Thailand's deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China last week was in the Southeast Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai minister said on Thursday.

A group of at least 40 Uyghur men detained in Thailand for more than a decade have been deported to China, Thai and Chinese officials said Thursday. The men made a public appeal last month to halt the deportation,

Human rights groups warned that the Uyghurs, who were held in Bangkok for more than a decade, will face mistreatment from Chinese authorities back in Xinjiang.

Canada and the United States offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources told Reuters, but Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, where they were covertly deported last week.

Thailand acted in accordance with human rights when it sent 40 Uyghurs back to China last week, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters on Monday.

BANGKOK: Thailand's deportation of 40 Uighurs to China last week was in the South-east Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere,

Thai human rights advocates on Tuesday voiced their disapproval regarding the government's decision to deport 40 Uyghurs back to China, asserting that the United Nations should consider expelling Thailand from its Human Rights Council,