Rights groups urge Thailand to release Vietnamese activist, saying he faces torture if extradited

Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A group of nearly three dozen rights groups are calling on Thailand’s prime minister to release a Vietnamese activist who has been ordered extradited home to face imprisonment on terrorism charges. They say he faces the possibility of torture if returned. Y Quynh Bdap is the co-founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group. He fled to Thailand in 2018 to escape persecution in Vietnam, which has been long criticized for its treatment of the country’s predominantly Christian Montagnard minority. His group advocated for Montagnards’ religious and other rights, which the NGOs said in their letter Friday made him a target of the Vietnamese government.