Rights groups urge Thailand not to deport Chinese journalist to China

BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - Two human rights groups have urged Thailand not to deport a Chinese journalist who investigated corruption in China, warning he would risk political persecution and

BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - Two human rights groups have urged Thailand not to deport a Chinese journalist who investigated corruption in China, warning he would risk political persecution and torture back home. Bai Zhaodong faces the risk of deportation following pressure on Bangkok from Beijing over his reporting on the Chinese government, Reporters Without Borders and Safeguard Defenders, an Asia-focused rights group based in Spain, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The groups said Thai authorities have detained Bai since January, barred him from leaving Thailand and are holding him at a Bangkok immigration centre. The Chinese and Thai foreign ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is in China until Monday, is expected to meet President Xi Jinping.

Bai exposed a large corruption and financial fraud network implicating local government officials and higher-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party, the rights groups said. This led to persecution by the authorities, including intensified surveillance, criminal charges, interrogations and detentions, they said. Bai fled China in 2023, and the next year the Public Security Bureau in the Chinese city of Yulin issued an arrest warrant against him, they said.

"Thai authorities must withstand the growing pressure from (China) to forcibly detain and return individuals sought for clear political persecution by the Chinese Communist Party and uphold its commitments under international and domestic torture prohibitions," Laura Harth, a director at Safeguard Defenders, said in the statement. The statement said Bai faces "foreseeable, present, personal and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other serious human rights violations" if deported to China. "In recent years, the Chinese regime have gained notoriety for the systematic persecution of journalists and remain the world's leading jailer of reporters, with 120 individuals currently detained," said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager for the Asia-Pacific region at Reporters Without Borders.

"Should Bai be forcibly returned to China, he would face not only persecution but also grave risks to his personal safety." (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by William Mallard)