Key facts
- Two human rights groups are urging Thailand not to deport Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China.
- Bai Zhaodong faces risks of political persecution, torture, and human rights violations if returned to China.
- He is accused of investigating a corruption and financial fraud network implicating Chinese Communist Party officials.
- Bai fled China in 2023 and has an arrest warrant issued against him by Chinese authorities.
- Thai authorities have detained Bai at a Bangkok immigration center since January.
Two human rights organizations have appealed to Thailand to refrain from deporting a Chinese journalist, Bai Zhaodong, to China, citing fears of political persecution and torture. Reporters Without Borders and Safeguard Defenders stated in a release that Bai, who investigated corruption and financial fraud in China, has been detained by Thai authorities since January and faces an arrest warrant issued by China.
According to the rights groups, Bai's reporting exposed a network involving local and higher-ranking officials within the Chinese Communist Party, leading to intensified surveillance, criminal charges, interrogations, and detentions. He fled China in 2023, and the Public Security Bureau in Yulin issued an arrest warrant for him the following year. Safeguard Defenders expressed concern that Bai faces a "foreseeable, present, personal and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other serious human rights violations" if deported.
Reporters Without Borders highlighted that the Chinese regime is known for systematically persecuting journalists and is currently the world's leading jailer of reporters, with 120 individuals detained. The organization warned that Bai's forced return to China would pose grave risks to his personal safety. Neither the Chinese nor Thai foreign ministries immediately responded to requests for comment. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.