An Uyghur refugee from China’s Xinjiang region has died of alleged police neglect this month at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center, reported the Washingston-based VOA News, adding that the death has raised concerns about the treatment of the more than 50 Uyghur refugees who have been held at the centre since 2014.
As per the news report, the victim has been identified as Abdulaziz Abdullah. His son, Muhammad Abdullah, who lives in Kayseri, Turkey, said that his family had fled Xinjiang due to the oppression and repeated arrests of his father.
He said that Chinese police would arrest his father every year since 2009, as per the VOA News report.
“The Chinese police would arrest my father every year since 2009 whenever they started a Strike Hard [anti-terrorism] campaign,” VOA quoted Muhammad Abdullah as saying.
He added, “My father was a street fruit vendor in Urumqi. When the oppression was almost unbearable, my parents decided to leave the country and took us to Thailand.”China has been accused of mistreating Uyghurs. In August last year, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that there was credible evidence that China had committed “grave human rights abuses” against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang, including arbitrary detention, torture, forced sterilization, and cultural and religious erasure, as per the news report.
Muhammad Abdullah said his father wanted a better education and life for his children. As per the news report, Abdullah and his family left China in late 2013 and arrived in Thailand in early next year with the help of border smugglers. They were detained by Thai immigration authorities.
In the summer of 2015, Turkey on a humanitarian basis had taken nearly 170 Uyghur women and children, which included Muhammad Abdullah, his mother and siblings. Meanwhile, Thai authorities repatriated over 100 Uyghur men to China, as per the VOA News report. Muhammad Abdullah said his father and more than 50 adult Uyghur men remained in Thailand’s immigration detention facilities.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, said Thailand’s treatment of Uyghur refugees is a cause for concern. Speaking to VOA, Robertson blamed Thailand’s refusal to recognize the humanity of an asylum-seeker for Abdullah’s death. He urged the international community to call on Bangkok to release all remaining Ugyhurs in custody.
“[Abdullah] lost his life because of Thailand’s refusal to recognize the humanity of an asylum-seeker, someone fleeing persecution, and at the end, even failed to provide the medical care he needed,” Robertson told VOA.
“The quickest way to ensure the resumption of the lives of these men is to immediately release them as free men,” he said.
Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich, Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an Uyghur rights organisation, has called for an investigation into Abdullah’s death. Isa called for the release of Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand and called for allowing Uyghur refugees to access resettlement.
“We have been closely following the situation since the beginning. The WUC has issued a report on their case and other similar cases,” VOA quoted Isa as saying.
“Thai authorities should carry out a full and publicly available investigation into the death of Abdulaziz Abdullah, end the indefinite and arbitrary detention of the Uyghur refugee group, release Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand and allow Uyghur refugees to access resettlement,” Isa further said.
An Uyghur refugee and former cellmate of Abdullah’s at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center on the condition of anonymity said that Abdullah had been transferred in December from a different Thai detention facility to the Bangkok centre.
According to Uyghur refugee, Abdullah developed a cough and started vomiting blood. Abdullah’s former cellmate said that police guards and detention centre doctor neglected to take him to the hospital despite repeated requests. According to Uyghur refugee, the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center police ignored repeated pleas to help Abdullah.
“They came into the cell and they took his picture. He was still vomiting blood while they were taking pictures of him,” VOA quoted the Uyghur refugee as saying.
“They said they would report the situation to their boss and said they would take him to the hospital but left without taking him,” he further said.