Vietnamese Christian advocate Y Quynh Bdap was reportedly extradited by order of a Thai court, despite evidence he had been persecuted by Vietnamese officials and warnings that he faces torture or enforced disappearance if returned to Vietnam.
A Thai Appeals Court announced the decision against the well-known Montagnard Christian activist on November 26 in a courtroom packed with officials from embassies, human rights groups, and press. Thailand has no extradition treaty with Vietnam.
Years of Persecution
Bdap, an advocate for Vietnam’s Montagnard ethnic minorities, was targeted by the Vietnamese government for his house church activities and his defense of Montagnard Christians. Beginning in 2013, officials interrogated, detained, violently abused him, and banned his travel overseas. In 2018, he and his family fled to Thailand, where they received refugee status from the UN High Commissioner on Refugees.
Montagnards, or hill people, are predominantly Christian and have faced severe religious and ethnic discrimination for decades. Many allied with U.S.-backed South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, a legacy that continues to shape their treatment by the communist government. Bdap’s grandfather worked with the US military in the war.
Accusation of “Terrorism” and Show Trial
After Bdap escaped the country, Vietnamese authorities accused him of “terrorism” and tried him in a “mobile court,” a publicized show trial intended to intimidate others. He was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison.
Human rights advocates warn that extraditing a recognized refugee to a country where he is likely to face torture would violate Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, as well as international treaties to which Thailand is a party.
Appeals for Intervention
Christian Freedom International (CFI), which is providing support for Bdap’s family, appealed to U.S. officials for urgent intervention.
“Y Quynh Bdap and other Montagnard church members suffered torture, abuse, and prison. Some died soon after they were released from prison. Women were forcibly sterilized under Vietnam’s two-child policy,” said Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International. “I met Bdap and other Vietnamese Christian refugees in 2022, and with Bdap’s family on the day before the Appeal Court’s decision. Their faith is vibrant and resolute. Their testimonies of abuse by Vietnamese officials still haunt me.”
In October 2024, the Vietnam Caucus of the US House of Representatives urged then-Secretary of State Blinken to prevent Bdap’s extradition. In a letter, the caucus warned:
“Vietnam has a history of hasty trials, charging activists with crimes without evidence, and giving them harsh sentences under vague national security laws… Should Mr. Y Quynh Bdap be extradited to Vietnam, he will face the danger of torture and will not receive proper due process and a free trial.”
At the same time in October 2024, religious freedom advocates urged Thailand’s Prime Minister to not return Bdap to Vietnam in a letter that outlines his history of persecution:
When Bdap was a student in vocational school, he was detained and tortured for five days for advocating for religious freedom for Montagnard Christians. In 2012, he was investigated for his religious activities, arrested, interrogated, and detained for five months. In 2013, he was detained and interrogated for his house church activities and accused of “harming the national unity policy”. During interrogations, he was tortured.
In 2016, Mr. Bdap attended a training on human rights and religious freedom in Thailand. On his return, he was detained and the Vietnamese government issued a long-term ban on overseas travel. For two years, he was frequently interrogated and prevented from practicing Christianity. In 2018, after many of his friends and colleagues were arrested, he and his family fled to Thailand.
Mr. Bdap and two Montagnard Christians founded the Montagnard Stand for Justice (MSFJ) to peacefully advocate and train Montagnard Christians on Vietnamese and international law. MSFJ taught how to collect information and prepare reports to the United Nations and the international community on religious persecution and human rights violations. Mr. Bdap helped to prepare reports that led to UN letters of allegation to the Vietnamese government.
In June 2023, a group of Montagnards led a violent attack against several government buildings in Vietnam. Mr. Bdap and MSFJ had nothing to do with this group or the attack. On the day of the attack, MSFJ issued a statement denouncing the violence and raising concerns that the Vietnamese government may use it to crackdown on Montagnard house churches. Two months later, the Vietnamese government issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Bdap.
In June 2024, Thai police arrested Mr. Bdap based on an extradition request by the Vietnamese government. In September 2024, a Thai criminal court approved his extradition and placed him in detention while the Royal Thai Government makes a final decision on his extradition to Vietnam.
US Previously Sanctioned Thai Officials
In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Thai officials for their role in deporting at least 40 Uyghur men to China where they face persecution.
The sanctions appeared intended to discourage Thailand from such deportations.
Picture: Bdap, with child, and Montagnard Christians met with Wendy Wright (center), CFI’s president.