LEAFLET DROP / COURT VERDICT

Appeals Court overturns order to extradite dissident Ly Tong

ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

The Appeals Court yesterday overturned a lower court order for the extradition of Vietnamese dissident Ly Tong to Vietnam. The court said it thought Hanoi requested Ly Tong's extradition so he could be put on trial for political offences, rather than an air space violation.

Ly Tong flew a hijacked plane from Hua Hin over Ho Chi Minh City in November, 2000, during a visit there by then US president Bill Clinton, and dropped 50,000 anti-communist leaflets.

The court ruled that this was a political offence under Vietnamese law. Thailand and Vietnam did not have a treaty allowing the extradition of a person for trial for a political offence.

Vietnam, at the Foreign Ministry's request, had dropped the charge of distributing anti-Hanoi propaganda and promised to put Ly Tong on trial for violating its air space and national security.

However, the Appeals Court was of the belief that the defendant's real intention was to denounce the Vietnamese government, with no intention to threaten border or national security as claimed by Hanoi. ''The court therefore has decided to overturn the previous court's verdict in September,'' it said.

After hearing the verdict, 61-year-old Ly Tong, still wearing a prison shirt and shorts and with shackles round his ankles, told reporters: ''I feel a little better now.''

He added: ''I'll consider what to do next when I return home.''

His lawyer, Worasit Piriyawiboon, said his client could now stay in Thailand freely and was waiting for the US embassy's consular officials to contact the relevant authorities before issuing a temporary passport so he could leave the country and go home.

Ly Tong served in South Vietnam's air force during the Vietnam War and later emigrated to the US.

Bangkok Post

Wednesday April 04, 2007