WASHINGTON — The U.S. 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.

Thailand Defends Its Actions

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said it had multiple times clarified with countries that have conveyed their concerns over the safety of the men that China assured that they would be unharmed, and that Thailand would follow up on their well-being.

“Thailand has always upheld a long tradition of humanitarianism, particularly in providing assistance to displaced persons from various countries for more than half a century and will continue to do so,” the ministry said in a statement.

Thailand’s ministers of defense and justice said they scheduled a trip to visit the men in China next week. A number of Thai journalists were invited to join them.

Uyghur Persecution in China

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.

More than 300 Uyghurs fleeing China were detained in 2014 by Thai authorities. By February, 48 Uyghurs remained in Thai detention when authorities prepared to send them back to China despite calls from Thai lawmakers and international officials not to do so.

Rubio condemned the return “in the strongest possible terms,” saying “Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor, and torture” in China.

In Facebook posts, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said 40 Chinese nationals who had been “smuggled” were repatriated to Xinjiang on a chartered flight and they had “all returned home and reunited with their families after more than 10 years.”

The embassy posted photos of family reunions over naans, nuts and fruits.

Rubio has been a longtime critic of Beijing, and he was twice sanctioned by the Chinese government in 2020 over his support for the rights of Uyghurs and people in Hong Kong.

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Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.