The Thai National Security Council clarified today the status of five Uyghurs in Thailand, for whom the Chinese government has demanded extradition under the treaty between Thailand and China.
NSC Secretary-General Chaiyapruek Duangprapat said today that the five Uyghurs had been jailed in Thailand after they had escaped from detention. Two of them completed serving their terms last month.
Arrest warrants, issued by China, are still pending however, and none of them hold refugee status, said Chaiyapruek, adding that, if China wants to have the two who have served their prison terms sent back to China to stand trial, they must proceed in accordance with the extradition treaty.
The NSC chief said that the Thai Foreign Ministry will check if the arrest warrants are valid and, if so, the case would be processed through Thai judicial system.
The five Uyghurs have the right to appoint lawyers to defend them and fight against their extradition. Chaiyapruek said that, if the court rules that they are guilty, they will be extradited to China.
If not guilty, then their fate will depend on whether a third country accepts them as refugees, he said, as he insisted that the extradition process is purely a judicial, not a policy matter, unlike the cases of 40 Uyghurs who were previously deported to China.
