Flouting a Cambodian extradition request, Thailand on Friday deported alleged “terrorist” and fugitive Sam Serey to Denmark, prompting a Cambodian official on Sunday to express disappointment at the decision and threaten to ignore future Thai requests for extradition.
Serey – founder of the dissident group Khmer National Liberation Front, which the government has branded a terrorist organisation – confirmed the flight in a message on Friday evening, saying only, “I am now arriving in Denmark.”
Serey was arrested in Bangkok on Wednesday for overstaying his visa. On April 10, Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed he foiled a purported plot of Serey’s to bomb Wat Phnom and Siem Reap over the Khmer New Year holiday, offering little concrete evidence to support the allegation. Cambodian authorities put in a request for his extradition from Thailand on Thursday, citing Serey’s past convictions for trying to “topple the government”.
He was sentenced in absentia after being granted political asylum by Denmark.
In an interview on Sunday, Serey confirmed that he was in the process of renewing his already-expired visa when he was detained.
“My name is in the blacklist so they could not extend,” he said, adding that he was detained by immigration police before being transferred to the International Detention Centre.
On his way to the IDC, Serey was able to send messages to the UN, Human Rights Watch and the Danish Embassy.
“After that I did not get any information,” Serey said.Despite the seemingly dire situation, Serey said he was unconcerned throughout the ordeal. “I knew there would be intervention,” he said.
After around four hours in detention, Serey was released by Thai officials and ordered to buy a flight to Copenhagen immediately.
Despite his close call, and a five-year ban from Thailand, Serey pledged to return to the region to continue to “fight for democracy”.
“At this time, it was a big failure of Hun Sen’s, and a win for democracy,” he said.
Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, applauded the decision to return him to Denmark.
“Thailand deserves credit for making the right decision to respect Sam Serey’s continuing refugee status and sending him back to Denmark, the nation that is providing him with refugee protection,” Robertson said in a statement. “Clearly, the Royal Danish Embassy, UN agencies and other like-minded diplomats in Bangkok were very determined in persuading the Thai government to respect Sam Serey’s refugee status and not send him back to Cambodia.”
