Thailand should be commended for managing the return of 40 Uyghurs to China, a deputy premier said on Friday, as his country endured a torrent of international condemnation over its secretive deportation and Bangkok embassies sent out security alerts.

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,

A China Southern Airlines plane took off from Don Mueang Airport at 4:48 a.m., with a destination marked “unspecified” on the Flightradar24 system and landed at Kashgar Airport, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, about six hours later. In Bangkok, the petition was dismissed.