Thailand extradites Vietnamese activist: Lawyer

BANGKOK - A Vietnamese activist who was granted refugee status by the UN has been extradited by Thailand to Vietnam, where he faces a decade in prison, his lawyer said on Dec 1.

A Thai appeal court ruled last week to allow the extradition of Y Quynh Bdap, who had lived in exile in Thailand since 2018.

A Vietnamese court sentenced him in absentia in January 2024 for terrorism offences.

Bdap was convicted for remotely orchestrating 2023 attacks in which

gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on two police posts

in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, killing nine people in a rare act of violence against the communist authorities.

He has denied the allegations.

“Thai immigration said Bdap was handed over to Vietnamese officials without giving further details. We have no news about his fate,” his lawyer Nadthasiri Bergman told AFP.

The handover happened on Nov 28, she said.

A spokesman for the Thai immigration department could not be immediately reached on Dec 1.

The Thai corrections department said in a statement on Nov 28 that it had coordinated with Thai police to transfer Y Quynh Bdap back to Vietnam.

Bdap was granted refugee status by the United Nations but he had been detained in a Bangkok prison since December when he was jailed for staying in the country without proper travel documents.

UN-affiliated experts warned in 2024 that Bdap would be at risk of “torture or other ill-treatment or punishment” if sent back to Vietnam.

Mr Sunai Phasuk, an adviser at Human Rights Watch, wrote on X that Bdap was extradited “despite concerns from the UN, human rights groups, Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission, and western governments that he will face unjust prosecution, including 10 years prison term”.

Vietnamese police have said Bdap is the founder of Montagnards Stand for Justice and accused him of directing people there to carry out the 2023 attacks.

The group advocates for freedom of religion for Vietnam’s hill tribes and ethnic minority groups, which have been branded “terrorists” by the authorities.

Montagnards – the collective name for various tribes in the Central Highlands – sided with the US-backed south during Vietnam’s decades-long war.

Some have called for more autonomy, while others abroad advocate independence for the region. AFP