Thailand on Thursday deported 40 Uyghur asylum seekers back to China, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United Nations’ refugee agency and activists who had long warned that the men would possibly face torture and long-term imprisonment upon their return.

       Thailand’s police chief, Kittirat Panpetch, confirmed the move at a news briefing on Thursday, saying that Thailand had deported the Uyghurs at the request of the Chinese government. He said the matter had been handled by the country’s police and national security council.

       The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called the deportation of the Uyghurs a “clear violation” of international law.

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       China has used its power and influence to silence its critics abroad and pressure governments to repatriate citizens fleeing persecution. The group of Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority in China, had been detained in Bangkok for over a decade. They were part of a wave of more than 300 people who fled China in 2014, hoping to use Thailand as a transit point to get to Turkey, which is home to a sizable Uyghur community. Last month, some of the detainees, who are all men, went on a hunger strike amid fears of being returned to China.

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       A photograph provided on condition of anonymity showed Uyghur detainees sitting in an immigration detention center in Bangkok, in February.Credit...Associated Press

       The plight of the Uyghur detainees in Thailand has drawn scrutiny from many governments, including the United States. During his confirmation hearing for secretary of state last month, Marco Rubio said he would lobby Thailand not to send the Uyghurs back to China. And on Tuesday, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen warned that any deportations would be “ill-advised.”

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