The sudden government interest in apprehending political opponents of foreign governments is disappointing. It may be coincidence but in just a week, police have forcibly detained critics of the governments of Cambodia and Bahrain. The arrests and threats of deportation or extradition to these undemocratic countries go against normal human rights practices. They also violate decades of Thai policy that often welcomed and never threatened lives of foreigners pitted against their governments.
The refugee football player Hakeem AlAraibi got bad news from the Criminal Court yesterday -- a ruling that he could legally be extradited to Bahrain, where he faces legal charges. The Australian government long ago granted him refugee status and has pushed hard for his release and return to Melbourne. Bahrain has convicted him in absentia of lese majeste against the emir.
Meanwhile, Cambodian documentary filmmaker Rath Rott Mony was also detained, at the request of the Phnom Penh government. Prime Minister Hun Sen and officials are angry at him for his recent film on sex trafficking and wish to persecute him for producing what Cambodian police call "a made-up story".
Both these cases are the business of the foreign countries involved. Insinuating Thailand into the middle serves no real, positive purpose. Extraditing AlAraibi to Manama would please the absolute rulers of Bahrain and deporting Mony would satisfy Hun Sen. In both cases, however, Thailand would be denying justice to the men involved.
Mony's case is clear. His documentary My Mother Sold Me, told the story of a poor Cambodian girl sold into sex slavery. The Cambodian government denies the story, claims Mony paid the girl and her mother to lie and wants to charge Mr Mony with something akin to "fake news". Mony and Russia Today, which sponsored production of the documentary, say it's the government that is lying. There is no way for the Thai government to judge the claims, so there is at least a 50-50 chance it will abet prosecution not just of an innocent man, but a filmmaker doing his country and the international community a service.
AlAraibi has entered the legal system. The Criminal Court made its ruling that he can be extradited, based on arrest papers produced by the Bahraini government. A court appeal is possible, although yesterday's ruling means the final decision on whether to release or extradite the former national football player to Bahrain rests with the government.
Thailand has a long and positive history of non-intervention in political cases. A Nakhon Phanom memorial site for Ho Chi Minh is dramatic proof of that. The late Vietnamese communist revolutionary sheltered in Thailand while French police tried to get their hands on him. Many leading Indochinese, Burmese and Chinese figures were also helped, not deported. Among the most famous were the Pathet Lao Prince Souphanouvong, Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk and members of the Kuomintang army wanted by newly communist China.
In the case of Mony, it is ironic that Cambodia provided a safe haven for Thais wanted by the current military regime. Laos still does so. Police and the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should provide safety rather than detention for men like AlAraibi and Mony.
As the National Human Rights Commission stated last week, releasing AlAraibi to return to Australia is simply following international standards. There is plenty of evidence he was mistreated and persecuted by the Bahraini government. Similarly, Mony should be allowed to freely pursue legal activities in Thailand or go abroad.
- Court battle: AlAribai held for possible extradition