BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand should be commended for its handling of its return of 40 Uyghur Muslims to China, a deputy premier said on Friday, as his country endured a torrent of international condemnation over its secretive deportation.

A group of 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,

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.