Thailand Orders Court Process for Two Uyghur Men Held by China

Two Uyghur men detained in Bangkok for over a decade will now face a formal court process before Thailand decides whether to return them to China. This shift places the decision in the hands of the judiciary rather than the executive branch, a change that could determine their fate. The men were released from prison in late October and are currently held at the Suan Plu immigration detention center in Bangkok.

Chaipruak Doungprapat, the head of Thailand’s National Security Council, announced the new procedure on Wednesday. He stated that his agency will not make a unilateral decision on their deportation. Instead, the case will move through the courts, allowing the men to defend themselves. If the court rules in their favor, the men may be resettled in another country. If the court rules against them, they will be extradited according to the treaty between the two nations.

"But if the court rules against them, they will be extradited according to the treaty. This is the judicial process," Doungprapat said.

The decision follows growing concern that the two men, a 26-year-old and a 35-year-old, would be sent back to China imminently. In letters shared publicly last week, the men pleaded not to be returned. "Every time we are worrying from China to take back us," one of them wrote. "We aren’t terrorist," the other added. The letters were shared by Kannavee Suebsang, a former lawmaker and founder of the Peace Rights Foundation, a human rights group that represents the men.

China has long pushed for the return of the men, who were part of a larger group detained in 2014. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday that cooperation between the two countries in combating cross-border crimes and illegal immigration aligns with international law and practice. Mao did not confirm whether China had formally submitted an extradition request, though Thai officials said such a request is required to proceed.

The two men were originally caught by Thai authorities in 2014 near the Malaysian border while fleeing China. They were part of a group of more than 300 Uyghurs. Thailand had previously sent a group of mostly women and children to Turkey. In 2015, Thai authorities deported 109 other detainees to China against their will. That action sparked an international outcry and led to the ransacking of the Thai embassy in Turkey. For more than a decade, the Thai government delayed a final decision on the remaining group.

In February 2025, Thailand deported 40 Uyghur men to China. That move occurred despite pleas from Thai lawmakers and U.N. officials not to deport them. The current case involves the last two men from that original 2014 detention group.

Sasinan Thamnithinan, a lawmaker from the opposition People's Party, argued that Thailand must ensure no individual is returned to a country where they could face torture. "Maintaining international relations is important, but it must not take precedence over human rights and the rule of law. No one should be sent back to face danger simply because the government wants to end a problem," Sasinan said in a statement.

Uyghurs are a Turkic, majority Muslim ethnic group native to Xinjiang in China's northwest. The Chinese government has implemented strict controls on the group, a practice some Western governments have described as a genocide. The two men in Bangkok are the final subjects of a decade-long diplomatic and legal dispute between Bangkok and Beijing.