Vietnamese Blogger Found in Police Custody After Reported Missing in Thailand

A Vietnamese policeman stands watch outside the Phuoc Co jail on the outskirts of the southern coastal town of Vung Tau, Vietnam, in 2006. Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images

A Vietnamese blogger seeking refuge in Thailand due to political persecution was found in police custody in Vietnam after being reported missing on April 13, according to multiple news reports.

Vietnamese state media said on April 16 that police in Ha Tinh province arrested a person who tried to enter Vietnam illegally and without identification. Police later confirmed the person’s name was Duong Van Thai.

Thai, a 41-year-old blogger and independent journalist, fled to Thailand in 2018 for fear of being politically persecuted in Vietnam due to his social media posts criticizing the country’s communist regime.

He was reported missing on April 13, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). His neighbors said Thai left his rental house on his motorbike around 11 a.m. (local time). He made a live-streamed video on his YouTube channel later that day but never came home.

His friends, who spoke anonymously with RFA, said they tried to contact him but received no response. They believed that Thai was abducted by Vietnamese secret agents and taken back to Vietnam.

Some of his friends told RFA that Thai had applied for refugee status with the United Nations in Bangkok and took an online interview with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) before going missing.

“Duong [Thai] never intended to return to Vietnam, and if you ask Duong’s friends, you will know that he never wanted to go back to Vietnam,” Grace Bui, a Vietnamese-American human rights activist in Thailand, told RFA.

Bui visited the blogger’s home after his disappearance and found his wallet and his U.N. refugee card, which is given to those with refugee status awaiting resettlement in a third country.

“We found the bag he often carried when going out. His wallet was still in the bag, and his U.N. card and bank cards were still in the wallet. We found his laptop also,” Bui said.

Vietnam Targeting Journalists Living in Exile

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement on April 18 demanding his immediate release and urging Vietnamese authorities to cease all efforts to harass and detain journalists living in exile.

According to the CPJ, Thai had previously aired commentary critical of Vietnam’s industrial policy, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and the country’s finance minister on his YouTube channel.

The CPJ said it was unable to reach Thai after his arrest.

“Vietnamese authorities must immediately release journalist Duong Van Thai and disclose the exact details of his detention,” Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement.

“Thai authorities should thoroughly and transparently investigate the circumstances of his disappearance in Bangkok and ensure that members of the press are not targeted for their work,” Crispin added.

Crispin said Vietnam has a history of targeting journalists living in exile. In 2019, Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat was abducted in Thailand and resurfaced in Vietnam days later. Nhat was sentenced to 10 years in jail for allegedly “abusing his position and power while on duty.”

The CPJ was told by Nhat’s associates on anonymity that Nhat was likely abducted by Vietnamese agents working in cooperation with Thai authorities.

US Urges Vietnam to Release Political Prisoners

As of April, Vietnamese authorities have detained more than 160 political prisoners for expressing their rights to freedom of expression, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

The Hanoi Court earlier sentenced Nguyen Lan Thang, a 48-year-old journalist and political activist, to six years in jail for allegedly storing and spreading anti-state content through his social media accounts.

The U.S. State Department has called for the release of Thang and other political detainees in a statement released ahead of State Secretary Antony Blinken’s visit to Hanoi last week.

“Ahead of the secretary’s visit to Hanoi, our message is clear—Vietnam is an important partner in the Indo-Pacific, and that partnership can only reach its full potential if the government of Vietnam takes concerted steps to meet its obligations and commitments under international law and improve its human rights record,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The statement followed HRW’s request that Blinken uses his visit to Vietnam to urge the regime to cease its “systematic abuse of freedom of expression” and release all political prisoners currently held in Vietnam.