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THAILAND/CAMBODIA: A 67 year old political prisoner, Sok Yoeun faces extradition to Cambodia

November 29, 2003

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

29 November 2003
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UA-75-2003: THAILAND/CAMBODIA: A 67 year old political prisoner, Sok Yoeun faces extradition to Cambodia

THAILAND/CAMBODIA: Prisoner of conscience
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned that the Appellate Court in Thailand ordered the extradition of Mr. Sok Yoeun to Cambodia on 28 November 2003. Mr. Sok Yoeun is a 67-year-old Cambodian national, who is a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience. This is the final decision regarding his case because according to Thai law there the Supreme Court could not hear extradition cases. Human rights activists worry that Mr. Sok Yoeun will be sent back to Cambodia soon, in which case he will be at risk of ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, and unfair trial on politically motivated charges. AHRC is also concerned that the court decision on 28 November 2003 was made without the presence of Mr. Sok Yoeun's defense lawyer, who did not receive any information about the date of the hearing and verdict from the court.

On 24 December 1999, Sok Yoeun was arrested on the charge of involvement in the alleged assassination attempt on Hun Sen. Even though there has been no evidence of his involvement in this alleged crime, since the then he has been imprisoned for over three and a half years in Thailand. Your urgent action is required to pressure the Thai Appellate Court to retract its verdict and to urge the Thai government not to extradite Mr. Sok Yoeun back to Cambodia and to protect him in accordance with international human rights standards and laws.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

On 28 November 2003, the Appellate Court in Thailand ordered the extradition of Mr. Sok Yoeun, 67, Cambodian national, to Cambodia. It is the final decision about his case as Supreme Court could not hear extradition cases according to Thai law. If he is sent back to Cambodia, Mr. Sok Yoeun will be at risk of ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, and unfair trial on politically motivated charges.

According to the information received, on 20 November 2003, the Appellate Court sent Mr. Sok Yoeun's case to the Criminal Court where the verdict hearing would be held. On 25 November, the Criminal Court informed the prosecutor to be present at the court on 28 November. However, the court did not inform Mr. Sok Yoeun's defend lawyer (there is no written note that the court has informed the defense lawyer). On 28 November, Sok Yoeun was presented at the court without his defense lawyer at 3:00pm and the court ordered his extradition to Cambodia. A representative of the Embassy of Cambodia and a representative of the Thai authority attended the verdict hearing at the court.

On 24 December 1999, Sok Yoeun, who fled to Thailand from Cambodian political oppression in September 1999, was arrested on the charge of involvement in the alleged assassination attempt on Hun Sen, which occurred on 24 September 1998. Since then, he has been imprisoned for over three and a half years. At the time of his arrest, he was recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Later, he was also regarded as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. However, the Thai government has ignored Mr. Sok Yoeun's refugee status stating that the Thai government has not signed the United Nations Refugee Convention yet, and therefore the Thai government has no obligation to respect his refugee status. It is alleged that Mr. Sok Yoeun has been ill treated while in detention and is suffering from ill health now.

AHRC is concerned that the court decision yesterday without the presence of Mr. Sok Yoeun's defense lawyer clearly violates article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which guarantees due process and the right to fair trial. No state may return an individual to a country where he will face serious human rights violations according to international customary law. The Thai Government should not extradite Mr. Sok Yoeun to Cambodia according to its international obligations and should permit him to go to a third country to join his family who have already been resettled by the United Nations.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Since 1995 Mr. Sok Yoeun has been a member of Sam Rainsy Party, the opposition party in Cambodia, and was the operator of the party's Battambang office from 1997 and 1998.

On 24 September 1998, a rocket attack took place in Siem Reap against a convoy of parliamentarians including the Prime Minister Hun Sen, Funcinpec leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, opposition leader Sam Rainsy and other national leaders. The person (s) responsible for the incident were not found. At the time of the incident, Mr. Sok Yoeun was in Phnom Penh. The Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed it was an assassination attempt on him and accused the Sam Rainsy Party to be a conspirator in the attempt.

