Key events:

• Thai Court Sets Extradition Hearing for Montagnard Activist Y Quynh Bdap
• State Department Upgrades Vietnam’s Trafficking in Persons Status as Tier 2
• Political Prisoner Truong Van Dung Shackled in Solitary Confinement for ‘Defamation of Others’ Dignity’

Thai Court Announces Extradition Hearing Date for Montagnard Activist Y Quynh Bdap

Thai authorities have scheduled an extradition trial for Montagnard activist Y Quynh Bdap, 32, on July 15, 2024, VOA News reported. Bdap was arrested in Thailand on June 11, 2024, over immigration offenses. Thailand has reportedly detained Bdap at the request of the Vietnamese government. In 2018, Bdap fled to Thailand to escape persecution by the Vietnamese authorities for his advocacy of religious freedom. Recently, the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok interviewed him on his asylum application.

Many human rights organizations have repeatedly urged Thailand not to extradite the Montagnard activist to Vietnam, expressing concerns that it could endanger his safety. They referred to the repatriation of Bdap as a “swap mart,” in which authoritarian regimes in the region do each other’s favor by returning their wanted dissidents. A court in Dak Lak Province in January this year convicted Bdap of “committing terrorism” in absentia. It sentenced him to 10 years in prison following a riot in the region on June 11, 2023, which resulted in several casualties.