State Department imposes sanctions on Thai officials after Uyghur men are deported to China
Source: Associated Press
State Department imposes sanctions on Thai officials after Uyghur men are deported to China
By DIDI TANG
Updated 4:01 PM EDT, March 14, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department on Friday announced sanctions on an unknown number of current and former Thai officials for their role in deporting at least 40 Uyghur men to China despite worries that they could be jailed or even face death there.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was immediately moving to impose visa restrictions on current and former officials responsible for or complicit in the deportations. No Thai official has been named. The visa restrictions were not explained but can entail a denial of entry to the U.S.
“We are committed to combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China, where they are subject to torture and enforced disappearances,” Rubio said in a statement.
The Uyghurs are a Turkic, majority Muslim group native to Xinjiang in China’s far west. After decades of conflict with Beijing over discrimination and suppression of their cultural identity, the Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs that some Western governments deem a genocide.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/rubio-sanctions-uyghurs-china-thailand-human-rights-f5f3b7d826da44c927eb467901544c98