THAILAND – VIETNAM: Thailand arrests 68 Montagnards attending funeral
Most of those arrested were from the Ede minority group, could be deported to Vietnam, activists say
UCA News (26.02.2025) – Thailand has arrested 68 Montagnard asylum seekers, causing concern about their deportation to Vietnam despite police denying any such move.
Thai police arrested the asylum seekers during a raid on a funeral service in a community hall in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, on Feb. 23, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Feb. 25.
Most of the arrested were from the Ede minority group. They were attending the funeral service organized by ethnic Vietnamese Ede activist Y Quynh Bdap’s wife for her mother, who recently died in Vietnam.
Bdap is currently detained in Thailand and faces a 10-year jail term for alleged terrorism charges if returned to Vietnam.
A Vietnamese court convicted in absentia for directing attacks on two government offices that resulted in nine deaths, an allegation that he has consistently denied.
Most people from the Ede ethnic group had fled to Thailand because of religious persecution in Vietnam, according to the US-based Boat People SOS.
Among the 68 people detained on the charges of illegal entry and residence, 43 possess refugee cards issued by the UNHCR in Thailand, Boat People SOS claimed.
- Misin Knul, one of the arrested individuals, alleged that the Thai police officials rushed the arrests and the other related processes “to avoid the attorneys” that he and the others requested.
The Ede is one of the largest of the dozens of tribes that are collectively known as Montagnards – a term used to describe members of mainly Christian minority groups who live in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
Colonel Ronapat Tubtimtong, chief of police in the Bangyai district, told RFA that there were no plans to deport the arrested peple.
“They were tried for illegal entry and fined 4,000 baht [US$120] each. They did not have the money so they were jailed for eight days instead,” Tubtimtong said.
“They will not face immediate deportation,” Tubtimtong told RFA.
According to RFAreport, 27 of the arrested were members of a group called Montagnards Stand for Justice (MSFJ). It campaigns for the rights of about 30 indigenous minorities from the Central Highlands, who say they have faced years of discrimination from Vietnamese authorities.
The group, founded by Bdap, has been designated as a terrorist organization by the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security in 2024 for the attack on two public agencies in Dak Lak province in which nine people were killed.
They have denied the accusation.
Y Phic Hdok, a founding member of the MSFJ, said, the “situation for Montagnard refugees in Thailand has become increasingly precarious.”
“Although there is no clear evidence of Vietnam‘s intervention in this incident, it also shows that the level of danger is growing,” Hdok lamented.
Nguyen Dinh Thang, director of Boat People SOS said some of the MSFJ members are at higher risk of extradition than others.
HRWF Footnote : Persecution of Montagnard Protestants in Vietnam
HRWF – Members of the Montagnard ethnic group in Vietnam are especially targeted and are often sentenced to lengthy prison terms on the grounds of allegedly undermining the national unity policy. Montagnards are indigenous peoples living in the Central Highlands of Vietnam who were favoured under French colonial rule and then became close allies for American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Due to evangelising missionaries and exposure to American troops, many of them converted to Christianity. Now, it is estimated that over half a million Montagnards are Protestant Christians.