Thailand believed to have deported 2 Chinese activists

Thai immigration police allegedly took two Chinese political refugees under UN protection from their homes & put them on an airplane to China.

POLITICAL ASYLUM

Thailand believed to have deported 2 Chinese activists

18/11/2015
Associated Press

The UN refugee agency criticised Thailand on Tuesday for deporting two refugees who were about to be resettled in a third country.

Rights groups identified the two as Chinese pro-democracy activists, although the Bangkok office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) did not give their names or nationalities, or mention where they were granted asylum.

ON THEIR WAY TO THE US

This was hardly a mystery. The US branch of Amnesty International issued a statement Monday identifying them as Jiang Yefei and Dong Guangping, and said they were on their way to the United States - which was already common knowledge.

The UN criticism said UNHCR was "deeply concerned" about the Thai government's action, which was taken despite numerous appeals from its office and others.

Amnesty International said the pair were apparently sent to China last Friday. US government-supported Radio Free Asia gave the same identification.

TAKEN BY IMMIGRATION POLICE

According to the pro-dissident online group Front Line Defenders, which is based in Ireland, Mr Jiang and Mr Dong were taken from their Bangkok residences and placed into custody on Oct 28 by Thai immigration police.

They were held under police watch at Mr Jiang's home until they were taken to the airport for rendition to China.

RECEIVED UN LETTERS OF PROTECTION

The group said Mr Dong, his wife and their child had arrived in Thailand in late September to apply for asylum with the UNHCR in Bangkok. The family received UNHCR "letters of protection", supposedly good while their cases were being considered.

Mr Jiang, meanwhile, had been in Thailand since 2008. He received the same refugee status from the UNHCR as the Dong family last April. According to Front Line Defenders, he is chairman of the Thai branch of the Federation for a Democratic China.

A statement by Front Line Defenders said the group "believes that their arrests solely result from their peaceful and legitimate activities in the defence of human rights in China, and that their detentions may have been orchestrated by the authorities in China".

Thai and Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment.

POLITICAL CARTOONIST TORTURED

Radio Free Asia said Mr Jiang is a political cartoonist who was detained and tortured after criticising China's ruling Communist Party for mishandling relief and recovery efforts after the massive Sichuan earthquake in 2008. It said he has been living in Thailand since fleeing his country, and was granted refugee status by UNHCR in April.

Mr Dong was imprisoned for subversion in 2001-2004 and was secretly detained for eight months in 2014 before fleeing China with his family two months ago, RFA said.

BANGKOK BOMBING FOLLOWED UIGHUR REPATRIATION  

Thailand was criticised earlier this year for forcibly repatriating more than 100 members of the Uighur minority who had fled China, where they say they face repression.

China said some were terrorists and all had left the country illegally.

The Aug 17 bomb blast at the Erawan shrine followed that rendition.

It killed 20 people and was blamed by Thai police on a criminal gang that allegedly smuggled Uighurs out of China.

Authorities deny it was revenge for the mass deportation, but never have given an alternative explanation.

Two Uighur men, the only arrested suspects, are to be indicted in the case later this month or in December.

SEEKING WARMER RELATIONS WITH CHINA

Thailand's military junta, criticised by the United States for toppling an elected government last year, has sought warmer economic and political relations with China.

Thailand has never signed the international agreement pledging to honour UN refugee status, which would prevent their involuntary repatriation to their homeland while under threat. Governments have informally allowed such people to stay here, sometimes in detention centres.

DISAPPEARANCE FROM VACATION HOME IN THAILAND

The latest deportations came shortly after the disappearance of Gui Minghai, a Hong Kong-based book publisher, from his vacation home in Thailand.

Three other members of his company, Sage Communications, are reported to have disappeared while visiting mainland China, and all four are believed to be in the custody of the Chinese authorities.

The company, taking advantage of Hong Kong's status as a special region with more freedoms than the rest of China, had published books critical of the Communist Party and sold them and others at a bookstore it runs.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/768180/thailand-believed-to-have-deported-2-chinese-activists

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/769072/thailand-believed-to-have-deported-2-chinese-activists