Uyghur Refugee Dies After 9 Years of Thai Detention

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Facts

• Following the reported death of a second asylum seeker from China’s Muslim Uyghur minority in Thai custody within two months, human rights groups urged Thailand on Thursday to improve conditions in its immigration detention facilities.¹
• Last Friday, 40-year-old Mattohti Mattursun died of suspected liver failure shortly after being taken to a hospital in Bangkok weeks after falling ill, prompting Human Rights Watch to call for an end to the Thai government's “inhumane and counterproductive” policy of indefinitely detaining people accused of violating immigration law.²
• Also known as Muhammad Tursun, he was one of the 350 Uyghurs, including children, who were detained by Thai authorities in March 2014 as they were traveling to Malaysia after fleeing China.³
• This death comes just two months after 49-year-old Aziz Abdullah, another Uyghur asylum seeker, died in the same detention center from a reported case of pneumonia. Both men were reportedly transferred to the center in July last year.⁴
• Mattohti is the fifth Uyghur asylum seeker to die in a Thai detention facility in the past nine years. A 27-year-old man died of cancer at a Thai detention facility in 2018 after being detained there for four years, and two Uyghur children died in 2014, according to local media.⁵
• Accurate statistics about the number of people being held for violating immigration laws in Thailand are reportedly difficult to access. There were reportedly 1.6K detainees in Bangkok in March 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.¹

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²Washington Post, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴Vice and ⁵The News Mill.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Human Rights Watch. Uyghurs, who are already oppressed in China, continue to face oppression in neighboring countries as they flee the PRC. Refugees are being subjected to inhumane conditions in Thai detention facilities. Thailand has even sent Uygher refugees back to China for them never to be heard from again. The unjust refugee and migration system must be reformed, and Beijing's policies must be questioned.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. Uyghurs leaving China has nothing to do with the fabricated 'oppression' they face in China. All the claims about forced labor and the concern for human rights were invented by figures rabidly opposed to China in the US. Uyghurs live good lives in China, and any that exit the PRC make that choice due to other considerations.
• Narrative C, as provided by Thaipbsworld. Thailand's future elections may be a good opportunity for refugee advocates to advance their political objectives. Thailand is facing a migration crisis from multiple countries, with refugees pouring in from China and Myanmar and migrant workers streaming in from Cambodia and Laos. The next Thai government will hopefully prioritize human rights for migrants. Besides contributions to the economy, migrants should have a path to naturalization, which are all possible policies in the future.

Predictions