BANGKOK , Thailand ( CNN ) -- Scores of boat people who fled Myanmar and are now in Thailand are to be sent back despite human rights groups ' concerns they could be tortured or killed upon return . A photograph released by the Thai navy shows a group of men captured on December 12 . `` They will have to be sent back , according to our law , '' Thailand 's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told CNN . `` They are entering the country illegally . We do what they would do . '' The 12 boys and 66 men who arrived are among thousands of members of the Rohingya minority who have fled Myanmar , formerly known as Burma , because of persecution and in search of a better life . Many of them make it across a dangerous sea crossing in crowded boats to Thailand where they are housed in camps . But the Thai navy has been accused of forcing the boats back out to sea . The 78 people targeted for deportation are being held in Ranong , in southern Thailand . Two remain in hospital and no date has been set for the forced repatriation , an immigration official said . But human rights groups are concerned about what will happen to the men and boys when they return . Watch how crowded boats were towed out to sea and abandoned » . `` We know as a point of fact that there are Rohingya who 've been returned to Myanmar who have ended up in prison , '' Benjamin Zawacki , from Amnesty International , said . `` The Myanmar government has interviewed these 78 . Our fear is that if these people are sent back , the government has a record of who they are , where their families are , '' Zawacki said . `` They may be tortured and or they could even be killed . That would n't be out of the question -- that is the real fear . '' Sunai Phasuk , Thailand-Burma researcher for Human Rights Watch , said that the Rohingya had the `` unenviable distinction of being the most blighted '' people in Myanmar . `` Denied citizenship , subject to tight restrictions on movement , employment and religious freedoms , this Muslim minority have been the target of abuses by the Burmese military for decades , '' he said . `` Today they face serious risks of state violence and coercion , in part arising from preparations to build a pipeline through their region that will deliver offshore gas to China . Already reports are emerging of forced relocations and other abuses tied to gas exploitation . '' The Myanmar government has not responded to CNN 's request for an interview , but the plight of the Rohingya will be discussed at this weekend 's ASEAN summit of South-East Asian nations , which the Myanmar prime minister and foreign minister are expected to attend . However , the man that effectively runs the country , Senior General Than Shwe , will not attend . Thai Prime Minister Vejjajiva has stressed the need for regional cooperation to help solve the problem of the thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar . His government views them as economic migrants rather than political refugees and said it can not accommodate them in Thailand . A recent CNN investigation found evidence that the Thai army was towing boatloads of Rohingya out to sea and cutting them adrift . Hundreds are thought to have died as a result . Vejjajiva said the practice has stopped and insisted the Rohingya were given supplies of food and water . `` We regret some of the incidents that have happened in the past . They are now being corrected , '' he said .
and to deport nearly 200 men and women . They are among members of a minority to flee Myanmar amid reports of persecution . Human rights groups fear the Rohingya will face murder , torture if sent back .