Corrections Dept says one of three Uyghur letters clearly fake
Thailand’s Corrections Department refutes claims by an opposition MP that a detained Uyghur in Klong Prem sent letters opposing repatriation to China. An investigation found no evidence of the letter’s authenticity, with one detainee denying authorship and the prison stamp found to be fake.
The Corrections Department announced on Monday that at least one of the three letters allegedly written by detained Uyghurs and a relative—unveiled last week by an opposition MP—was apparently fabricated.
While the department did not directly accuse anyone, its statement confirmed that an investigation had been conducted in coordination with Klong Prem Prison. The findings indicated that no Uyghur detainees at the facility had sent such a letter, as claimed by Fair Party MP Kannavee Suebsang.
Most Uyghur detainees are held at the Immigration Bureau’s headquarters for unlawful entry, but eight have been incarcerated at Klong Prem Prison following convictions for criminal offences.
Following the announcement last Thursday by both the Chinese embassy and the Thai government that 40 Uyghurs had been repatriated to China after 11 years in detention, Kannavee presented three letters to the media, claiming two were written by detained Uyghurs and one by a relative.
He stated that the first letter was written on 13 June 2024 by a Uyghur detainee at Klong Prem Prison to the UNHCR, expressing his wish not to be repatriated to China due to fears of torture and execution by the Chinese government. Kannavee alleged that the Immigration Bureau had confiscated the letter and only returned it to the detainee in January 2025 after he staged a hunger strike.
The second letter, Kannavee claimed, was written by a relative of 43 detained Uyghurs and sent to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 15 November, urging her to relocate all detained Uyghurs to Turkey to be reunited with their families. He said the letter reminded Paetongtarn that she had recently reunited with her own father after years of exile.
The third letter, according to Kannavee, was written by a Uyghur detainee at the Suan Plu detention facility of the Immigration Bureau, issuing an "SOS" plea to the international community. The detainee allegedly declared a hunger strike from 10 to 28 January.
In its statement on Monday, the Corrections Department reported that Klong Prem Prison had verified Kannavee’s claims with the Uyghur detainee allegedly behind the first letter, who denied writing it.
The department stated that the detainee confirmed the handwriting did not match his own and that he had not sent any letters since November. Additionally, the prison’s official stamp on the letter did not belong to Klong Prem Prison, and the facility has never stamped any sign on inmates’ letters.
The department also noted that no relative or lawyer had visited the Uyghur detainee at Klong Prem Prison.
