Source: www.persecution.org
Date: July 16, 2024
Thailand (International Christian Concern) — Vietnamese Christian activist Y Quynh Bdap, who has been in Thailand since 2018, had his hearing for his extradition to Vietnam postponed until August.
In January, a Vietnamese court convicted the co-founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group of terrorism for “organizing anti-government riots in Vietnam’s central highland province of Dak Lak,” according to the Associated Press.
Bdap, who was living in Thailand at the time of the riots, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government made an extradition request for Bdap, and he was subsequently arrested on June 11.
“This is another prime example of the crackdown from the Vietnamese communist government on religious freedoms for their citizens, particularly those Montagnard Christian minorities who have fled to Thailand to escape this persecution,” an International Christian Concern (ICC) staffer said.
In 2018, Bdap fled to Thailand and received United Nations refugee status. He belongs to an ethnic minority group in Vietnam called the Montagnards, a predominantly Christian ethnic group that lives in the highlands of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Multiple sources have persecuted Montagnard Christians for decades across several borders. For 22 years, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended the U.S. State Department designate Vietnam as a country of particular concern, in part because of the ongoing persecution of Montagnards.
As a U.N. refugee in Thailand, Bdap is entitled to the Thai government’s protection from being forcibly returned to a country where he is likely to be subject to persecution. Several human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, called for Thai authorities to release Bdap.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for justice to be done in Y Quynh Bdap’s case. Pray for protection for Christian activists across Southeast Asia. Pray for greater religious freedom in Vietnam and Thailand.