There were tense scenes at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center as authorities tried to deport 152 Hmong refugees back to Laos, Nong Khai, Thailand, on Tuesday January 30th, 2007. In protest the women and children sat in the street infront of the buses. Some Hmong collapsed with emotion and exhaustion from the ordeal. ..The deportation was postponed after the Hmong men barricaded their jail cell and threatened mass suicide if they were forcibly sent back to Laos where they face...
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There were tense scenes at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center as authorities tried to deport 152 Hmong refugees back to Laos, Nong Khai, Thailand, on Tuesday January 30th, 2007. In protest the women and children sat in the street infront of the buses. Some Hmong collapsed with emotion and exhaustion from the ordeal. ..The deportation was postponed after the Hmong men barricaded their jail cell and threatened mass suicide if they were forcibly sent back to Laos where they face possible torture and death. ..The men reportedly declared, "We would rather die in Thailand than be sent back to Laos". ..On May 16, 2007 the Thai Military Junta forced the UNHCR Bangkok refugee office to stop accepting applications from asylum seekers. On Friday night June 8, 2007, after UNHCR and western diplomats had gone home for the weekend, Thai authorities forcibly deported a different group of 160 Hmong asylum seekers to back Laos...Up to 1,000 Hmong jungle people surrendered to Lao authorities last year due to Lao Military pressure, an inability to defend themselves, and lack of food or medicine. This includes Blia Shoua Her's group of 438 people who suffered the massacre April 6, 2006. All of these Hmong have vanished and the Lao Government has made no account of their whereabouts or condition despite requests from humanitarian groups.
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Copyright Roger Arnold/WpN