Rights group urges Thailand to stop forcing dissidents to return to countries they fled for safety

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Human Rights Watch is urging the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to homelands where they may face torture, persecution or death. The international rights group analyzed 25 cases over nine years and said Thai authorities violated international law by expelling the dissidents. Many were Cambodians who were forcibly repatriated with the suspected involvement of Cambodian security personnel. But the group also concluded dissidents from Vietnam, Laos and China were tracked down and abducted, or forcibly disappeared or killed. The report said that Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, in return, helped the Thai government to spy on Thai dissidents who had fled political repression in their own home country.