Thailand/Vietnam: End acts of transnational repression against human rights defenders after Y Quynh Bdap’s extradition to Vietnam

On 28 November 2025, the Thai authorities extradited Vietnamese human rights defender Y Quynh Bdap to Vietnam, following a court decision issued two days earlier. Y Quynh Bdap is a United Nations (UN)-recognised refugee, who had lived in Thailand since 2018, following protracted acts of harassment he suffered in Vietnam in relation to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.

On 26 November 2025, the Thai Court of Appeals upheld the Criminal Court’s ruling from 30 September 2024, which had authorised Mr Bdap’s extradition, despite his refugee status, which the Court held was not grounds for exception under Thailand’s Extradition Act. The Observatory attended both court hearings.

Disturbingly, the Court of Appeals concluded that there was “no real risk” of torture or enforced disappearance upon return to Vietnam, dismissing extensive documentation on Vietnam’s systematic repression, including arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, of Montagnard activists and instead relying on diplomatic assurances from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security that Y Quynh Bdap would be treated in accordance with international standards.

Mr Bdap was arrested in Thailand on 11 June 2024, after being sentenced in absentia by a Vietnamese court to 10 years in prison over terrorism charges for his alleged involvement in the 2023 attacks on two police stations in Vietnam’s Dak Lak Province - charges that he categorically denied. United Nations human rights experts had expressed concerns about the fairness of the trial.

In his appeal, Y Quynh Bdap argued that Thai courts had both the authority and the obligation to prevent his extradition due to the real and foreseeable risk of torture, invoking the customary international law principle of non-refoulement and Thailand’s own Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, which strictly prohibits the return of individuals to jurisdictions where substantial grounds exist to believe that an individual may be subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

The Court’s dismissal of these arguments, including its failure to assess the fairness of the Vietnamese conviction, represents a grave breach of Thailand’s human rights obligations. The reasoning contradicts both Thailand’s anti-torture legislation and its obligations under the UN Convention against Torture, which bars reliance on diplomatic assurances from countries with well-documented patterns of abuse.

The Observatory calls on the Thai authorities to immediately stop the refoulement of individuals, including human rights defenders, to jurisdictions where they are at risk of torture or enforced disappearance and to reaffirm Thailand’s commitment to the principle of non-refoulement. The Observatory further calls on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately reveal the fate or whereabouts of Y Quynh Bdap and to put an end to all acts of transnational repression against all human rights defenders.