In September 1999, two Sam Rainsy Party members, Mr. Kong Bunhieng and Mr. Mong Davuth, were arrested by officers from the Military Intelligence Department and accused of involvement in the rocket attack. They were charged by the Military Court and detained in the Military Prison in Phnom Penh. Even though Kong Bunhieng and Mong Davuth were not members of the Armed Forces, their case was conducted by the military court. Both Mr. Kong Bunhieng and Mr. Mong Davuth were tortured and ill-treated while in detention. After six months imprisonment, they were released from the military prison when the judge found no evidence against them.

On 30 September 1999, Mr. Sok Yoeun fled to Thailand escaping from the political oppression and sought asylum in Bangkok. On 16 November 1999, Mr. Sok Yoeun was granted refugee status by the UNHCR. In December 1999, Prime Minister Hun Sen condemned Mr. Sok Yoeun as a terrorist and urged his immediate extradition to Cambodia. On 24 December 1999, Mr. Sok Yoeun was arrested by the Thai police on the charge of involvement in the assassination attempt on Hun Sen. Two months prior to his arrest, an unknown Thai national detained him and forced him into making a videotaped confession of his involvement in the rocket attack.

Mr. Sok Yoeun was initially sentenced to six months imprisonment for entering the country illegally. Since the sentence expired in June 2000, Mr. Sok Yoeun has remained in detention pending the outcome of a request for his extradition to Cambodia. This request was made under legislation that does not allow for the extradition of persons accused of political offences. On 28 November 2002, after almost two and a half years of imprisonment, the Criminal Court ordered to extradite him to Cambodia and he appealed to the court.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the Thai authorities and urge them not to extradite Mr. Sok Yoeun to Cambodia.

1. Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister
Government house,
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District,
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 282 8631
Email: govspkman@mozart.inet.co.th

2. Professor Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathurn Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: 662 219 2940
Email: commission@nhrc.or.th

3. Mr. Jahanshah Assadi
Regional Representative
UNHCR Regional Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam
3rd floor, United Nations Building
Rajdamnern Avenue, Bangkok 10120
THAILAND
Fax: (662) 280 0555; 281 6100
Email: assadi@unhcr.ch

4. Mr Pongthep Thepkanjana
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building 22nd Floor
Jangwatana Road, Parkket
Nonthaburi 11120
THAILAND
Fax: +662 502 6699

5. Prof. Dr. Ruud Lubbers
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 739 8111
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
email: webmaster@unhcr.ch

6. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson, Rue des Paquis 52, Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 9179130
Fax: +41 22 9179006

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: 67-year-old political prisoner Sok Yoeun faces extradition to Cambodia

I am writing to bring your urgent attention to the Thai Appellate Court decision of the extradition of Mr. Sok Yoeun.

According to the information I have received, the Thai Appellate Court ordered the extradition of Mr. Sok Yoeun, 67, a Cambodian national, who is a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience, to Cambodia on 28 November 2003. I am gravely concerned that Mr. Sok Yoeun will be at risk of ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, and unfair trial on politically motivated charges for which there is no evidence, if he is sent back to Cambodia.

Mr. Sok Yoeun has been recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and also has been recognized as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

I am also concerned that the court decision today was made without the presence of Mr. Sok Yoeun's defense lawyer because no written note about the verdict hearing was sent informing him from the court. This clearly violates article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which guarantees due process and the right to fair trial.

Therefore, I am calling for his immediate, unconditional release. The Thai Government should not extradite Mr. Sok Yoeun to Cambodia. No state may return an individual to a country where he will face serious human rights violations according to international customary law. I also urge you to allow him to settle in a third country where his family has already been resettled by the United Nations as refugees.

Sincerely yours



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Thank you.

Kim Soo A
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-75-2003
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.