Suspected Uighurs from China's troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, sit inside a temporary shelter after they were detained at the immigration regional headquarters near the Thailand-Malaysia border in Hat Yai, Songkla March 14, 2014. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court will decide this month whether to release 17 Uighurs from the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, including 13 children, who have been detained for the past 11 months in Bangkok, a lawyer for the group said on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang in the past two years, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Small numbers of Uighurs, a Muslim people from Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language, have been trickling out of China to Southeast Asia with some ending up in Thailand.
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