PHUKET: Six asylum seekers from Syria have been held at Phuket International Airport for nearly a month in a standoff between the Thai Government and UN refugee agency representatives, Immigration officials confirmed to Phuketwan this afternoon.

News of the unusual arrest was first published in the online magazine asiacorrespondent.com. Phil Roberston, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, is quoted as saying that the asylum seekers were bound for Sweden via Beijing when they were stopped by Chinese immigration officials.

The six, all men, Phuketwan has confirmed. were sent back to Phuket - their last departure point - on January 13.

They've been held at Phuket International Airport since then, officials said, without explaining why the six have not been transferred to Phuket Immigration headquarters in Phuket City.

''Much of the rest of the world has recognised the critical importance of helping Syrians fleeing the rights abuses, political reprisals and violent civil war in their country,'' Robertston said.

''The least that Thailand can do is to undertake to receive the trickle of Syrian asylum seekers that come this far, and provide them with the chance to get the protection from UNHCR that they so desperately need.

''Thailand should not be hard-hearted in the face of such a crisis - and they should start by immediately releasing the six in the Phuket airport lock-up.''

The reason they were stopped in Beijing is unclear, but Robertson told the online magazine the bar was probably to do with their travel documents.

He said that human rights officials have heard that at least some of the detainees are on a hunger strike but that because the Thai government has not allowed interviewers to see them, little about their circumstances or condition is known.

Phuketwan was attempting to find out more about the circumstances of the unusual standoff today.

It's not known whether the Phuket airport six are fleeing the ongoing violence in Syria, whether they are political dissidents, or whether they are seeking asylum for other reasons.