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December 12, 2013July 28, 2015

Wife's fears for missing Lao activist

Bangkok Post: 12 December 2013

The wife of a missing Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone has pleaded with the media to stop idolising him, saying the attention could be doing more harm than good.

“When you read what has been written in the press over the past 12 months, Mr Sombath is made to be like a super-Laotian,” Singaporean Ng Chui Meng said. “He’s not,” she told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand late Wednesday, ahead of the anniversary of her husband’s disappearance in Vientiane on Dec 15, 2012.

“We understand that Sombath is already in very dire circumstances if he is still alive, and this is why I appeal to our media friends to be a little more circumspect of the real situation in Laos,” Ms Ng said.

Mr Sombath, 61, went missing after being detained at a police checkpoint outside the Lao capital, where CCTV images captured him leaving his own vehicle, then getting into a pickup truck and being driven away.

Laos’ communist regime has offered no explanation for Mr Sombath’s disappearance, suggesting it may have resulted from a personal dispute. Continue reading “Wife's fears for missing Lao activist”

December 12, 2013July 28, 2015

A year on, unanswered questions over Lao activist’s disappearance

Reuters Foundation: 12 December 2013

By Thin Lei WIn

Winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards pose for a photograph during a ceremony in Manila August 31, 2005. Sombath Somphone of Laos is on the left of the picture. Photo REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

BANGKOK – On the evening of Dec 15, 2012, Sombath Somphone, possibly Laos’ most prominent activist, left his office in the capital Vientiane and headed home for dinner. He never arrived.

Security camera footage obtained by his wife, Ng Shui Meng, showed police stopping his jeep at a police post and taking him inside. A motorcyclist drove up, stopped and drove away in Sombath’s jeep.

Later, a car with flashing lights stopped at the post. Two people got out, fetched Sombath from the police post and put him in their car, and drove off into the darkness. He has not been seen since.

Ng is still trying to find out what happened to her husband, winner of the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership – the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize – and founder of the Participatory Development Training Centre (PADETC), and where he is.

“There were no warnings,” Ng told journalists in Bangkok on Wednesday night. Since Sombath, 60, disappeared, “a wall of silence has fallen in Vientiane and the rest of Laos,” she added.

Despite international pressure, the authoritarian government of poverty-stricken Laos has denied involvement in his disappearance but said nothing more. Continue reading “A year on, unanswered questions over Lao activist’s disappearance”

December 12, 2013July 28, 2015

Wife of missing Lao community leader pleads against hero-worship

The Nation: 12 December 2013

The wife of a missing Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone has pleaded with the media to stop idolising him, saying the attention could be doing more harm than good.

“When you read what has been written in the press over the past 12 months, Sombath is made to be like a super-Laotian,” Singaporean Ng Chui Meng said.

“He’s not,” she told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand late Wednesday, ahead of the anniversary of her husband’s disappearance in Vientiane on December 15, 2012.

Sombath, 61, went missing after being detained at a police checkpoint outside the Lao capital, where CCTV images captured him leaving his own vehicle, then getting into a pickup truck and being driven away.

December 11, 2013July 28, 2015

Japan’s PM Urged to Raise Case of Missing Lao NGO Leader

Radio Free Asia: 11 December 2013

235cc684-721d-4cbe-958b-e8892ecbc7c0 — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong shake hands at an ASEAN meeting in Brunei, Oct. 9, 2013. AFP

Rights groups have asked Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to raise concerns about disappeared Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone at an upcoming regional summit, saying Tokyo and other international donors should push for an independent probe if Laos continues to drag its feet on the case.

Abe should urge his Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong, who will visit Tokyo this weekend for the Japan-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, to ensure the government fully investigates the case and provides information about Sombath’s fate, the six international rights groups said in a joint letter Wednesday.

The summit falls on the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Sombath, a prominent anti-poverty campaigner who was last seen being stopped at a police checkpoint in the Lao capital Vientiane on Dec. 15, 2012.

Since then, rights groups have expressed dissatisfaction with the Lao government’s explanation of how he vanished, saying it has failed to fully investigate the case and could be covering up government links to his possible abduction.

The letter by the six groups—Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International Japan, Mekong Watch, Empowerment For All Japan, and two organizations that requested not to be named publicly—asked Abe to “remind” Thongsing that Laos is obligated under international human rights law to prevent and remedy any enforced disappearance. Continue reading “Japan’s PM Urged to Raise Case of Missing Lao NGO Leader”

December 8, 2013July 28, 2015

Sombath Somphone wurde vor einem Jahr in Laos verschleppt

Stiftung Asienhaus: 08 Dezember 2013

Am 15. Dezember jährt sich der Tag, an dem der laotische Aktivist Sombath Somphone verschwunden ist – aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach verschleppt von laotischen Behörden. Den Aufforderungen, Sombaths Schicksal aufzuklären, ist die Regierung nicht nachgekommen. Wir fordern, gemeinsam mit anderen Menschenrechtsorganisationen, den Druck auf die laotische Regierung zu verstärken.

