Thai court orders extradition of Vietnam activist who rights groups say will be at risk if returned

BANGKOK -- A Thai court on Monday ordered the extradition of a 32-year-old Vietnamese activist detained in Bangkok, despite fears among rights groups he could be at risk if sent home.

The Bangkok Criminal Court granted Vietnam's request for the extradition of Y Quynh Bdap, who was detained in the Thai capital in June.

The co-founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group was convicted in absentia in Vietnam in January of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison on allegations that he was involved in organizing anti-government riots in Vietnam’s central highland province of Dak Lak last June.

Bdap's attorney, Nadthasiri Bergman, said she was already working on an appeal, which has to be filed within the next 30 days. Regardless of the outcome, the Thai government could also decide diplomatically not to enforce the extradition order as well.

“The prime minister has the right, if they want to protect human rights, they can do it," she told reporters outside the court. “If he goes back to his country there will be a threat to his life, so the government should respect that evidence.”

Bdap has been seeking asylum in Canada and had a meeting with Canadian Embassy officials in Bangkok the day before he was taken into custody. Canadian officials have refused to comment on the case.

Bdap was in Thailand at the time of the Dak Lak riots at two district government offices in which nine people were killed, including four police officers and two government officials.

Overall, about 100 people have been tried for alleged involvement in the riots, and 53 have been convicted on terrorism charges.

Days after the verdicts, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang rejected criticism that Vietnam had used the trial as an opportunity to crack down on ethnic minorities.

Vietnam has long been criticized by rights groups and others for its treatment of the country’s Montagnard minority, a term loosely used to refer to many predominantly Christian ethnic groups that live in the central highlands and neighboring Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch has said many have been driven to seek asylum in Cambodia and Thailand as Vietnamese authorities have subjected their communities to intimidation, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment in custody.

“Y Quynh Bdap would be at real risk if returned to Vietnam,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, at the time the activist was apprehended.

“Thai authorities should immediately release this prominent religious freedom advocate and refugee. Returning him to Vietnam would be a violation of Thailand’s obligations under Thai and international law,” Lau said.

Human Rights Watch has criticized Thailand for sending home dissidents from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China to uncertain fates, in what it said in a recent report was a quid-pro-quo form of transnational repression, in which those countries sent home dissidents wanted by Thailand.