We know from precedents that when China allows foreigners to visit prisoners, all is carefully staged to portray a fake picture.
By Kok Bayraq
March 17, 2025
Last week, Thai authorities announced that they would visit China on March 18 to learn about the situation of Uyghurs deported there from Thailand on February 27. This visit is a shameless political game that clearly justifies the complicity of China and Thailand and puts Uyghur deportees and their families in even greater danger.
Thai authorities initially stated that these Uyghurs were sent back at their own request. When that this statement was false became obvious, they tried to shift the blame by stating that there was no country that would accept these Uyghurs and that the UN had not granted them asylum status. Finally, after it was revealed that countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia had submitted requests to accept the Uyghurs, they admitted that they had repatriated them against their will out of fear of Chinese retaliation.
In fact, after acknowledging that they fear retaliation from China, Thai authorities should have stopped trying to cover up their crimes or shortcomings through a political theater. Unfortunately, they continue to play this game, further endangering the lives of the deportees and their relatives.
For eleven years, when they were in their hands, Thai authorities showed no mercy to these Uyghurs, detained them in terrible conditions, and finally sent them back to China despite their pleas. Now, where did this empathy and sympathy come from? Or why did this sense of responsibility appear out of nowhere so quickly, in just fifteen days? How could Thailand, which is afraid of China, have the courage to investigate the real situation of the deportees? And if it did, what could it do?
As is known, the fear here is not China’s threat of military action against Thailand, but of cutting off Chinese economic aid or canceling agreed economic projects. TikTok’s $8.8 billion investment plan for Thailand, announced last week, also hints at this concern.
In a 2015 report on Uyghurs repatriated from Thailand, China showed one of the repatriates, Qudus Yusup with his head wrapped in tape. He explained that he was afraid of being sent back to China and that he had resisted getting out of the car at the airport to avoid boarding the plane, breaking his head in the process. Although the report was initially designed to prove that Qudus Yusup was not currently in prison in response to international criticism, it revealed that there had been a bloody incident at the airport at the time, with at least one person injured.
In 2010, when Cambodia deported twenty-two Uyghurs, China reported that the deportees had not been subjected to any tortures and one of them, Shahide Qurban, had been released and was living in peace with her two children. Last year, twelve years after the deportations, Radio Free Asia reported that those repatriated from Cambodia had been subjected to brutal torture, including being placed in electric chairs. Shahide Qurban was pregnant when she was deported and had a miscarriage shortly after the interrogation due to torture.
Tursunay Ziyawudun, a camp survivor living in the United States, told the authors: “Before I left the camp, I was called to the camp office for a memorial video, but I couldn’t pose as the cameraman expected.” She continued: “My clothes were changed, my hair was dyed and curled, and my face was made up; but I couldn’t smile. I was able to do it after posing more than ten times in a week, and I was released.” “I learned why this appearance was necessary after I went abroad from China’s international news,” she added. In an interview with RFA, camp survivor Gulzire Avulkan (also spelled Auelhan) said crying was forbidden in the camp and her hair was occasionally dyed.
Based on these facts, we can definitely predict that some or all of the Uyghur exiles will be temporarily released from prison and forced to speak and express to thank Chinese and Thai authorities. Those who will resist, will be unwilling to participate in the theater, or will not comply will be tortured again and punished more severely. Their relatives will also be subjected to the same procedure.
Due to the fear they express and the interests it cannot give up, Thailand does not have the inclination to see such truths, nor the power, skill, and opportunity to correct the painful situation it has created.
Therefore I call on the Thai authorities not to put our brothers in further danger with this shameful visit that aims to legitimize China’s and their own crimes. I also call on the international community to urge the Thai authorities to put an end to this political game that aims to deceive them.
Source: bitterwinter.org
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