Seit einem Jahr ist Sombath Somphone spurlos verschwunden. Der einflussreiche und auch international angesehene Aktivist der Zivilgesellschaft in Laos wurde zuletzt am 15. Dezember 2012 in der Hauptstadt Vientiane gesehen. Eine Überwachungskamera zeigt, wie er an einen Kontrollposten der Polizei angehalten und anschließend in einem anderen Wagen weggefahren wird. Seitdem fehlt von dem 61jährigen, der sich über Jahrzehnte unter anderem für Bildung, für die Rechte der Landbevölkerung und für die Umwelt einsetzt, jede Spur.

Einen Monat zuvor hatte in Vientiane das Asia-Europe People’s Forum stattgefunden, ein internationales Treffen nichtstaatlicher Organisationen, das Teil des Konsultationsprozesses ASEM zwischen Regierungen in Europa und Asien ist. Sombath hatte eine wichtige Rolle gespielt, dass sich an diesem Treffen auch die junge zivilgesellschaftliche Bewegung in Laos beteiligen konnte, wenn auch ständig beobachtet von der Polizei.

Die Regierung bestreitet, etwas mit dem Verschwinden zu tun haben. Sie habe auch keinerlei Erkenntnisse, wer Sombath entführt haben könnte. Phil Robertson, stellvertretender Asien-Direktor der Organisation Human Rights Watch, klagt, die Behörden hätten wiederholt Informationen zurückgehalten, eine Blockadehaltung eingenommen und sich geweigert, mit der internationalen Gemeinschaft zusammenzuarbeiten. Amnesty International wirft der Regierung daher Verschleierung vor. Mitarbeiter der Menschenrechtsorganisation konnten nicht in Laos einreisen, um eigene Erkenntnisse zu sammeln. Anfragen zu einem Treffen mit Regierungsvertretern wurden nicht beantwortet oder abgelehnt.

November 22, 2013July 28, 2015

Verschollen in Vientiane

Neue Zürcher Zeitung: 22 November 2013

Rätselhafte Entführung

Strassenszene in Vientiane. Die laotische Hauptstadt war Schauplatz einer rätselhaften Entführung.

Im kommunistischen Kleinstaat Laos schien sich eine politische Öffnung anzubahnen – bis vor einem Jahr ein bekannter Aktivist spurlos verschwand. Die internationale Gemeinschaft reagiert empört.

Marco Kauffmann Bossart, Vientiane

Ng Shui Meng blickte in den Rückspiegel und sah, wie Sombath Somphone mit seinem Jeep auf der Thadeua-Strasse in Vientiane neben einem Kontrollposten der Polizei anhielt. Sorgen machte sie sich deswegen keine. Vielleicht handelte es sich um eine simple Ausweiskontrolle, oder der Motor des in die Jahre gekommenen Fahrzeugs bockte. Das Paar war an diesem Abend des 15. Dezembers 2012 mit zwei Autos unterwegs und hatte vereinbart, sich zu Hause zu treffen. Alarm schlug Ng erst, als Sombaths Handy wiederholt ins Leere klingelte und keines der Spitäler in der überschaubaren Hauptstadt von Laos an diesem Samstag Opfer von Verkehrsunfällen zu vermelden hatte.

Zwei Tage später sprach Ng beim Posten an der Thadeua-Strasse vor, bei dem sie ihren Mann zuletzt gesehen hatte. Ein hilfsbereiter Beamter zeigte ihr die Aufnahmen einer jener Überwachungskameras, die das autokratische Regime zur Abwehr «antisozialer Aktivitäten» installiert hatte. Auf dem Bildschirm erkannte sie den Jeep ihres Mannes. Sombath steigt aus und wird einige Minuten später in ein weisses Pick-up-Fahrzeug eskortiert und weggefahren. Ng nahm geistesgegenwärtig ihr Handy hervor und filmte mit. Das so entstandene Video deutet darauf hin, dass der Entwicklungshelfer und Aktivist vom Sicherheitsapparat des kommunistischen Einparteistaats verschleppt wurde. Continue reading “Verschollen in Vientiane”

November 15, 2013August 8, 2017

The Dark Side of Laos, As an Activist Vanishes Without a Trace

Worldcrunch: (15 November 2013)

Sombath Somphone disappeared on Dec. 15, 2012. Photo: Le Monde

Police are monitoring traffic from a small wooden gatehouse in eastern Vientiane, on the outskirts of the Laotian capital. It was here nearly one year ago, opposite the Indian embassy, that 62-year-old Sombath Somphone mysteriously disappeared. The rural development promoter and farmers’ rights activist hasn’t been heard from since.

