women and children being held in government shelters.
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