The United States and other countries made repeated offers to Thailand to resettle more than three dozen Uyghur men before they were deported back to China, where rights groups fear they may face torture and other abuse,

Thailand's government has repeatedly defended the secretive deportation, which came despite calls from United Nations human rights experts who said the Uyghurs would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned to China.

Dozens of Uyghur men detained in Thailand after fleeing China may have been secretly deported to their home country, activists and rights groups said on Thursday, warning they could face torture and imprisonment on their return.

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 defended its deportation of 40 Uyghur detainees to China last week as the “best solution” to avoid a backlash from Beijing, after a rights group said the move violated international law and the returnees could face torture.

The Thai government violated domestic and international law by forcibly sending at least 40 Uyghur men to China, where they could face torture, arbitrary detention, and long-term imprisonment.

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.

Rights groups criticized the Thai government for sending the Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority, back to China, where they face the risk of torture and imprisonment.

The government chose not to send the asylum seekers to a third country in order to avoid retaliation from Beijing, diplomats and opposition lawmakers say.

China has assured Thailand that 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after, Thailand's defence minister said, confirming a secretive pre-dawn deportation that the United Nations and human rights groups condemned.