On Dec. 15, 2012, Somphone was driving behind his wife’s car in his Jeep. He was stopped by a traffic officer for an identity check. The policeman spoke with him through the car door. Somphone then stepped out and walked towards the gatehouse. Soon after, a man got off his motorcycle and climbed into Somphone’s Jeep and drove off.

A white pickup then parked on the side of the road, warning lights flashing, before two men — one of whom was Somphone — climbed in. That was the last sign of the popular activist.

CCTV footage — available on the website Sombath.org — has allowed his family to reconstruct the scenario. Since Somphone vanished, the police investigation that Laotian authorities claim to have conducted has been fruitless. What is clear is that his disappearance has all the markings of an abduction committed right before police eyes at rush hour.

“I have no idea who could be behind his abduction, or why it happened,” says Somphone’s Singaporian wife Ng Shui Meng by phone. “All I can say is that the police say that they don’t know who kidnapped him.” Continue reading “The Dark Side of Laos, As an Activist Vanishes Without a Trace”

November 8, 2013July 28, 2015

Sombath Disappearance Could See a Review of EU Aid to Laos

The Diplomat: 08 November 2013

By Luke Hunt

The European Union has put the case of the prominent development worker Sombath Somphone back on the international agenda, threatening to review foreign aid to Laos after officials there failed to offer a credible explanation for his disappearance 11 months ago.

Speaking on Australian radio, Werner Langen, delegation leader and Chairman of the ASEAN delegation in the European Parliament, also said Laos could become isolated in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) if the human rights situation in the country fails to improve.

“In our view, it seems to be impossible that the government knows nothing on this case. It was a disappearance under the guise of the Laos police and we say to the government we need a life sign, first of all. We need a life sign of Sombath,” he said. Continue reading “Sombath Disappearance Could See a Review of EU Aid to Laos”

November 7, 2013July 28, 2015

Laotische Mauer des Schweigens

Deutsche Welle: (07 November 2013)

Seit fast einem Jahr ist der laotische Aktivist Sombath Somphone spurlos verschwunden. Seine Frau hofft, dass er noch lebt. Die EU fordert die Aufklärung des Falls. Und stößt in Vientiane vor allem auf Ausreden.

“Ich halte mich an der Hoffnung fest, dass Sombath noch am Leben ist. Etwas anderes möchte ich einfach nicht glauben. Ohne diese Hoffnung könnte ich nicht weitermachen.” Seit dem 15. Dezember 2012 hat Ng Shui Meng ihren Ehemann nicht mehr gesehen. An diesem Tag, einem Samstag, wird Sombath Somphone in der laotischen Hauptstadt Vientiane verschleppt. Auf offener Straße, an einem Polizeicheckpoint – und vor laufender Überwachungskamera. Nach einer Polizeikontrolle wird er von zwei unbekannten Männern in einem weißen Truck davon gefahren, sein eigenes Auto, ein Jeep, wird von einer weiteren Person vom Tatort entfernt. Seitdem fehlt von dem bekannten Aktivisten, der sich über Jahrzehnte unter anderem für Bildung, für die Rechte der Landbevölkerung und für die Umwelt einsetzt, jede Spur.

Continue reading “Laotische Mauer des Schweigens”

November 7, 2013July 28, 2015

Laos facing possible aid review over missing activist, says Euro MP

Radio Australia: (07 November 2013)

A European parliamentary delegation says the Lao government has yet again failed to offer a credible explanation as to the whereabouts of a well-known rights activist.

(audio program)

It’s almost 11 months ago since the disappearance of the internationally-recognised development worker and teacher, Sombath Somphone.

And for the second time this year, a European delegation has visited Laos to press authorities on the case of the missing activist, but they say little progress has been made.

Presenter: Tom Maddocks

Speakers: Soren Sondergaard, delegation leader (August) and member of the European parliament; Werner Langen, delegation leader (October) and Chairman of the ASEAN delegation in the European Parliament; Rupert Abbott, Laos researcher, Amnesty International

MADDOCKS: In August, a European parliamentary delegation drew the conclusion that Lao authorities were “still in a state of denial” about the disappearance of Sombath Somphone.

The delegation was led by Danish member of parliament Soren Sondergaard.

SONDERGAARD: Our key message was that it is impossible in a country like theirs to accept that a person can disappear a few metres in front of a police control station, taken on camera, everything is taken on camera, and despite of that, eight months have gone without any result in the investigation. Continue reading “Laos facing possible aid review over missing activist, says Euro MP”