Thai MP warns detention of Chinese activist could violate anti-torture law

A People’s party MP has called on the Thai government to release a Chinese democracy activist and allow her to travel to Canada to seek asylum.

Sorasak Samonkraisorakit also expressed deep concern over the government’s decision to block Zhang Xin Yan from travelling to Canada and to detain her at the Immigration Detention Centre in Suan Phlu on a visa overstay charge.

Zhang, a practitioner of Falun Gong, a religious movement banned in China, was stopped by Thai authorities on July 9th as she was about to board a flight to Canada, where she had been accepted for resettlement.

Zhang has lived in Thailand since 2014. In May, she was detained in Bangkok for allegedly overstaying her visa, prompting fears that she would be deported to Hong Kong or mainland China.

According to The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, Zhang has protected refugee status with the United Nations and Canadian diplomatic officials in Thailand have conducted interviews, medical examinations and biometric data collection with her inside the detention centre prior to her taking asylum in Canada.

Sorasak said the government’s action could undermine asylum seekers’ access to protection and risks her deportation to China, where she faces security-related charges and has a HK$200,000 bounty on her.

He said the move seriously violates humanitarian principles and international norms, claiming that Thailand’s action breaches the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from returning individuals to places where they may face persecution or serious harm.

Although Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, he said the principle is recognised as customary international law that all states must respect. He argued that detaining Zhang on an overstay charge, despite her refugee status and acceptance by a third country, ignores her political asylum status.

He said that any forced return to China would violate Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced

Disappearance law, which prohibits the expulsion or return of individuals to countries where they may face danger or torture.

Sorasak also warned that the case could damage Thailand’s international reputation by suggesting that the government is willing to abandon humanitarian obligations and international standards under external pressure.

He called on the government to free Zhang immediately and allow her to travel to Canada, while ruling out any deportation to China.