LAWYERS for Liberty has condemned the government for allowing the extradition of a Thai activist, despite her status as an asylum seeker.

Praphan Pipithnamporn, registered as an asylum seeker with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who was wanted in Thailand for voicing her anti-monarchy views, was deported from Malaysia on Friday.

She was deported on the request of Thai authorities despite concerns she would be persecuted by the country’s military junta.

The deportation was also seen as a violation of Malaysia’s obligations under international law.

The group’s executive director, Latheefa Koya, said in a statement today that the Pakatan Harapan government was following in the previous government’s footsteps by disregarding the rights of political refugees.

“Why is the PH government continuing with the repressive and unlawful stance of the former BN government towards political refugees?” she said.

“We find it particularly egregious that Malaysia has deported Pipithnamporn under sedition charges, knowing that Thailand has some of the most extreme lese majeste laws in the world and given Malaysia’s own promise to abolish oppressive laws.”

Thai anti-monarchy activists, including those taking refuge in neighbouring countries, have been aggressively hunted down by Thai authorities.

Late last year, two Thai activists were murdered in Laos.

Three members of the Organisation for Thai Federation, a group Pipithnamporn is said to have been involved with, went missing in Vietnam earlier this year.

They are strongly suspected of having been victims of enforced disappearance and extradition.

Latheefa said this was all information Putrajaya is privy to, yet it still allowed Pipithnamporn’s deportation knowing the expected dangers she faces.

She said while the government has taken a stance against draconian laws, such as the Sedition Act and restriction of free speech in Malaysia, it cannot turn its back on peaceful activists who face persecution from regimes under “even more tyrannical laws”.

Latheefa said such actions were inconsistent with Putrajaya’s commitment to fairness, democracy and safeguarding of human rights.

“The government must now explain why it sent a peaceful and legitimate political protester into certain persecution and detention,” Latheefa said, adding Putrajaya must take responsibility for whatever outcome Pipithnamporn endures.

It also has to reassure the international community that Malaysia respects and protects those seeking help, safety and asylum in Malaysia, she said.

Pipithnamporn fled to Malaysia in January and applied for refugee status with the UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur. 

On April 2, the refugee agency registered her claim as an asylum seeker, and designated her a “person of concern”.

Prior to fleeing to Malaysia, she had been reportedly arrested several times between September and December last year over the activities of her Organisation for Thai Federation.

She had also been held incommunicado in military detention and was subjected to threats and intimidation in Thailand.

She is accused of sedition, including handing out leaflets critical of the Thai monarchy. – May 14, 2019.