The US State Department said it had called on Malaysia to allow the UN refugee agency access to the Uygurs – among a group of 20 originally from China who escaped from Thailand last year – to determine their eligibility for international protection and eventual resettlement in a third country. The Malaysian Bar has urged the government not to repeat the incident of August 2011 when it returned to China 11 Uighurs who were residing in Malaysia, including some who were registered as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Kuala Lumpur said it will honor its agreement with Beijing to extradite the Uighurs after the conclusion of a police investigation, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said last week.